HotelPlanner Tour graduate Nicolai von Dellinghausen secured a maiden DP World Tour title at last week’s Austrian Alpine Open, shooting 5-under-par on Sunday to secure a two-shot victory.
2024/2025 DP World Tour
KLM Open
The International, Badhoevedorp, Amsterdam, Netherlands
5th-8th June
Soudal Open winner Kristoffer Reiten set the course on fire earlier in the day, flirting with 59 as he shot a 10-under-par 60 to take the clubhouse lead at 17-under-par. Von Dellinghausen remained composed throughout, holing an insane amount of footage to ultimately reel in the talented Norwegian. The DP World Tour moves swiftly on to this year’s edition on the KLM Open. This event was founded all the way back in 1912 and was originally known as the Dutch Open. It has been an ever-present on the tour since its inception in 1972. The 2020 renewal was cancelled due to Covid (making this the 105th staging of this event). KLM actually withdrew their sponsorship in the post-Covid economic climate (which could have potentially left this event in some jeopardy). But they returned to hosting duties last season, with mercurial Italian Guido Migliozzi seeing off Joe Dean and Marcus Kinhult in a three-man playoff.
Normally a nomadic event, this will be the 2nd successive edition hosted at the International. Opened as recently as 2012, the International is located near Amsterdam city centre. It was co-designed by former Masters champion Ian Woosnam and Belgian architecture firm Mastergolf. The International is a parkland course with major links undertones, with rolling fairways and hidden greens that wouldn’t look out of place in the Shire. The greens are huge and will require accurate approach play to create realistic birdie opportunities. Sergio Garcia won here back in 2019 courtesy of a mega tee-to-green performance Migliozzi bucked that trend last year, producing a negligible performance with the driver while shining with the flatstick. It’s simply too early to extrapolate any meaningful data from two events. Still, I think accurate iron-play will prove vital in attacking these quick, well-contoured greens. I also think that players with links experience should thrive on this layout (though rain softened the course significantly last year).
This looks like a fairly typical recent DP World Tour field, with talented young Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen leading the markets (despite missing the cut in his last two starts). He has five top tens across two tours this year, finishing runner-up in Qatar and Puerto Rico. Haotong Li has enjoyed a bit of a career resurgence this season while the likes of Sam Bairstow and Laurie Canter have been consistent leaderboard presences. Defending champion Migliozzi will look to kickstart his campaign while Norwegian sensation Kristoffer Reitan will aim to follow up that incredible final-round 60 with another fine display.
Past Winners
2024: Guido Migliozzi (-11) *playoff
2023: Pablo Larrazabal (-13)
2022: Victor Perez (-13) *playoff
2021: Kristoffer Broberg (-23)
2020: event cancelled
2019: Sergio Garcia (-18)
Betting Favourites (To Win): Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (16/1), Haotong Li (20/1), Joost Luiten (22/1), Sam Bairstow (22/1), Laurie Canter (25/1)
Value Bets
John Parry- To Win (40/1)
Englishman John Parry has been in excellent form these past 14 months or so. He dominated last year’s HotelPlanner Tour, winning three time to earn automatic promotion back to the DP World Tour. He immediately replicated that form on the tour proper, winning his maiden DP World Tour title at the Mauritius Open. He has grown into this season, making the cut in seven of his last nine events, finishing runner-up in Kenya while finishing in a tie for 4th at the recent Soudal Open. He currently ranks 5th on approach and should be a factor this week.
Marcus Armitage- To Win (50/1)
2021 Porsche European Open champ Marcus Armitage could make a serious run at this year’s title. He finished 13th at last week’s Austrian Open, leading the field in the GIR stats (which could prove crucial this week). He has led or co-led after round one of an event three times this season (he actually led at the halfway point of the Ras Al Khaimah event). He just hasn’t remained consistent enough over four rounds of golf. He ranked 4th in SG: Approach last week and could be a bit of a dark horse option this week.
The Man to Beat- Thirston Lawrence- To Win (25/1)
Thriston Lawrence has struggled on this year’s PGA Tour but immediately found his groove on his DP World Tour return, finishing in a tie for 4th at the recent Soudal Open. The 28-year-old South African is already a four-time DP World Tour winner and enjoyed a magnificent latter half to his 2024 campaign, finishing runner-up at the European Open and British Masters whilst losing in a playoff at the prestigious BMW PGA Championship . He is an excellent links player, finishing solo 4th at last year’s Open Championship at Troon.
