Romero returns at Omega European Masters
IN: News | European PGA | Omega European Masters (2007) | Preview | by Bruce Young | 04 Sep 2007
The beautiful alpine town of Crans Sur Sierre, high above the Rhone Valley in Switzerland is the venue for this week’s Omega European Masters with a very good field lining up especially given that many of Europe’s leading players are still in the FedEx Cup series.
The event was first played at this venue in 1939 but Seve Ballesteros was responsible for the redesign of the golf course several years ago with the new layout receiving mixed reaction from tournament players.
Andres Romero is perhaps the biggest improver in the game in 2007 with a near miss at the Open Championship and a win in Germany. He followed that with a good week at the Bridgestone event before missing the cut at the PGA. He has rested since then and might show this week whey he is considered as one of the game’s most promising players.
His namesake and countryman, Eduardo, who dominated this event for several seasons, will also get the chance to play at the age of 52 after two lucrative seasons on the US Champions Tour.
Paul Casey was very disappointing last week at Gleneagles but he has a solid record at this event and could finally get things heading in the right direction after a long run of mediocre weeks, by his standards.
The defending champion is Bradley Dredge although Dredge has not played well in recent weeks. Funnily enough Dredge’s lead in form to this event last year was not much better so it might be that this golf course and environment could turn things around.
After a great stretch of tournament finishes a couple of months ago, Niclas Fasth has gone off the boil in recent weeks. He has played very well in Crans and like Casey and Dredge he might improve quickly.
Lee Westwood has been solid if not spectacular in recent months and having won at this golf course several years ago this might be a week to turn his average finishes into something else.
Soren Hansen has done everything but win in recent weeks including a third placing last week in Scotland. He has missed the cut in his last two visits to Crans Sur Sierre but he could reverse that trend this week.
As they did last year, Omega seems intent of inviting a bright young American star to their tournament and this year it is Tadd Fujikawa who stole the attention at the Sony Open in his native Hawaii earlier this year. Michelle Wie faltered in this event last year but perhaps Fujikawa can do a little better.
The Australasian contingent is headed by the enigmatic Michael Campbell. Campbell has slipped to number 126 in the world just over two years since winning the US Open. He played a little better in Holland two weeks ago but it is hard to be convinced of his chances.
Peter O’Malley, Brett Rumford, Marcus Fraser, Matthew Millar, Terry Price, Steve Alker, Wade Ormsby, Mathew Zions and Andrew Tampion are also in the field from down under.
