The Bullseye – BMW International Open

What a week it was at the U.S. Open! Studs in contention, studs missing the cut, and the obvious USGA drama that we get every year. I love Phil Mickelson, but that was a joke. Congrats to Brooksy on the title defense, and I think we’ll see a couple more majors before he’s done. This week, the PGA Tour heads to the Travelers Championship, but we march on to Germany!

This event is not nearly as attractive as the past few we’ve seen on the European Tour, but we still have Tommy Fleetwood, Sergio Garcia, and Thomas Pieters leading the field. It’s going to be a stars and scrubs week for sure, because a handful of players are in a different class than the rest of the field. This week, the venue is Gut Larchenhof, one of the few courses in Germany on this tournament rotation. It was last played here in 2016 and 2014, with Henrik Stenson and Fabrizio Zanotti winning those respective events. This course is a 7,228 par-72 and a Jack Nicklaus design, meaning an added emphasis on approach shots. Nicklaus was a bomber by nature, so he tends to give pretty wide fairway targets. He makes players really think about approach shots, and getting the ball on the correct portion of the greens. If it gets windy, this course can definitely play tough. But if we have tame conditions, you’ll see scores near -20 for the week. All the par-5s are reachable here, so I’ll give a slight edge to bombers and elite birdie-makers.

Because this is a ball-striker’s course, I’m going to focus on strokes gained approach and birdie-making upside. We tend to see a lot of the same names play well on this style of courseand this should be no exception. With the addition of European Tour strokes gained stats, we have some extra data to help us find guys who have been playing well of late. Statistically, here’s what I’m targeting at the BMW International Open:

• Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green
• Strokes Gained Approach
• Greens in Regulation
• Birdie Average

And now on to the picks!

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