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Czech Masters: A preview, tee-times and tips for this week's European Tour event

Image: Jamie Donaldson: Ryder Cup in his sights

The Albatross Golf Resort in Prague is the venue for this week's European Tour event - the D+D Real Czech Masters.

As for seeing an albatross, that looks rather remote given that two of the four par fives on the course measure in at over 600 yards.

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The fairways on the Keith Preston-designed par 72 have been substantially narrowed for the event and the European Tour website suggests the course will "play long".

Water is in play on seven holes - 4, 7, 9, 10, 16, 17 and 18.

The front of the betting market features a number of Ryder Cup hopefuls.

Jamie Donaldson is the 11/1 favourite ahead of 12/1 Bernd Wiesberger and Joost Luiten, while Danny Willett and Stephen Gallacher come next at 18/1 and 20/1.

There aren't any Czech players who will threaten the leaderboard but Wiesberger will certainly have some followers.

More from Czech Masters 2014

He told europeantour.com: “I will have some support with me this week. I drove here from where I live and it took me about five hours door to door. I've got some friends from the Lyoness Open coming over, my brother will be coming and my girlfriend too.

“It’s not too far from the north western part of Austria so maybe some people will make their way up here."

As usual, Sky Sports have live coverage of all four days.

Course form

This is the European Tour's first trip to this venue although there could be some clues from the recent past as it hosted the LET Prague Masters in 2011 and 2012. Melissa Reid took the title by a shot in 2012 while Jade Schaeffer carded a 64 on the way to victory in 2011. Looking at the top 10 in both years suggests the course may suit those who hit plenty of greens in regulation but aren't great putters.

R1 tee-times

Starting at hole 1 

0715 Dodge Kemmer (USA), Sam Walker, Adam Rajmont (Cze)
0725 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Craig Lee, Javier Colomo (Spa)
0735 Victor Riu (Fra), Paul Waring, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den)
0745 Michael Jonzon (Swe), Alexandre Kaleka (Fra), Vitek Novak (Cze)
0755 Kenneth Ferrie, Gary Lockerbie, Thomas Norret (Den)
0805 David Drysdale, Mark Foster, John Parry
0815 Duncan Stewart, Lloyd Kennedy, Ruaidhri McGee
0825 Graeme Storm, Christopher Doak, Ricardo Santos (Por)
0835 Andreas Harto (Den), Jamie McLeary, Yevgeni Kafelnikov (Rus)
0845 Marek Novy (Cze), Chris Hanson, James Kingston (Rsa)
0855 Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Keith Horne (Rsa), Brandon Stone (Rsa)
0905 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Zane Scotland, Tain Lee (USA)
0915 David Lipsky (USA), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Merrick Bremner (Rsa)
1215 Rikard Karlberg (Swe), Berry Henson (USA), Mikko Korhonen (Fin)
1225 Eddie Pepperell, Tom Lewis, Andy Sullivan
1235 Bradley Dredge, Hennie Otto (Rsa), Soren Kjeldsen (Den)
1245 Daniel Brooks, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Tommy Fleetwood
1255 David Horsey, Stephen Gallacher, Jamie Donaldson
1305 Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Peter Uihlein (USA)
1315 Oliver Fisher, Stanislav Matus (Cze), Gregory Bourdy (Fra)
1325 Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin, Emiliano Grillo (Arg)
1335 Eduardo De La Riva (Spa), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Roope Kakko (Fin)
1345 Joakim Lagergren (Swe), Rene Gruber (Aut), Andrey Pavlov (Rus)
1355 Tim Sluiter (Ned), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Oliver Bekker (Rsa)
1405 Jens Dantorp (Swe), James Heath, Daniel Suchan (Cze)
1415 Petr Gal (Cze), Garrick Porteous, Krister Eriksson (Swe)

Starting at hole 10

0715 David Higgins, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Petr Dedek (Cze)
0725 Bernd Ritthammer (Ger), Edouard Dubois (Fra), Gary Boyd
0735 Thomas Pieters (Bel), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Steve Webster
0745 Simon Dyson, Anders Hansen (Den), Robert Rock
0755 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Joost Luiten (Ned)
0805 Danny Willett, Scott Jamieson, Paul Lawrie
0815 Thomas Levet (Fra), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Lukas Tintera (Cze)
0825 Anthony Wall, Peter Whiteford, John Hahn (USA)
0835 Adrian Otaegui (Spa), Joachim B Hansen (Den), James Morrison
0845 Andrea Pavan (Ita), Adrien Saddier (Fra), Stuart Manley
0855 Joel Sjoholm (Swe), Nick Dougherty, Daniel Im (USA)
0905 Sam Little, Mathias Gronberg (Swe), Stephen Dodd
0915 Kevin Phelan (USA), Florian Praegant (Aut), Haydn Porteous (Rsa)
1215 Chris Paisley, Ben Evans, Nathan Holman (Aus)
1225 Daan Huizing (Ned), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Lee Slattery
1235 Jbe Kruger (Rsa), Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), Nacho Elvira (Spa)
1245 Rhys Davies, Jamie Elson, Xavier Ruiz Fonhof (Ned)
1255 Francois Calmels (Fra), Soren Hansen (Den), Wade Ormsby (Aus)
1305 Simon Thornton, Tyrrell Hatton, Richard Bland
1315 Peter Lawrie, Justin Walters (Rsa), Matthew Nixon
1325 Jason Knutzon (USA), Estanislao Goya (Arg), Oscar Stark (Swe)
1335 Sihwan Kim (Kor), Matthew Baldwin, Gary Stal (Fra)
1345 Carlos del Moral (Spa), Jorge Campillo (Spa), Simon Wakefield
1355 Phillip Archer, Richard Finch, Roland Hahn (Hun)
1405 Adam Gee, Alastair Forsyth, Phillip Price
1415 Jack Doherty, Brinson Paolini (USA), Ales Korinek (Cze)

Conclusion

With not much to go on this week, it's worth following the angle - given to us by the form of the two LET events - of getting with good iron players who aren't always the most reliable on the greens.

One extreme example is Emiliano Grillo, who ranks third for greens in regulation this season but is way down the putting stats (165th).

He actually didn't putt too badly (tied 27th for Putting Average) when 28th in Denmark last week and three starts before that he was eighth in the BMW International Open in Germany after opening with a pair of 66s.

He was actually ranked 1st in the All-Around ranking in Denmark so is doing everything well and he could be in for a big week. Take the 40/1.

There have been previous European Tour events played in the Czech Republic and the last (2011 Czech Open) was won by Oli Fisher.

The Englishman is currently 25th in greens in regulation and 120th in putting so fits the profile of who we're looking for.

Even more encouragement comes from looking at his recent form which reads 4th, MC, 9th, 12th.

That's superb form so he's worth an each-way punt at 25s.

Peter Hanson's win in the 2010 Czech Open vaulted him into the top 10 of the Ryder Cup standings and ultimately played a pivotal role in getting him on the European team for Celtic Manor.

Therefore, it's worth keeping a close eye on the Ryder Cup hopefuls here as they have such enormous incentive.

The prices don't leap off the page but Donaldson has been priced boosted to 12/1 by Sky Bet and he looks the class act of the field.

The Welshman was prominent in the US PGA and Marc Warren used a good display at Valhalla as a springboard for success in Denmark so Donaldson can hopefully do the same as he aims to secure his Ryder Cup debut.

Best bets

1pt e.w. Emiliano Grillo at 40/1 (1/4 1,2,3,4,5)

2pts e.w. Oli Fisher at 25/1 (1/4 1,2,3,4,5)

4pts win Jamie Donaldson at 12/1 

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