Out of the Rough: Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo (2025)

The DP World Tour kicks off its ‘Back 9’ swing with this week’s Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo at The Belfry Hotel & Resort.

This event was first staged in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters. It was played until 2008 when the event was lost from the schedule after Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano won at this week’s venue, The Belfry, in 2008.

The event returned in 2015 when Ian Poulter hosted the event at Woburn. 

Since its return we’ve seen the likes of Luke Donald, Lee Westwood (twice,) Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Danny Willet (twice) host this prestigious event.

This year’s installment will once again be hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, who also hosted it each of the last two seasons. Faldo received Knighthood in 2009 for his services to golf. Faldo is a three time Masters winner and three time Open Champion.

The Field

With the PGA Tour season entering its final week and just the top 30 of the season-long FedEx Cup Playoffs making it to this week’s TOUR Championship, the field here at the Betfred British Masters is loaded.

The likes of Aaron Rai, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rasmus Hojgaard, Alex Noren, Jesper Svensson, Nicolai Hojgaard, Matt Wallace, Niklas Norgaard and Thirston Lawrence will resume play on the DP World Tour after spending the season on the PGA Tour.

They’ll join notable DP World Tour regulars such as Marco Penge, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Jordan Smith, Kristoffer Reitan, Laurie Canter, Haotong Li, Andy Sullivan and John Parry in this week’s field.

This will also be the final week for any Team Europe Ryder Cup hopeful to gain points. As it stands, Rasus Hojgaard is the only person who can play himself into an automatic qualifying spot for the team. He’ll certainly need a victory this week and some help elsewhere but it is possible.

Additionally, Team Europe captain, Luke Donald, will be teeing it up, looking to get a front row seat at watching some potential team members. Donald will have the tough decision of naming his six captain picks in the upcoming week and with the likes of Rasmus Hojgaard, Nicoali Hojgaard, Wallace, Matt Fitzpatrick, Penge and Rai, among others, in this week’s field, he’ll get to see most of them in one place.

Norgaard comes in as the defending champion as he held off Lawrence by two strokes a season ago to claim victory and propel himself into a PGA Tour card slot. 

Other former winners of this event teeing it up this week include Daniel Hillier (2023.)

The Course

This week’s venue is The Belfry in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England. It plays as a Par-72 at 7,328 yards.

The Brabazon course at The Belfry was designed by Peter Alliss and Dave Thomas and first came to prominence when it hosted the Ryder Cup.

The parkland course is nearly unrecognizable from its Ryder Cup days with the then, hundreds of saplings, now turned into fully grown trees.

The Belfry is best described as a relatively flat course that features tree-lined, narrow fairways.

Water is in play on seven holes, most notably at the short, driveable par-four tenth. 

The tenth is arguably the most memorable hole on the course, described as a risk-and–reward hole which can be reached from the tee.

Another notable hole is the ‘brutal’ finishing hole. The 18th is a par-four featuring a drive over water and an approach over water as well. The green is then three-tiered.

This final hole offers plenty of chances for the event to be won or lost and can be the host for a dramatic finish.

The greens are Poa Annua and are fairly small on average. The larger greens at this course feature tiers and undulations, placing a premium on putting and scrambling.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is at most a ten-percent chance of precipitation across all four days this week. Rather rare for this time of year in England. Temperatures will begin at 66-degrees before gradually increasing to a high of 73-degrees come Sunday. Winds will begin on Thursday at nine miles-per-hour before dropping to six miles-per-hour on Friday. Winds will pick back up to eight miles-per-hour on Saturday and finish the week at nine miles-per-hour on Sunday.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Scrambling

• Bogey Avoidance

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

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

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

• Par Four Average Scoring

• Birdie or Better Percentage

Betting Card

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (+2200)

Some may call it a problem, but not me. I’m once again on Neergaard-Petersen for what feels like the 20th time this season. He is currently ninth on Tour in SG: OTT, tenth in par-four average scoring, 13th in both GIR% and birdie-or-better percentage, 22nd in bogey avoidance, 23rd in SG: APP, 28th in scrambling, 41st in driving accuracy, 62nd in SG: ATG and 70th in SG: PUTT. He placed 16th last week at the Danish Golf Championship and prior to a missed cut at the Genesis Scottish Open, he placed 14th at the BMW International Open. He’ll be making his tournament debut this week.

Haotong Li (+4000)

We last saw Li at The Open Championship where he placed fourth after being the talk-of-the-tournament and playing the final round on Sunday with eventual winner Scottie Scheffler. He did miss the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open but prior to that placed 38th at the BMW International Open, 60th at the KLM Open, 27th at the Austrian Alpine Open, fourth at the Soudal Open, second at the Turkish Airlines Open, 51st at the Hainan Classic, fourth at the Volvo China Open, ninth at the Porsche Singapore Classic, 16th at the Investec South African Open Championship, 41st at the Magical Kenya Open and won the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. He is currently first on Tour in both par-four average scoring and birdie-or-better percentage, second in SG: APP, fifth in bogey avoidance, eighth in GIR%, 27th in SG: OTT, 49th in SG: PUTT, 55th in scrambling, 116th in driving accuracy and 142nd in SG: ATG. 

Andy Sullivan (+5000)

Sullivan continues on into this week in some great form. He placed 16th last week at the Danish Golf Championship. Prior to that he placed seventh at the Nexo Championship, 17th at the Genesis Scottish Open, missed the cut at the BMW International Open, placed 33rd at the Italian Open, seventh at the KLM Open, 17th at the Austrian Alpine Open and 11th at the Soudal Open. Sullivan played each of the past four installments of this event at The Belfry where he finished T46th last year, T15th in 2023, missed the cut in 2022 and placed T6th in 2021. He is currently 12th on Tour in bogey avoidance, 18th in both scrambling and par-four average scoring, 25th in SG: APP, 28th in SG: ATG, 35th in driving accuracy, 37th in birdie-or-better percentage, 57th in SG: PUTT, 71st in GIR% and 95th in SG: OTT. 

John Parry (+5500)

Parry continues to be disrespected on the books and I’m here for it. They constantly dangle these big numbers in front of us and not expect us to take them. He is currently fourth on Tour in SG: APP, tenth in par-four average scoring, 11th in bogey avoidance, 17th in GIR%, 25th in scrambling, 27th in SG: ATG, 36th in birdie-or-better percentage, 70th in driving accuracy, 76th in SG: OTT and 92nd in SG: PUTT. He last played this event in 2023 where he made the cut. We last saw Parry at the Nexo Championship where he finished third. Prior to that he placed 16th at The Open Championship, 55th at the Genesis Scottish Open, 26th at the BMW International, 50th at the Italian Open, 55th at the KLM Open and fourth at the Soudal Open. 

Jacques Kruyswijk (+9000)

We last saw Kruyswijk at the Barracuda Championship where he finished fourth. Prior to that he placed 65th at the Genesis Scottish Open and 19th at the BMW International. He is making his tournament debut this week. Kruyswijk is currently seventh on Tour in par-four average scoring, ninth in bogey avoidance, 13th in SG: PUTT, 23rd in both GIR% and birdie-or-better percentage, 37th in scrambling, 54th in SG: APP, 85th in SG: ATG, 89th in SG: OTT and 128th in driving accuracy.