Soudal Open Picks, Predictions, Betting Odds

• The new tournament takes place in Belgium 
• Tree-lined Rinkven International hosted the 2018/19 Belgian Knockout 
• Austrian Ryder Cup star Bernd Wiesberger heads the betting

Soudal Open Odds

The odds for this tournament are provided by Caesars Sportsbook. Click on the odds below to head to Caesars Sportsbook and place a bet.

Soudal Open Picks

• Edoardo Molinari has shot back up the world rankings in the last year and looks ready to lift silverware again. Back the Italian for the win at +4500 with Caesars Sportsbook.
• Victor Perez is starting to show his class again and has course form too. He can beat compatriot Antoine Rozner in a 72-hole match at -135 DraftKings Sportsbook.
• Fabrizio Zanotti ranked 1st SG: Tee To Green when T8 at The Belfry last week. Back the Paraguayan star for a Top 10 finish at +550 with bet365.

Golf bettors always roll their eyes a little when a brand new tournament appears on the schedule.

There’s usually no course form to rely on and, if there is, it dates back a long way.

At first glance, that appears to be the case this week as the very unfamiliar sounding Soudal Open makes its DP World Tour debut.

However, despite the new name, close observers of golf in Europe may recognize the course: Rinkven International in Antwerp.

That’s because this venue staged two editions of The Belgian Knockout.

That was a somewhat funky format, with the first two rounds played as regular strokeplay but then giving way to a knockout stage featuring six rounds of nine-hole strokeplay.

Spain’s Adrian Otaegui won the first in 2018 before Italy’s Guido Migliozzi triumphed in 2019. It wasn’t contested in 2020 or 2021.

In effect, this is the Belgian Open but sponsored by Soudal – a leading producer of sealants, adhesives, and foams.

The Belgian Open was part of the tour schedule from 1978 but hasn’t been played as a strokeplay event since 2000 when Lee Westwood won by four shots at Royal Zoute.

Rinkven International actually has two courses and a hybrid of the pair is used in this week’s tournament.

The track in play is tree-lined, relatively flat, and fairly tight. It measures just 6,924 yards and has small, undulating greens.

Par is 71 and somewhat unusually there are just two par 5s (5 & 17) and three par 3s.

Back Molinari for the Win

An Italian won the last edition of this event in 2019 and I’m going to back another Azzurri this week.

Edoardo Molinari has suffered plenty of struggles since being a part of Europe’s winning Ryder Cup team alongside brother Francesco at Celtic Manor in 2010.

But over the last 12 months or so he’s improved his world ranking from a low of 638th to 281st – a major leap of 357 places.

In that rise we’ve seen him finish tied eighth at last year’s British Masters, tied second in the 2021 Porsche European Open, tied fifth in his home Italian Open and tied sixth at the Catalunya Championship in Spain two starts ago.

Going back to October’s Andalucia Masters, Molinari has made 10 of 12 cuts and finished tied 27th or better in half of those.

The big key is his iron play. The 41-year-old, whose last win came at the 2017 Trophee Hassan II in Morocco, ranks 11th for Strokes Gained: Approach this season.

He’s also 24th in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green so it just needs a decent week on the greens for him to contend.

Molinari did just that at the Catalunya Championship where he ranked 17th for SG: Putting so it’s in him to get the blade working.

When this tournament was last held in 2019, the three-time DP World Tour winner shot 71-68 to finish tied 35th in the regular strokeplay section so that helps his cause too.

Like most Italian players he’s comfortable in the trees having grown up playing woodland tracks so let’s back Molinari for the win at +4500 with Caesars Sportsbook.

Perez Can Outscore Rozner

Last week’s match bet ended in a tie as English duo Laurie Canter and Richard Bland both missed the cut on 1-over.

This week I’m going to try and get back on the winning trail in an all-French match-up.

My money is on the slight favorite, Victor Perez, who has been pitted against compatriot Antoine Rozner.

Perez has the great pedigree and already owns a pair of top fours in World Golf Championship events and a tied ninth at last year’s Players Championship.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing since those highs but he’s striking the ball much better again and it’s shown in his results.

Perez was tied eighth at last month’s ISPS Handa Championship in Spain while he added tied 21st in last week’s British Masters at The Belfry.

His Strokes Gained: Tee To Green numbers in both were excellent.

As for this week’s course, Perez played it in both 2018 and 2019, shooting 69-67 in the former before eventually finishing sixth.

Rozner has tended to show his best form in desert events where the scenery is much different to the enclosed spaces he’ll encounter this week.

In the last two weeks his form has been particularly ragged, resulting in missed cuts at both the Catalunya Championship and the British Masters.

He shot a second-round 81 in Spain and opened with a 77 at The Belfry.

Perez holds the aces so back him to win their 72-hole match at –135 at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Take Zanotti for a Top 10

Fabrizio Zanotti hasn’t played this venue before but it’s just the sort of test that would appeal to the Paraguayan.

The big appeal – and it’s why I’ll play him for top 10 rather than top 20 – is that he ranked 1st for Strokes Gained: Tee To Green at The Belfry (another tree-lined track) last week.

That helped Zanotti finish in a tie for eighth and he looks capable of repeating the feat here.

Back him for a Top 10 finish at +550 with bet365.

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