Ben Coley returns with a preview of the British Masters, where the star attraction can begin a new chapter in his career with another win on home soil.
Golf betting tips: British Masters
4pts win Tyrrell Hatton at 14/1 (General - 15/1 bet365)
2pts e.w. Angel Ayora at 33/1 (Betfred 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1.5pts e.w. Dan Brown at 40/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Kota Kaneko at 125/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7)
0.5pt e.w. Danny Willett at 250/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
According to the internet, Husqvarna, new title sponsor of the British Masters, is a Swedish company 'founded in 1689 to produce muskets', but it's their new line in robotic lawnmowers which first won the heart of tournament host, Sir Nick Faldo. "I've played at the best golf courses around the UK and let me tell you – the quality of the fairways is so important for when you're playing," said the six-time major champion. And there's a lot of truth in that.
No musket starts then but pristine fairways will be expected by the strong field which assembles for the event which really kickstarts this golden autumn on the DP World Tour. It cannot be said enough: for three months from September, this is where the best men's professional golf takes place and while the parallel Tour Championship means the British Masters can't quite attract players of Faldo's ilk, this is a step up from two fun tournaments under very different conditions; a stepping stone to the final, high-class quarter of the season.
The transition from links golf to this classical, parkland test coupled with the rise in quality ought to make for something more predictable, though the Brabazon Course at the Belfry has some tricks up its sleeve too. Its configuration is rare – 12 par-fours, three par-threes and three par-fives for a par of 72 – and despite those par-fives generally ranking as the three easiest holes, and the 10th being driveable, scoring never gets out of hand. Six compelling tournaments held here since 2020 have all been won in something between 10- and 16-under.
Along with a narrow range of winning scores, drama has been the other guarantee. First, Rasmus Hojgaard eagled the 17th to leader Martin Kaymer's bogey and went on to win a play-off. Then, Richard Bland defied poor putting and the magnitude of the occasion to win his first DP World Tour title at the 478th attempt. Richie Ramsay doubled the famous 18th a year later, opening the door for Thorbjorn Olesen to finish eagle-birdie and win by one before, somehow, it became even more chaotic as Daniel Hillier stole the next one from a pair of 500/1 shots.
Things have calmed a little in two subsequent renewals which help to underline the conflict the Belfry presents. There's an argument that the scoring holes and some chances to cut corners favour big-hitters like Niklas Moller, who held off a load of strong drivers in 2024. But then, last year, Alex Noren beat Kazuma Kobori, with Nicolai Hojgaard now the outlier on a leaderboard of precision and short-game skills. That Noren was first in par-five scoring confirms that you need to take the cheap birdies, but that you don't need muscle to make that happen.
Taking the broadest possible view, the Brabazon has tended to favour control (even Hojgaard was sixth in fairways, tied with Noren, and Moller was fourth) and quality iron play. These are very hard fairways to hit so everyone is going to have to manage mistakes and play pragmatically when required, but outside of Olesen's smash-and-grab, a measure of precision has been required. More than that: accurate driving feels like a natural start point.
There are strong similarities with Eichenried, home of the BMW International Open where Kobori had finished third last summer, co-leading the field in fairways alongside the champion, Dan Brown. Bland, Hillier, Kaymer, Brown himself and a handful more players help support this obvious likeness, but there's a less obvious one that may offer even more clues and that's Crans-sur-Sierre, home of the European Masters.
Rasmus Hojgaard and Noren have won at both Crans and the Belfry, and Ramsay would've been completing the double had he won this as he perhaps should've. Sebastian Soderberg has been first in Switzerland and runner-up here, and Thriston Lawrence has too. Matt Wallace, Guido Migliozzi, both Fitzpatrick brothers, Connor Syme and one or two more have played well at both and though the fairways at Crans are far easier to hit, that tournament often goes to accurate players able to find very small targets and scramble well.
It's almost impossible to win either tournament without a high greens-in-regulation count and that all takes us back to a measure of control off the tee, which several of the market principals can boast. None, however, looks better value than the player who heads the betting, TYRRELL HATTON.
I've put up Wallace for this before and the in-form Englishman has been playing beautifully, his long-game arguably never better. He looks to have gone up a gear since becoming a parent and his record when coming back to the DP World Tour is very good. In fact, I've sided with him nine times in four years, all on this side of the pond, and he's produced a win, two runner-ups and a third, just once missing the top 20.
But while his chance is obvious, I can't get close to agreeing with a market which sees him cut to within a point or two of Hatton. That to me directly relates to DataGolf rankings which put them very close to each other, but while always a helpful indication, here I can't believe they're giving us an accurate reflection of these two players.
Wallace was second for us in Italy in the spring, his best performance of the year, but Hatton's best performances of the year include third in the Masters and seventh in the US Open. These are leagues apart. His win, at LIV Golf's Spanish event, saw him fend off Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia, plus the likes of Thomas Detry and David Puig. At the top end, LIV is – or was – of a higher class than a standard DP World Tour event.
