The Trophée Hassan II will be played at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, Morocco, and is hosted by Prince Moulay Rachid. Designed by Robert Trent Jones, the challenging course plays at a very long 7,615 yards and features three Par-3 holes — one surrounded by water — that measure over 200 yards.
The tournament was previously played at a different course from 2011 to 2015, so last year’s stats are all we have. In a small sample, both Driving Distance (DD) and Scrambling (SC) were important among last year’s top finishers.
Pro subscribers utilizing our Player Models for this week’s Euro contests on DraftKings will want to bake some Long-Term Adjusted Round Score (LT Adj Rd Score), LT DD, LT SC, LT Adjusted Birdies Per Tournament (LT Adj Bird Avg), and Greens in Regulation (GIR) into their models.
The Favorites
Feel The Burm
Dean Burmester ($11,700) finished 14th in his debut at this track last year and is coming off a win at the Tshwane Open, where he accumulated a massive 132.5 DraftKings points. Burmester’s 77.2 DraftKings points per tournament over the past calendar year are second in the field, which he currently leads with 6.7 percent odds to win.
Burmester has five top-12 finishes in seven starts in 2017: His 67.6 Recent Adj Rd Score is first in the field. More impressive: Burmester’s 16.6 LT Adj Bird Avg ranks second, his 71.2 LT GIR percentage is 18th, and his 316.5-yard LT DD is third.
Per our Trends tool, golfers with comparable metrics have produced a chunky Plus/Minus with excellent Consistency:
Joost Do It
Joost Luiten ($12,000) has the highest salary in the field but ‘only’ 5.9 percent odds to win — second to Burmester: He may be slightly overpriced, as Vegas odds and golf salaries are highly correlated. We also expect Luiten to be chalky, with a FantasyLabs projected ownership of 21 to 25 percent in large-field guaranteed prize pools.
Luiten’s 69.7 LT Adj Rd Score leads the field, and both his 73.1 percent LT GIR and 14.9 LT Adj Bird Avg are tied for eighth. Luiten has finished no worse than 29th but no better than 21st in stroke play events this year.
The Reigning and Defending Champion
Jeunghun Wang ($11,500) putted his way to victory on this course last year with an amazing 50-footer to keep the playoff alive on the first hole followed by a winning 20-foot putt on the second playoff hole. Wang’s 28.6 Adjusted Putts Per Round (PPR) are tied for fifth in the field.
With the Euro Tour on a recent hiatus, Wang has been on a bit of a whirlwind tour of the U.S., finishing 23rd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and playing in both the WGC Matchplay event and the Masters the past two weeks. Jet lag and overall fatigue could be a concern for the young three-time Euro Tour winner.
The Bump and Run
Choke up and take a narrow stance.
Jordan L. Smith ($10,400): Smith has made the weekend in all eight of his events in 2017 and has five top-25 finishes in that run. His 305.9-yard LT DD is 14th, his 54.1 LT SC percentage is 12th, and his LT Adj Bird Avg ranks 16th overall.
Romain Langasque ($9,000): Langasque has played the weekend and finished inside the top 40 in all six of his starts this year. His 307.8-yard LT DD is tied for ninth, his 15.2 LT Adj Bird Avg ranks fifth, and his 70.8 LT Adj Rd Score is 13th in the field.
Richard Sterne ($8,300): Sterne’s 70.7 LT Adj Rd Score is tied for eighth, and his 294.9-yard LT DD and 50.2 percent LT SC mark are good enough to help him get around this track in an effective manner. Sterne played this course in 2012 and finished T12.
Pep Angles ($7,700): Angles leads the field with a massive 320-yard LT DD, and his 14.5 LT Adj Bird Avg is tied for 14th. Angles has notched four-straight top-30 finishes and was 11th his last time out at the Indian Open.
Sebastian Soderberg ($6,100): Soderberg’s 305.6-yard LT DD is tied for 15th, and his 56.7 LT SC percentage is fourth overall. He finished 11th at the Joburg Open in February and could be a sharp yet scrubby piece of a stars-and-scrubs strategy.
——
Be sure to visit our suite of Tools to research all of the golfers.
Good luck this week!
