Ben Coley's Paul Lawrie Match Play tips

Recommended bets: Paul Lawrie Match Play

1pt e.w. Mikko Ilonen at 66/1 - one of the best match play pedigrees in the field and was eighth last time

1pt e.w. Robert Karlsson at 66/1 - runner-up in this two years ago; switch to Germany has to be a plus

1pt e.w. Gregory Bourdy at 50/1 - tenacious type who will relish this opportunity and is turning the corner

1pt e.w. Chris Paisley at 150/1 - much better than this price implies, especially in this part of Europe

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Now in its third year, the Paul Lawrie Match Play offers 64 of the European Tour's lesser lights a great opportunity.

In 2016, Anthony Wall ended a 16-year victory drought by beating favourite Alex Noren in the final of an event staged in Scotland, without doubt aided by a very different format to that which dominates the professional game.

One year earlier, Kiradech Aphibarnrat ended a miserable run of strokeplay form with a victory to trigger a climb up the world rankings which would earn him a first Masters start. The burly Thai finished 15th at Augusta and 2016 remains the only year in which he played all four majors, a fact which can be traced back to this event.

So while the field and the format aren't for everyone, the event will continue to prove relevant - especially to the one member of the field still standing at the end of Sunday's play.

The format here is simple. There are 32 seeded players, each drawn to face an unseeded player in a bracket which is not easy to find but nevertheless does exist.

The challenge - to find a player who can plot their way to the semi-finals and an each-way payout - is decidedly more difficult, but the first message is to look beyond the head of the market.

Richie Ramsay is an in-form, multiple winner who has flirted with the world's top 50, but while faring well enough he didn't get beyond the quarters when this was held in his native Scotland. Now in Germany on a course which probably doesn't play to his strengths, 20/1 looks short.

Jamie Donaldson is one of a handful of ex-Ryder Cup players who of course could click but 25/1 about someone who has totally lost his way is in no way appealing. Richard Bland hasn't won in over 400 starts at this level and while match play may help, I'd want to be certain at the same sort of price.

I'll instead start with Mikko Ilonen, the first of four selections as we go for one from each quarter.

This is a fairly straightforward case, really. Ilonen is one of the few players in this field with high-class match play form and it's not all that long ago, either.

He won the Volvo World Match Play in 2014 and what's particularly noteworthy is the list of names he overcame to do so. Victor Dubuisson, Graeme McDowell and Henrik Stenson are all Ryder Cup players, while Alex Levy is extremely dangerous and Joost Luiten is another proven performer on the European Tour. It was a much better field than this one.

Ilonen also fared pretty well at the WGC-Match Play one year later, thrashing Matt Every 8&6 before defeat to Lee Westwood by the minimum margin. Even a 4&3 loss to Jordan Spieth is form on a level very few of these can match.

The Finn lost a tight match to Max Kieffer in this last year having won well enough in round one, so there's really not a lot in his record which, in the context of this event, represents any kind of concern.

What is an issue is that he's had a difficult year and languishes at 136th in the Race To Dubai, but 65s in each of his last two starts - one to begin in Scotland, another to close for eighth place in Germany - suggest the game is turning, helped by a new set of irons which went in the bag before the Scottish Open.

Fifth through 54 holes at this course in the 2015 European Open, Ilonen is worth chancing at 66/1.

Assessing the value of course form gathered under strokeplay rules is not easy, but it can't be a negative to know your way around Bad Griesbach and that's part of the logic behind Robert Karlsson.

I put up the Swede in last year's European Open on the strength of a fabulous record in Germany and he duly delivered third place here to further underline how well he plays in this part of the world. This will be his 40th start in Germany and the tall Swede has three wins, two runner-up finishes and that third place from last September.

As with Ilonen, 2017 hasn't gone to plan but he's at least made three cuts in succession, including when 17th in an event he hosted on the Challenge Tour late last month, and a return to match play golf could see him take another step forward.

Karlsson won five matches in this two years ago before losing the final on the last to Aphibarnrat. So low was his confidence at the time that he considered letting someone else take his place, only to ultimately decide that there was little to lose by trying something new.

Don't forget, Karlsson is one of those with Ryder Cup experience and he did incredibly well to beat Justin Leonard on a difficult day for Europe at Valhalla. Yes, that's almost a decade ago but this event in 2015 really helped him recapture some form and I can envisage a repeat.

First-round opponent Edoardo Molinari has struggled badly since that shock win in Morocco earlier this season and while Ramsay could await in the quarters, Karlsson beat him on his run to the final of this and can repeat the trick.

Matthew Southgate has enjoyed a golden summer but, away from his favoured links golf, his looks to be the weakest section of the draw - even if it does include the defending champion.

With that in mind, I'll chance Gregory Bourdy after he struck the ball much better last time out, something which has tended to serve as a pointer towards a return to his best.

The Frenchman is a proven winner who will love this format, and his match play record shows five wins from six matches. Four of those were admittedly alongside Luiten when playing in a Seve Trophy on home soil, but his 5-0-0 performance there shows what he can do in this format if the putts drop.

Bourdy lost his only match in this event but defeat came at the hands of Nicolas Colsaerts in a tight, quality affair, and I can see him cruising past an out-of-sorts Marcus Fraser before a potential clash with Southgate, which would really open up a route to the latter stages.

Finally, Chris Paisley is a player I like and he's better than a 150/1 rag.

Paisley won two matches in this last year before running into a rampant Johan Carlsson, and the switch from Scotland to Germany could be massively in his favour.

For whatever reason, his best form has come across some of the Tour's chosen parkland stops in Europe, including when third at Munchen Nord-Eichenried and in Milan at the Italian Open, as well as an eye-catching 10th at Diamond Country Club in Austria.

It was no surprise with this in mind to see him flicker with an opening 67 here in Germany last time out and there's little to fear from a quarter whose top seed is Paul Dunne, who struggled at this course last year and concedes experience virtually all round.

Paisley starts off against Scott Jamieson, with whom he shares a coach, and that's no easy task even if the Scot lost in the first round both last year and in 2015.

However, if Paisley can come through it this sweet swinger could go a lot further than his odds suggest.

Others to mention include Florian Fritsch, who knows and plays this course well and will have had this event earmarked on the calendar, while it'll be interesting to see if Johan Edfors can build on third place in Germany last time.

Ultimately, the message from me is look beyond the obvious and keep stakes fairly modest.

Posted at 2000 BST on 15/08/17.

Related links

Sky Bet's market on the PL Match Play
Ben Coley's Wyndham Championship tips
Match play records via adamsarson.com