2018 NBO Oman Open Fantasy Preview
After a brief sojourn to Australian for the fun but slightly bizarre Perth Super Sixes, the European Tour heads back to the Middle East for its first ever visit to Oman.
The coastal gulf country is part of the burgeoning Golf community in the desert, and so it was only natural for the Tour to follow the big bucks and set-up the inaugural hosting of the Oman Open.
Conditions will be hot and humid, although that will be no problem for those who engaged in the Desert Swing just a couple of weeks ago.
This Al Mouj course is completely new to us and pretty much everyone on Tour – although it has hosted the NBO Grand Finals on the Challenge Tour for the past few years. How important that course form will be, despite its second-tier status, remains to be seen.
Joost Luiten of The Netherlands plays his second shot on the par 4,…
Joost Luiten of The Netherlands plays his second shot on the par 4, 17th hole during the first round of the 2018 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 18, 2018 in Abu… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images
What we have here is a sort of Links course in the desert: it is located on the coast, so a warm and possibly wild wind will sweep in off the Indian Ocean, although with a distinct lack of trees on the course – there is just one, apparently! – the players at least have one less thing to worry about. Not that this is a hazard-free zone though with sand dunes, bunkers and water hazards all playing their part.
The layout was designed by Greg Norman and features, in the European Tour website’s words, ‘massive’ greens. So keeping the ball in play off the tee and putting well could be the key factors this week.
We have three clear favorites in Alex Levy, Shubhankar Sharma and Andy Sullivan, and a case can be made for all. Levy has been playing well of late but has little Links form to speak of, Sharma has, incredibly, won four times in his last 12 starts worldwide, but bizarrely we still don’t really know how good he is. Sullivan is a gritty little performer, but with one top-ten finish in his last nine starts is he worthy of $11,000 billing?
Here are six fantasy roster plays plays who could well come up with the goods this week:
This Week’s NBO Oman Open Fantasy Picks & Predictions
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