Andrew's The Dutch Futures Preview (2025)

With apologies for the brief break, it is good to be back.  We missed KFT events won by Christo Lamprecht and Emilio Gonzalez, the latter of whom deserved a win after a great season. If he can hit it far enough, he could have some success on the big tour next year (he is ranked fourth and will be getting a card.) Lamprecht certainly hits it far enough but I think there’s another year’s seasoning needed there, though he might be a more appealing betting prospect as it is clear what he wants – wide open fairways and easy rough, and the longest courses going. Puerto Rico, in other words. The KFT is on a break now until the playoffs begin in Tennessee in three weeks.

The HPT rolls ever onwards – like the DPWT, it is much busier in August and September than the American equivalents.  We missed a maiden win for column favourite Oihan Guillaumondeguy, nicely backed by Nate even if I missed out, and a second win of the year for David Law. Again, both should get cards – Guillaumondeguy will feature in the “2026 DPWT rookies” column I’ll pull together over the summer, whilst Law is a canny veteran who should return to the right level after a down year. They are one and two in the Road to Majorca rankings but things are hotting up to win cards, and we need to move to the Netherlands.

The Tournament

This is a new event, but this isn’t a new course for those with longish memories. We’ve been here before, as this hosted the KLM Open from 2016 to 2018 – when it was won by Joost Luiten, Romain Wattel and Ashun Wu. This course bills itself as an inland links, which is a good thing, and is designed by Colin Montgomerie which, um… isn’t. Nobody is a bigger admirer of Colin the golfer than I am, but Colin the course designer leaves me cold. That said, this 6,925 yard par-71 provides undulating greens, extensive bunkering and is a real approach and short game challenge – as demonstrated by the list of winners above.  Facilities are apparently fantastic so this should be a good week for the players, especially those who aren’t relying on power from the tee for too much of their success.

With cool, dry conditions and steady winds, this won’t be especially easy, though the gusts aren’t significant. It is worth noting that the wind will change direction through the week (though it appears that the dramatic changes will now happen on Monday – previously it looked like Sunday would be a different day.) That’s a challenge that some goflers find easier to manage than others. This will be a week when caddies earn their keep. Other than a few players who know this course from the old DPWT days, this will be new to the majority – it is infamous for not making tee times widely available and unless you know a member, you aren’t playing. So general links experience will be helpful, and I think that this year the Danish Challenge and the two French events (Blot Play9 and Le Vaudreuil) will be useful yardsticks.

The Selections

You may have spotted a logical fallacy above. “Unless you know a member, you aren’t playing”, said I. Let me rephrase: “unless you know, or are, a member, you aren’t playing.”  Well, Lars van Meijel is a member. In decent form at the moment, with a string of six made cuts and top 25s in his last two starts. He was tenth in Denmark this year and 17^th at Galgorm Castle in Northern Ireland last year. So, he can play links golf, has a tremendous knowledge advantage at a tricky course, and is in decent form. Lars is our first selection.

Next up, and surprisingly at a longer price, is his fellow Dutchman Daan Huizing. He’s split his time between the two tours this season but is a links specialist at heart – in the recent Nexo he was second after 54 holes before fading very disappointingly to 19^th. He’s won four times at this level, twice on links courses – the 2021 Irish Challenge at Portmanock Links and the 2013 Northern Irish Open at Galgorm Castle. This is an ideal challenge for him and he’s a confident pick given the very generous prices available.

Finally, from a wide range of UK and Irish links practitioners, I’m taking a value pick on Callan Barrow. He played a lot of links golf as an amateur with some great results (twice in the round of 16 at The Amateur and once a quarter finalist, winning the Scottish Men’s, second in the English Men’s, etc) and last year on the Clutch Pro Tour he won two events on similarly links-esque courses at Bowood and Royal Norwich. He’s enjoying his first year on the HPT and it is notable that he’s managed 23^rd in Denmark and eighth at Le Vaudreuil. This is an ideal challenge for him and whilst there’s a range of possible selections, few offer the likelihood of success that he can bring at the price available.

·         Lars van Miejel, 35/1, 1pt e/w, ¼ odds 5 places, SportingIndex.

·         Daan Huizing, 45/1, 1pt e/w, ¼ odds 5 places, Bet365.

·         Callan Barrow, 125/1, 1pt e/w, ¼ odds 5 places, Bet365.