On LIV, Hatton was mid-pack last week at a course which appeared to favour longer drivers, and more of a concern than the way he played could be the way he acted. Hatton's walk-on song garnered plenty of attention – I Want To Break Free rather lacked subtlety – and he ducked out of celebrations, no doubt keen to avoid a champagne soaking with a flight to the UK to catch.
Just where his head is at the moment is hard to say for sure, but he's played 11 times dating back to the Masters and has five top-10s, two of them at elite level. The reason he has fallen down the rankings is how he played at the very end of last year and the beginning of this one, and no doubt his B-game hasn't been as strong lately, hence finishes of 36th and 27th so far in August.
But a return to the DP World Tour really ought to sharpen focus and unlike last year, when he was 42nd in Ireland before top-fives in the BMW PGA and the Dunhill Links, he's not returning from a competitive break this time. He didn't need to be here, either: at 33rd in the Race to Dubai he's all but certain of his place in the DP World Tour Championship and with a baby of his own at home, he could've been forgiven for taking a week off.
Rumour has it he won't be fulfilling a rather pencilled-in obligation to speak with the media on Wednesday, when we could learn more, but the price makes all uncertainty acceptable. I disagree strongly with the modelling and would've had him at single-figure prices, so the chance to back him at 14s simply has to be snapped up.
Remember, Hatton has won at Wentworth and three times in the Dunhill Links as part of a fine record in the UK and Ireland, he has three top-three finishes from four starts at Crans, and he even played well for 54 holes of his one and only Eichenried start at the very beginning of his career. He hit it well on his sole visit to the Belfry two years ago, when crashing out having led at halfway, and a second-round 65 showed just what he can do.
I really fancy him to settle the score if he's switched on and ready to go and, with LIV perhaps now behind him, with Ryder Cup points up for grabs for the first time, I'm happy to rely on Hatton putting in a polished, professional display.
Brown can crack the code
Wallace rates an obvious threat but I don't like the price and there are plenty of others towards the front of the betting who can be bracketed in a similar fashion. As such, next on my list is DAN BROWN, who has predictably improved for a return to Europe and can take another step forward.
Brown's PGA Tour adventure has seemingly been a lot of fun but in terms of results, it peaked in the very first event in Hawaii. He's languishing at 142nd in FedExCup points and it seems that he'll give up on keeping his status and instead focus on a big autumn in Europe, where he's similarly low down the standings but has no status concerns to worry about.
Having narrowly missed the cut in Canada, Germany and Scotland, Brown hung around all week for a top-20 finish in the Open and produced another last week when, following a month off, he produced a solid weekend's golf to climb to 16th in the Nexo Championship.
It would be easy to take the view that these two top-20s under links conditions are best viewed in isolation, but for all that Brown came to wider attention when contending at Troon two years ago, his two victories strongly suggest that this is his game. The first of them came at Galgorm Castle, a tough, parkland course which favours accurate drivers, and the second came at the aforementioned Eichenried.
Based on that evidence it's not a surprise that Brown finished eighth here last year, a performance which followed 19th in the Nexo, and with his putter very much warming up there's no reason he can't go better still this time. Brown is a quality driver, accurate but not short, his approach play has remained strong despite having to adapt to playing on the PGA Tour, and both wins have immediately followed a big show of promise.
We've had two of those now and with improvement to come following a sharpener in Aberdeen, Brown can contend and is preferred to his travelling companion, John Parry, whose form at the Belfry is less promising and who hasn't played for a few weeks since the Wyndham Championship.
If you like Brown, it's hard not to like his predecessor at both Galgorm Castle and Eichenried, Ewen Ferguson. The Scot is even more accurate and a broadly similar player whose course record, while patchy, does include a top-five finish three years ago. In two subsequent appearances he's not prepared well – one saw him return from six weeks away, the other came amid a run of poor form – whereas this time he's in good nick.
Unfortunately, almost all the 50/1 disappeared on Monday and at less than 40s with all major firms bar William Hill, I have to let him go. Brown has been popular too but there's more juice in his price; Ferguson's now looks appropriate for a good, solid, DP World Tour yardstick. In horse racing terms, the handicapper appears to have him about right.
Back up the betting, Keita Nakajima is one of the chief threats to Hatton, but I can't help but feel his compatriot KOTA KANEKO has been overlooked and he could emerge as one too.
Kaneko is the latest from the Japan Tour production line to make his mark at this level, winning as a rookie in Austria having been runner-up a week earlier. Then 11th in Italy and having already produced five top-25s before all this, the youngster was one of the stars of the spring and could even earn himself a PGA Tour card.
The issue is that his hot form has come to a grinding halt but his last two missed cuts were in the Scottish Open and the Open, links golf almost completely alien to him and never likely to show him in his best light. Before that, he also missed the cut at Eichenried, but beneath the surface we can see that he struck the ball very well, enough to suggest that the nature of that parkland course was to his liking.
To my eye that's a potentially vital clue that the Belfry could suit him just as it did Nakajima, a player of a similar skill set. Kaneko ranks sixth in driving accuracy, a statistical category led by last year's runner-up here, Kobori. Nakajima is eighth, Ramsay is 10th, and last year's champion, Noren, ended the season ranked 11th.
