Golf expert Ben Coley has four selections for the Hero Indian Open, including the in-form Max Kieffer.
Recommended bets
2pts e.w. Max Kieffer at 33/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
1pt e.w. Christiaan Bezhuidenhout at 50/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
1pt e.w. Paul Peterson at 66/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7)
1pt e.w. Poom Saksansin at 100/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
DLF Golf and Country Club is a venue so terrifying that within its treacherous walls lies strong incentive for the classier members of the field for this week's Indian Open: win and get the hell out of dodge.
Matt Wallace managed it last year, beating Andrew Johnston in a play-off, and his reward is the perfect excuse: "sorry, can't defend, I'm in the field for the WGC in Texas. Maybe next time?"
On his way to victory, Wallace had warned that "every hole is a double bogey waiting to happen," and he is absolutely right. In two editions here, 135 players have made the cut - only three managed to do so without carding a double-bogey or worse.
Some like to see professional sportspeople made to look bang average, but I can't say I'm among that group. I like fair courses, and if it's a fair course which sees Marc Warren make every number from two to 10, then fine. The fact that Warren was by no means on his own suggests this is not a fair course.
In mitigation, it has produced two very good winners. First, SSP Chawrasia averaged two-hundred-and-sixty-something yards off the tee yet dominated when first the European Tour came here, in 2017. I felt at the time that he'd spared organisers, his story being so remarkable as to force us to overlook the stage and judge the performance of the main actor.
In 2018, Wallace showed just how tough he is and with Johnston second, Emiliano Grillo sixth, two of the best rookies around inside the top 10 and home favourite Shubhankar Sharma ninth, ultimately class found its way to the top of the leaderboard. It tends to do that, and the lack of depth to this field will likely ensure a repeat.
If you can watch through the gaps between your fingers and focus on destination over journey, this still might be a decent vehicle for a bet and the best place to start just has to be the very top of the market, where Max Kieffer is worth sticking with.
Granted, backing longstanding maidens is not typically a wise policy, and I baulked when the first available show had Jorge Campillo as favourite. However, Kieffer is only 28 and form figures of 2-15-4 put him way ahead of most of these in terms of recent form.
When this event was first scheduled, a glance at the scorecard revealed a lengthy enough par 72 and suggested power might be the starting point, but that simply hasn't proven to be the case.
Though Wallace and Chawrasia both won essentially because they putted the lights out and hit brave shots when they had to, those in nearest pursuit were largely accurate from the tee. Driving the ball straight and keeping out of trouble - from the standard to the absurd - is absolutely the chief requirement here.
Kieffer should do that better than just about anyone and while he did struggle here a little in 2017, the hope is he can show the benefits of that experience and return to what was previously an excellent record in India.
Indeed, his sole win so far as a professional came in the Gujarat Kensville Challenge and having hit the frame in four of his last 16 tournaments, a good start can see him contend once more.
Anirban Lahiri has found his way to the top of the market, as well he should, and ought go well if building on an excellent finish to the Valspar Championship. He won this event when held at Delhi and would be the preferred option of the big two Indian players, with course member Shubhankar Sharma probably not playing quite as well.
However, rather than hope that someone with a touch of class returns to their best it could pay to side with those who've been contending regularly of late, so Christiaan Bezhuidenhout goes in next.
This accurate South African finished a good second to compatriot Justin Harding in Qatar, before an excellent weekend saw him bag another top-10 finish in the Magical Kenya Open.
Last week's 36th in Malaysia was underwhelming by comparison as the driver went missing, but it was his first time in Malaysia and I can forgive him for finding stifling conditions somewhat alien.
It's still form which reads well in this context and while this will be his first trip to DLF, that was true of the first six home last year and 13 of the eventual top 15. Perhaps having no memory of this place helped, although more likely it's another reflection of the grade we're in.
South African players won the last two editions of the Avantha Masters held on this property and Bezhuidenhout really ought to go well if unaffected by what has been a busy schedule.
S. Chikkarangappa and Rashid Khan are two Indian players with each-way claims, but since moving away from the tight, colonial surroundings of Delhi this event has taken on a more international feel. Essentially, while the course is grotesque in parts it is big and modern and not what the locals have grown up playing.
Any advantage they might have is therefore mitigated, particularly as the years tick on by, and the same goes for Siddikur Rahman even if the Bangladeshi has hinted that he has what it takes to win an event like this.
Paul Peterson is yet to miss a cut in India and while such a starting point ended the hopes of Pablo Larrazabal in Malaysia, the American does look to hold solid claims.
Peterson has been 55th and 23rd here but it's his more recent play, including 13th in Kenya and 30th last week, which really catches the eye.
Both those performances have been powered by hitting fairways and with that again the key requirement here in India, it seems that the left-hander - who ranked 12th for fairways hit and eighth for greens last year - has everything in his favour.
Gavin Green looks solid on paper and really could go well, Shaun Norris will take inspiration from the aforementioned Harding and also hit the ball nicely in Malaysia, while Robert Karlsson has been putting together some eye-catching rounds and is worth a second glance at a big price.
Similar comments apply to his compatriot Sebastian Soderberg but my fourth and final selection is Poom Saksansin.
Just 25, the Thai youngster has won three times on the Asian Tour already, including in India, while he played really well on his tournament debut here two years ago to finish 22nd.
Two starts back he finished ninth in a decent event on home soil and his golf since winning in a good field late last year has been of a standard which makes him an each-way player.
With the potential to be a bit better than most of these in time, Saksansin looks one of the more interesting options and it can't hurt that the man he beat in Sunday singles at the EurAsia Cup last year, Paul Casey, was a winner in the USA last week.
Posted at 1930 GMT on 25/03/19.
