Ahead of the fourth Rolex Series event of the season at Wentworth Club, our stats guru has pored over the numbers to bring you three picks for your fantasy teams this week.
Favourite: Rory McIlroy
Where else to start than the World Number Two? The Northern Irishman is arguably the most in-form player in global golf following a runner-up finish at the Omega European Masters and a victory at the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour in his last two starts – and since his difficult start at The Open Championship it’s safe to say Rory has been on a roll.
Following that opening 79, the 30-year-old has played 21 rounds worldwide and has a stroke average in those rounds of 67.4, with a combined score to par of 67 under.
McIlroy is also a former winner of this event – having triumphed in 2014, one stroke ahead of Open Champion Shane Lowry – and has also shown he can play well on the re-designed West Course, having pushed eventual champion Francesco Molinari close before finishing as a runner-up last year.
Overall, it’s hard to look past the four-time Major Champion.
Form horse: Viktor Hovland
The Norwegian may be making his debut appearance at Wentworth Club this week, but he arrives in a rich vein of form.
Following his tied tenth finish in the PGA Tour’s The Greenbrier event last week, the 21-year-old tied an 18-year-old record having shot 17 consecutive sub-70 rounds – America’s Bob Estes the only other man to achieve that feat since records began in 1983.
Such remarkable consistency has seen the Oslo-born player, who is 100 under par in his last seven starts, rise from 340th to 101st in the Official World Golf Ranking since he turned professional after the U.S. Open in June of this year.
Although still in the infancy of his career, we can see Hovland strengthening his growing reputation with another good performance this week.
Wildcard: Ross Fisher
Simply put, Fisher loves playing at home.
The Ascot-born player has fond memories of Wentworth, where he won the third of his five European Tour titles at the 2009 Volvo World Match Play Championship.
Fisher also has an exemplary recent record at the Surrey venue, where he has finished inside the top ten in his last two appearances there.
Although not at his best of late, don’t rule out a return to form for Fisher this week.
Those are our picks, did we do enough to convince you? Add them to your European Tour Daily Fantasy Game and your line-up in the Fantasy Race to Dubai before the action begins on Thursday.