Kaneko is a little further down the approach play stats but would rank around 20th if we isolate the last three months and as high as second if we strip out links golf from this same window, that aspect of his game improved, so a lot depends on whether he can reignite the putter which underpinned his good golf at the beginning of the campaign.
Should he do so, at a course where his arrow-straight driving should allow him to be aggressive with the second shot, Kaneko could be a big player. Perhaps he too will be inspired by a compatriot, Yuta Sugiura having won on the Korn Ferry Tour on Sunday. These were the two best players on the Japan Tour last year and Kaneko can remind us of his skills now returned to a more suitable form of the game.
Harping on about old prices is perhaps a weakness of mine but I do think it's interesting to note that when Kaneko entered the Italian Open as one of the form players, he was a 40/1 chance, just a little bigger than 28/1 Wallace. Given the excuses we can make for him subsequently (links golf twice and a rare lapse with the putter), surely the gap between them, which has multiplied ten-fold, is far too wide.
Angel to reward faith when you least expect it
Returning to the English challenge, there's a sound case for Dan Bradbury, who has a top-10 and a top-20 from three starts here and has never arrived with his game in ideal shape. After hitting the ball supremely well in Denmark and then skipped the Nexo, he was close to selection but there's no denying he seems to be in one of his putting funks at the moment, which worries me.
When Bradbury does gain strokes on the greens he's a massive threat, as evidenced by a win and two more top-six finishes from just five good putting weeks all year. We see something similar in his results at the Belfry and those who don't mind taking a chance with the flat stick may in the end be rewarded for following the money, which is coming for him as I type.
Preference is to take the carrot that's being dangled about ANGEL AYORA, who has undoubtedly become disappointing but should see this as an ideal chance to put that right.
A habitual contender earlier this year, including among some of the very best players on the DP World Tour, Ayora comes into this event in seemingly poor form: missed cut, missed cut, missed cut, then a modest 46th on his return to action in Denmark.
But again, context is required. While he was a huge disappointment in Germany (20/1 in a strong field), after that he missed the cut in two high-class events by narrow margins when putting horribly under links conditions, which he faced again when down the field last time out after a month away.
Back on a parkland course not dissimilar to the one at which he finished fifth in Italy, nor those in Africa where he was eighth and ninth, Ayora should be much more at ease and having started to hit the ball well again last time, any warming of the putter could make him a big threat in his quest for that first DP World Tour title.
He was 13th here last year when arriving in poor form, ranking fourth in strokes-gained tee-to-green, and again that speaks to how much happier he'll be back on a tree-lined course. Ayora followed it with eighth at Crans and has managed 13 top-10 finishes since his last visit to the Belfry, edging closer to that inevitable first win.
This time we get to take a bigger price because of form under conditions he doesn't really know and, two years on from his breakthrough on the HotelPlanner Tour, he rates a big threat. I simply believe he's a better player than Ferguson, for example, and he's accurate enough to bounce back to form before the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm join in over the next few weeks.
I remain convinced Ayora will play Ryder Cup golf with them, if not in Ireland then further down the line, and on the back of a promising Belfry debut which saw him shoot six-under over the weekend, he can prove a big player.
Forty-year-olds Jorge Campillo and Joost Luiten each boast solid claims, the former especially as his approach play has been excellent, he has correlating form, and having hit that milestone birthday in June I could see him threatening. Luiten is slightly less appealing as his trademark driving accuracy has dipped this year, but he has shown a little more lately, loves this course, and is a solid top-20 proposition.
It's somewhat tempting to chance recent PGA Tour winner Stefano Mazzoli now that he returns to Europe as a big outsider, while American fairway-finder Davis Bryant has the right game for the course, has been placed at Eichenried, is hitting it well, and will relish a return to the more controlled conditions of the Belfry. Of these four, he was the most appealing.
DANNY WILLETT though is the final selection and a very speculative one at that.
A former Belfry ambassador, Willett has three top-20 finishes in four starts here and that alone has to make him of interest at 200/1 and upwards. The first saw him stick around all week and the last two, including 12 months ago, saw him defy slow starts to get competitive at a course where he's carded a seven-under 65.
Granted, the first two of these efforts were back in 2021 and 2022, when he was generally more competitive than he has been in recent years, but last year's 19th saw him gain strokes through the bag after four wide-margin missed cuts in succession. His approach play had been abysmal, some of the worst on the PGA Tour, but a drop in grade combined with this suitable course sparked massive improvement.
I could see the same thing happening again and while he missed the cut in the Corales Puntacana last time, just before that he'd been 21st in a Scottish Open featuring most of the world's best players. And, one month prior to that, he'd finished seventh in the KLM Open, so that's two good DP World Tour efforts from just four attempts during the last six months.
Of course, this has the potential to go badly wrong but Willett's winning form in the UK, correlating form at Crans where he's a past champion, and strong record at the Brabazon, all make him an appealing outsider in an event which may just go the way of the favourite.
Posted at 20:00 BST on 24/08/26
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling.
Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.