Out of the Rough: Austrian Alpine Open presented by SalzburgerLand

The DP World Tour continues on with its European Swing with this week’s Austrian Alpine Open presented by SalzburgerLand.

This week serves as the third stop in the European Swing as the Tour has already made stops at the Turkish Airlines Open and Soudal Open.

The Austrian Alpine Open was once a mainstay on the DP World Tour’s Schedule, being held from 1990 to 1996 and then again from 2006 to 2021, with the exception of 2019. It also served as a Challenge (HotelPlaner) Tour event from 1997 to 2005.

This year’s installment will be held at the Gut Altentann Golf & Country Club. This venue hosted the first three installments of the Austrian Alpine Open between 1990 and 1992.

This event was most recently held at the Diamond Country Club and had been since 2010.

The Field

American John Catlin was the last to lift a DP World Tour trophy on Austrian soil, defeating Maximilian Kieffer in a playoff in 2021.

The fill-in LIV Golf Tour member will be back this week to defend his title.

Joining him will be European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald who recently made headlines with his opening round of 67 at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow a few weeks back.

This week’s field also includes recent DPWT winners Martin Couvra, Eugenio Chacarra and Richard Mansell.

Other notable golfers teeing it up this week includes Haotong Li, Daniel Hillier, Jacques Kruyswijk, Keita Nakajima and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.

A slew of Austrian natives will be in attendance this week, looking to claim victory on home soil. Bernd Wiesberger leads that charge, with the likes of Lukas Nemecz and Matthias Schwab also serving as notable home favorites.

Former winners of this event (although not at this venue,) teeing it up this week include Marc Warren (2020,) Dylan Frittelli (2017,) Chris Wood (2015,) Joost Luiten (2013,) Wiesberger (2012) and Rafa Cabrera-Bello (2009.) 

The Course

The Gut Altentann Golf Club in Salzburg, Austria plays as a par-72 at roughly 7,352 yards.

It was opened in 1988 and sits in the heart of the Salzburg Alps. The course is known for its natural beauty.

It is a Jack Nicklaus design and was actually the first golf course in Europe that Nicklaus had designed.

Since 1999, this venue has been a part of the ‘Finest Golf Clubs of the World’ association and often is featured among top 100 golf courses in the world lists.

Overall, the course features a waving terrain from tee-to-green.

The fairways are mostly straight and are tree-lined. These fairways also feature a multiple of sand bunkers and water obstacles.

Water comes into play on 11 holes this week, as the course is routed around two lakes and a multitude of streams.

As is a trademark of Nicklaus design is contoured bunker complexes that surround huge greens. These greens average 640 square yards in size.

The toughest hole on the front nine is the par-four third where a stream cuts diagonally across the fairway to the point where it doglegs to the right.

On the back-nine, the toughest hole is the final hole, which is guaranteed to help offer dramatics down to the final stroke. The par-five 18th has a stream running left from the tee that cuts across the fairway as it doglegs sharply to the left.

In all, true to Nickalus' design, this is a true risk-reward golf course that can reward those who test its limits, but can just as easily derail anyone’s round if the risk is missed.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, we can expect some wet conditions to start the week. Forecasts currently call for a 80-percent chance of precipitation on Thursday. From there, Friday is calling for a 70-percent chance of precipitation, Saturday a 55-percent chance and Sunday a 25-percent chance. Temperatures will be at the lowest on Thursday at 64-degrees before reaching 71-degrees for both Friday and Saturday. Temperatures will peak at 74-degrees on Sunday. Winds will be at the highest on Thursday at nine miles-per-hour before dipping to eight miles-per-hour across both Friday and Saturday. Sunday is currently calling for just seven miles-per-hour winds.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (SG: OTT) / Driving Accuracy

• Sand Saves Percentage

• Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)

• Par Five Average Scoring

• Scrambling

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Birdie or Better Percentage

Betting Card

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (+1400)

I know the odds are rather slim for Neergaard-Petersen but he leads my stats-based model this week by a considerable margin. He is currently sixth on Tour in both sand saves percentage and birdie or better percentage, seventh in par-five average scoring, ninth in SG: APP, 13th in SG: OTT, 17th in driving accuracy, 20th in scrambling, 32nd in SG: PUTT and 47th in SG: ATG. Across his last three DP World Tour starts, he placed fourth at the Hainan Classic, tenth at the Volvo China Open and second at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. On the PGA Tour, he most recently missed the cut at the PGA Championship but also placed T22nd at the Valspar Championship and second at the Puerto Rico Open. 

Keita Nakajima (+3500)

Nakajima missed the cut last week at the Soudal Open and has now missed the cut in two-of-his-last-five starts. In the three events he made the cut, he placed 11th at the Hainan Classic, second at the Hero Indian Open and second at the Porsche Singapore Classic. Nakajima is currently seventh on Tour in SG: OTT, 19th in driving accuracy, 21st in SG: PUTT, 26th in scrambling, 40th in par-five average scoring, 63rd in sand saves percentage, 81st in SG: APP, 95th in SG: ATG and 102nd in birdie or better percentage. 

Wenyi Ding (+5000)

Ding is currently seventh on Tour in scrambling, 15th in SG: ATG, 29th in par-five average scoring, 43rd in SG: PUTT, 54th in SG: OTT, 57th in birdie or better percentage, 65th in sand saves percentage, 72nd in driving accuracy and 87th in SG: APP. Ding missed the cut last week at the Soudal Open but prior to that placed 12th at the Turkish Airlines Open, 45th at the Hainan Classic, eighth at the Volvo China Open, 14th at the Porsche Singapore Classic, 14th at the Joburg Open and 20th at the Magical Kenya Open. 

Romain Langasque (+8000)

Langasque is fresh off a ninth place finish at last week’s Soudal Open. Prior to that, he placed 44th at the Turkish Airlines Open, 63rd at the Hainan Classic, 26th at the Volvo China Open, 28th at the Porsche Singapore Classic and 19th at the Joburg Open. He is currently fifth on Tour in sand saves percentage, 12th in SG: PUTT, 21st in scrambling, 36th in SG: ATG, 58th in birdie or better percentage, 60th in driving accuracy, 71st in par-five average scoring, 74th in SG: APP and 112th in SG: OTT. 

Lukas Nemecz (+25000)

I had to come into this week with at least one Austrian on my betting card and that Austrian just so happens to be one of my favorites on the DP World Tour and HotelPlanner Tour. We last saw Nemecz on the DP World Tour at the Turkish Airlines Open where he missed the cut. Prior to that he placed 20th at the Magical Kenya Open, 15th at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open and eighth at the BMW Australian PGA Championship. On the HotelPlanner Tour, he missed the cut in his last outing at the Danish Golf Challenge but prior to that placed 11th at the Delhi Challenge and second at the Kolkata Challenge.