KLM Open predictions: Bairstow to break through in Amsterdam
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- The International has hosted the KLM Open twice - in 2019 and last year
- This is a 6,914-yard par-71 layout, which has links-like characteristics
- Recommended bets:
- Sam Bairstow to win and each-way
- Thriston Lawrence to win and each-way
- Marcus Kinhult to win and each-way
The DP World Tour returns to the Netherlands this week for the KLM Open, staged just a few miles south of Amsterdam at the International.
The KLM has been semi-nomadic in recent seasons, and while the 2019 event took place at this week's venue, it was played at Bernardus Golf from 2021 to 2023, before returning to the International last year when Guido Migliozzi triumphed in a play-off.
At 6,914 yards, this is a short, exposed and windswept par-71, which was designed by former Masters champion Ian Woosnam. It's an inland course, but it resembles a links track, which suggests that form at that style of course is a good starting point.
English ace Bairstow should relish this test
Sam Bairstow has been contending at all sorts of venues in recent months, finishing sixth at the Hainan Classic in China, seventh at the Turkish Airlines Open and 16th at the Soudal Open in Belgium in his last three starts.
However, it is on links courses where Bairstow first caught the eye, finishing runner-up in the 2022 Amateur Championship at Lytham & St Anne's, before going on to make the cut in the Open Championship a month later.
The 26-year-old Sheffield man has since developed into a regular DP World Tour contender, driving the ball superbly and striking his irons well for much of this season.
Bairstow is making his course debut this week, but a windswept track like the International should play to his strengths and he looks primed to shed his maiden tag.
Lawrence loving life back on the DP World Tour
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It has been six months of struggle for Thriston Lawrence on the PGA Tour but, like so many before him, the South African immediately contended on his return to Europe two weeks ago, finishing fourth in the Soudal Open.
A four-time DP World Tour winner, Lawrence has come close to winning some huge titles on this side of the Atlantic, notably finishing fourth at last year's Open and second in both the British Masters and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
At his best, the 28-year-old is easily up to winning this and it is worth chancing him to build on his solid effort in Belgium.
Steady Swede could go one better this time around
Marcus Kinhult lost out in a play-off at the International last year, but the Swede can harness the positives from that performance to contend again this week.
A steady operator who is not fazed by blustery conditions, Kinhult's sole DP World Tour win came at the 2019 British Masters on a links course at Hillside, and he's been in encouraging form in the build-up to the KLM.
Kinhult finished 15th at the China Open in April and 12th at last month's Turkish Airlines Open, where only a 72nd-hole double-bogey saw him drop out of the each-way places.
