- Steve Taylor
Golf

A back to form Henrik Stenson won the BMW International Open in Germany despite missing the US Open due to injury the week before. Stenson has had an in and out year and at times looked like he had lost his way so this will be very welcome. When he hits form he can go on a run as we have seen in the past so he is one to keep onside in the coming weeks. In the States, Billy Hurley III won the Quicken Loans National, his first PGA event win, when holding off the veterans Ernie Els and Vijay Singh and he was rewarded with a place in the Open at Troon.
This week the tournaments are the Open de France in Europe and the Barracuda Championship in Nevada USA. Neither tournament is high profile, the winners last year were Bernd Wiesberger and JJ Henry. In France, with the feel good factor of the football Euros it would be foolish to ignore the home players with Gregory Bourdy the best E.W. option. Graeme McDowell has won twice here before and has shown signs of coming back to form and this tournament might spark a further revival and Joost Luiten is overdue a good performance ad should go well. Obvious favourite Rory is too short in the market.
The tournament in America has failed to attract a superstar field so this is a chance for one of the “maidens” to break their duck or for one of the nearly guys to win for the first time in a while. Three against the field are Gary Woodland, Brendon Todd and Seung-Yul Noh.