European Tour: KLM Open

barragan wrote:THE LONG AWAITED PD ET KLM OPEN REVIEW

princedracula wrote:
As we've been discussing last week, the KLM Open is another one of the long lasting and stable events on the European Tour (41st edition this year), even though it tends sometimes to go a bit under the radar compared to other tournaments. I know Netherlands is not really one of the more exciting places around (and I’m talking in terms of natural beauty, of course, as they tend to make up for that in many other ways), but then what event wouldn’t suffer of a slight ‘image problem’ coming right after and in in the shadows of Crans-sur-Sierre…? Add to that the fact that it also has to live through the excitement and hype ‘dip’ that happens naturally every two years between the Ryder Cup team announcement the weeks before and the actual Ryder Cup event in the weeks after… But having said that, and despite the relative drop in strength seen this year from the peak of last year, there seem to be a bit of a rise in profile and field strength of the event over the past few years.

Spoiler:

Furthermore, this year it seems that the presence of Martin Kaymer in the field following all the question marks related to his form and the way he made the RC team ‘in extremis’, plus the public statements of confidence and reassurance that followed from him and from Captain Olly, both pointing directly to the fact that he will play this week in Netherlands and next in Italy to stress-test his (allegedly) improving form and game before the Ryder Cup, has undoubtedly raised the profile and the interest in the event itself (apart from placing MK himself seriously under the spotlight and probably under an awful lot of added pressure as well)… Luckily for him (in a way), Kaymer not only that won the KLM Open a couple of years ago (when he was in peak form), but he did it on the same course where the event is played this week, Hilversumsche GC, with the other side of that particular coin being that he followed the win with a missed cut last year (when he was out of form) on the same course. Is that very brief history sufficient to suggest that the KLM Open at Hilversumsche GC is a good barometer for Martin Kaymer’s form? Probably not, but everyone will be watching him very closely the next few days, that’s for sure… Simon Dyson had a similar mixed bag here, mirroring in a way Kymer’s performances: he won it last year but missed the cut two years ago (his previous two wins in Netherlands came on the Kennemere course, which is quite different from this one).

And talking of previous winners, ‘horses for courses’ and all that, it’s probably worth remembering that two other guys who won this tournament on this course are David Lynn (2004) and Gonzo (2005), who are both in the field this week and have been probably a bit more consistent than Kaymer and Dyson on this course (Lynn finished also 2nd last year and Gonzo 4th a couple of years ago). And of course, we have also Nicolas Colsaerts playing this week (and next) and although a lot of the pressure that has been on him is now gone, it will be just as important for him to show some continued solid form and confidence in these weeks before the Ryder Cup. Another motivating factor for him on top of that should be the fact that this is probably the closest tournament on the ET calendar that he could call his home event…

barragan wrote:Stickied this thread - Pd - if you write your usual blurb, feel free to pm me and i'll add it to the OP in some nice quote bubbles.

princedracula wrote:

barragan wrote:Stickied this thread - Pd - if you write your usual blurb, feel free to pm me and i'll add it to the OP in some nice quote bubbles.

barragan, just sent you a pm with the 'blurb'... feel free to use it if/how you wish.

Sorry for the delay, but i've been very busy in work these days.
Unfortunately have to give priority to the paying job...

princedracula wrote:

barragan wrote:Stickied this thread - Pd - if you write your usual blurb, feel free to pm me and i'll add it to the OP in some nice quote bubbles.

barragan, just sent you a pm with the 'blurb'... feel free to use it if/how you wish.

Sorry for the delay, but i've been very busy in work these days.
Unfortunately have to give priority to the paying job...

kwinigolfer wrote:Did Richard Finch REALLY card an eagle AND a closing albatross on Sunday's back nine?