Open de France

The Open de France gets underway on Thursday morning and it takes on added interest this season with the venue chosen for the next installment of the Ryder Cup. That means that Jon Rahm has returned across the Atlantic to get in some much needed course experience and he will also be hoping to demonstrate his commitment to the event. He goes off favourite as a result, but we're willing to pass over him this week given it will be the first time he's played the course.

The course has traditionally favoured players who excel at scrambling. In 2015, Bernd Wiesberger was ranked 3rd in scrambling, while the top five "scramblers" all finished inside the Top 6 that year. It was a similar story in 2014, where Thongchai Jaidee finished 2nd in scrambling, enroute to a runners-up result, while Matthew Baldwin was top of the stats and came in an impressive fifth. In 2013, six of the first seven home were inside the top eight in scrambling. It's a really key stat therefore, and we're going to target players who should excel in that area.

First up then, we're looking for Wiesberger to become a repeat winner. Currently ranked 5th overall in the season scrambling stats on the European Tour, he's second in terms of those competing in this event. As mentioned, he won this event in 2015, and has also finished inside the top 20 in each of the past four years. He's enjoying a decent season and is yet to miss a cut all season. A winner in the Shenzhen International, he followed up with 4th at the Volvo China Open, and has since collected 12th in the Players, 16th in the US Open among other decent results. At 18/1 he represents decent value with e/w terms of 1/4 for the first 6 on offer.

1pt e/w Bernd Wiesberger to win at 18/1

Our second pick is Jamie Donaldson. The Welshman hasn't been so impressive on the key stats this season, but recent performances last week and at the Nordea have shown plenty of improvement, and this is a course which gives him good memories - a fifth and a six in 2013 and 2014, as well as three other Top 21 finishes in the past suggest it suits his style, and he will be keen to get himself into the Ryder Cup picture. With 14th and 7th placed finishes on his last two outings, he looks long at 70/1 with Betfred

1pt e/w Jamie Donaldson to win at 70/1

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