Ben Coley's golf betting tips: Challenge Tour preview and best bets

Golf betting tips: Open de Provence

2pts e.w. Ugo Coussaud at 28/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)

1.5pts e.w. Borja Virto at 40/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)

1pt e.w. Oliver Lindell at 66/1 (Unibet, bet365 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)

1pt e.w. Lars van Meijel at 100/1 (bet365 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

I'd been expecting to preview the Korn Ferry Tour Championship this week but after a bit of bad luck on that circuit last time, and with almost none of its best players having played the course well or even played it at all, I don't know as there's a great deal of value to be found by digging deeper.

As I wrote ahead of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship, Joe Highsmith was at the top of my list for the final two events but after finishing second there, he's now vying for favouritism. Highsmith is also just inside the cut-off for PGA Tour cards and might be looking over his shoulder somewhat, so while a player I think we'll hear plenty more of, he can go unbacked at 22/1.

Focus instead switches to the Challenge Tour's Open de Provence, played on a course designed by Seve Ballesteros to keep the Ryder Cup theme going for another week.

Golf International de Pont Royal is short and its best defence is that it's exposed to the elements, but the forecast for the week could hardly be better with barely a breath of wind. In fact as temperatures edge towards 30 degrees, players might be yearning for conditions they've had here in the past and while the course ought to have some bounce to it, we should see low scoring.

All four par-fives are very short and there's only one par-four that stretches beyond 450 yards, so this is a course where anyone and everyone can compete and if anything ties past champions together it's accuracy, plus generally good touch around the greens.

That said, with the weather as it is a few bigger hitters might make hay and among them, Sebastien Gros was the first name I turned to at 66/1.

Gros has rediscovered his form since the middle of summer, contending in Germany, placing for us at three-figure prices in Finland, and then defying a slow start for another top-20 finish in Spain.

At 107th on the Road to Mallorca it's still a big price that he gets to the Grand Final and that's part of the reason he was at Qualifying School last week, finishing third in a decent field to underline that a missed cut in Portugal shouldn't worry us too much.

Between that weekend off and Q School he actually won a small event back in France and it's clear he's in a good place, which has never previously been the case when teeing it up in this event.

Despite that, Gros closed 67-66 last year to finish sixth, comfortably his best result of the season, and as a past winner in France at this level definitely has what it takes to go close in a fairly weak event to ignite his prospects of getting back onto the DP World Tour.

However at 40/1 in places and with all the 66/1 gone, Gros is no longer value in my eyes so I'll take UGO COUSSAUD to lead the home challenge.

The Road to Mallorca leader is easily excused a missed cut in the Open de France two weeks ago, where he hit the ball to a good standard in much better company, and before that had gone 2-69-29 at Challenge Tour level.

Although not as consistently excellent as he was at the beginning of the campaign, he doesn't look far away and this rates a great opportunity to rubber-stamp promotion, as he's contended in the Open de Provence in each of the last two seasons.

Now a proven winner at this level and with his long-game in excellent shape, he looks as solid as it comes for the grade and should be vying for favouritism with players less obviously suited to the course.

Aymeric Laussot and Alexandre Fuchs are two young Frenchmen at massive odds despite joining Gros in coming through First Stage last week and it'll be interesting to see how they get on.

Laussot doesn't quite have the pedigree of Fuchs and has largely struggled on the Canadian Tour but Fuchs, who won a couple of good amateur titles in the US and on the Alps Tour while still an amateur, certainly has ability and might show up at some stage.

But the one I really like from Q School is OLIVER LINDELL, a serious talent from Finland who has been around a while having turned pro at the age of 18.

Now 25, Lindell is yet to win a Challenge Tour event but he's getting close I suspect, and having contended in two of his last five starts plus fought back from a horror start to be 15th in Portugal, now might be the time to catch him.

Lindell sailed through Qualifying School in fifth place, just behind Gros, which means he comes here with a form line of 15-15-5 and set for his best go at this event having previously arrived with his game in bad shape.

He has the odd clue buried in his form book that it might suit, notably top-10 finishes at Is Molas, Le Vaudreuil and Pleneuf plus a strong record at Royal Obidos, and it may just be that the expected easier scoring conditions play into his hands.

Lindell's game turned a corner in his native Finland back in August and he might be able to emulate compatriot Lauri Ruuska, whose career path has been pretty similar. At 50/1 and upwards he's a bet.

With several of those I've been keeping a close eye on appearing short enough, such as the Kristoffer boys Broberg and Reitan, there weren't too many names on the shortlist this time.

BORJA VIRTO though does look a good price at 40/1 generally and while the enigmatic Spaniard comes with risks attached, he is well worth a bet here.

Virto was out of it after day one of this event last year but fought back with three sub-70 rounds for a top-20 finish, and I expect better weather and the anticipated lower scoring will both prove in his favour.

His form on the Challenge Tour this year is good, 15 cuts made out of 18 and three missed by the narrowest margin, and he's carried that with him on a handful of DP World Tour starts too.

Only because of his putter did he miss the cut in the Open de France last time and at Crans before that, both those events several levels above this one, and at 60th in the Road to Mallorca standings it's now time to focus on getting into the Grand Final in his native Spain.

Virto has top-fives at Le Vaudreuil and the Open de Bretagne, two events that correlate well with this one, and plays well at Royal Obidos which for my money is the strongest guide of all.

Should the putts drop there's every chance he's in the mix.

Lorenzo Gagli is showing a bit more and this shorter course helps while Enrico Di Nitto has enjoyed a good few weeks, getting engaged, advancing through Q School and finishing runner-up here in France on the Alps Tour.

Both will enjoy being near to the border with Italy and are of some interest at three-figure prices, but the name that caught my eye at huge odds was that of Ronan Kleu, runner-up in the Amateur Championship earlier this year.

Since then Kleu has mixed national service with the odd tournament start and he played nicely in the Swiss Challenge a couple of weeks ago, enough to believe that he has the ability to make some kind of impact, but there's plenty of guesswork involved in that assessment.

Instead I can't resist taking 2019 champion LARS VAN MEIJEL, who is probably playing a good bit better than some patchy results indicate.

Van Meijel began the season in excellent form and has seemingly gone off the boil since, but his last three missed cuts all came on the number before he ended that unfortunate sequence with a second-round 66 in Portugal to lie 12th at halfway.

Eventually finishing 31st there, he took another step forward in the Swiss Challenge, again fighting to make the weekend and this time pressing on for 25th, and it won't take much more to get in the mix in what looks a slightly weaker field.

Van Meijel has won twice in France, first on the Alps Tour then in this event a couple of months later, and the 29-year-old is still firmly in the mix to get back his DP World Tour card.

Having shown himself to be capable of contending at that level, he has a bit of class at this one and I'm surprised the market isn't showing more respect to a course winner who seems to have his head back in the game having after getting engaged in July.

At 100/1 in a place he's a fantastic bet but the general 66/1 is also worth taking. Should he win or hit the frame, our record will settle at that price.

Posted at 1000 BST on 04/10/23

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