European Masters Tips: 5 Selections From Spectacular Crans-Sur-Sierre

Tommy Fleetwood’s thrilling win at East Lake signalled the end of the PGA Tour season which resumes in a couple of weeks before the Ryder Cup takes place at Bethpage Black.

This week, The Panel turn their attention to the DP World Tour which this week comes from the magnificent Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Switzerland for the Omega European Masters.

Defending champion Matt Wallace is hoping for another decent showing to secure a place on the European Ryder Cup team.

Captain Luke Donald must choose six wildcards next week to join automatic qualifiers Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Rasmus Hojgaard, Justin Rose, Robert MacIntyre and Tyrrell Hatton, so he will be keeping a close eye on the action over the four days.

Unless something catastrophic happens, Matt Fitzpatrick will almost certainly be in the team and the two-time champion from 2017 and 2018 is the 17/2 favourite on golf betting sites to win at this short, tree-lined course for a third time.

British Masters champion Alex Noren, who has also won this tournament twice before, is next in the betting at 12/1, closely followed by Aaron Rai at 14/1.

Aside from Sebastian Soderberg in 2018 when he won as a debutant at 275/1, winners have been from the top end of the market from the last nine editions, so The Panel are not looking for a player to cause a major shock at this 6,800-yard par-70 lay-out in the heart of the Swiss Alps.

Finding the small greens protected by bunkers and severe slopes will be key to success this week and a hot putter will also help, along with scrambling skills if players fail to find the putting surface.

As usual, The Panel have picked out three European Masters betting tips from the outrights, plus one top 20 and a triple-figured first-round leader.

European Masters Betting Tips: Wallace Can Book Ryder Cup Spot

Wallace is 12th in the Ryder Cup rankings, ahead of the likes of Rai and Harry Hall, who has been sensational on the PGA Tour this season.

Clearly, Wallace has some work to do if he is to convince Donald he deserves to be part of the Ryder Cup team for the first time.

Last year, Wallace banished the memory of his 2022 play-off defeat to Thriston Lawrence by edging out Alfredo Garcia-Heredia at the first extra hole, having held a four-shot lead heading into Sunday’s final round.

Wallace has hardly been pulling up trees on the other side of the pond this season, but he was third at the recent 3M Open and was three shots off the lead heading into the final round of the British Masters only for a closing 77 to scupper his hopes of victory.

The 25-year-old Londoner has been so-so for approach and putting on the PGA Tour this season, but he tops the rankings in the Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green metrics which should stand him in good stead this week.

Wallace is determined to play in the Ryder Cup and believes he can add “value” to the team should he be selected.

The Panel are expecting a big week from him and he gets the nod at 25/1 on betting sites as the first of this week’s European Masters betting tips.

Omega European Masters Tips 1: Matt Wallace (Each-Way) - 25/1 With Betfred (Five Places)

Omega European Masters Betting Tips:

• Matt Wallace (Each-Way) - 25/1 With Betfred (Five Places)
• Jordan Smith (Each-Way) - 28/1 With PricedUp (Six Places)
• Alex Fitzpatrick (Each-Way) - 60/1 With Betfred (Five Places)
• Jason Scrivener Top 20 - 10/3 With Coral
• Nacho Elvira First-Round Leader (Each-Way) - 180/1 With Bet365 (Five Places)

*Odds correct at time of publish, 5pm, 26/8/25

European Masters Predictions: Smith Still In The Picture

Jordan Smith is no longer a contender for automatic qualification for the European team, but victory at Crans-sur-Sierre would certainly give Donald something to chew on.

Smith is 16th in the rankings on the back of five top 10s this season, including a runner-up spot at the BMW International Open last month.

The 32-year-old from Bath is inside the top 10 for greens in regulation over the last eight months and he has positive numbers for putting using the Strokes Gained measure.

Encouragingly, Smith has finished inside the top 20 in his previous two appearances at Crans; 20th in 2023 and 12th a year ago, so this is a course where he tends to thrive.

It’s been almost three years since Smith was inside the winner’s circle at the Portugal Masters, but he has an opportunity to add a third European title to his name and throw his hat into the ring for a trip to Farmingdale.

Smith is 28/1 with betting apps and is the next of this week’s European Masters tips.

Omega European Masters Tips 2: Jordan Smith (Each-Way) - 28/1 With PricedUp (Six Places)

European Masters Betting Odds: Alex Fitz The Bill

Marco Penge was initially on the list at 20/1, having won twice this year, but it would perhaps be expecting too much of the Ryder Cup hopeful to repeat his recent victory in Denmark, especially against a quality field.

Attention will be on how Matt Fitzpatrick performs in the mountains, but perhaps this could be the week his brother Alex finally gets his hands on a DP World Tour trophy at three times the price of Penge.

Fitzpatrick has been a bit up and down this season, but he is on a high after finishing eighth at The Belfry thanks to an eagle at the 17th on Sunday which ensured a third three-under-par 69 of the week.

After Saturday’s round, the 26-year-old from Sheffield revealed he was happy with his “mental game” after what he described as a “pretty rough start to the year” which saw him miss the cut in four of his first five tournaments.

Fitzpatrick has finished fifth and sixth in his only two previous visits to Crans and without the pressure of Ryder Cup selection weighing on his shoulders, he could go well again.

At 60/1 with Betfred, Fitzpatrick is the last of this week’s outrights.

Omega European Masters Tips 3: Alex Fitzpatrick (Each-Way) - 60/1 With Betfred (Five Places)

European Masters Top-20 Tips: Aussie On The Ball

Jason Scrivener is only just inside the world’s top 300, so he is hardly staking a claim for victory in this beautiful part of the world, but a top-20 finish is not out of the question at 10/3 with Coral.

The Australian ended a run of three missed cuts with eighth place at the Barracuda Championship which uses the Modified Stableford scoring system.

In the last couple of weeks, he finished 12th at the Danish Golf Championship and only a bogey at the last at The Belfry prevented a second successive top-20 spot.

Scrivener ended a poor run on this course with 36th spot in 2023, but last year an opening-round 64 paved the way for a share of fourth spot.

He’s up against a tough bunch in Switzerland, but Scrivener is on a roll and is steady in all areas, so he could enjoy another decent four days in the Alps.

Omega European Masters Tips 4: Jason Scrivener Top 20 - 10/3 With Coral

European Masters First-Round Leader Tips: Nacho Looks Tasty

Nacho Elvira has a similar world ranking to Scrivener and has missed the cut in four of his last five tournaments, but he could be worth a punt in the first-round leader market at 180/1.

The Spaniard shot 78-77 at the British Masters and he was poor at both Scottish events in Aberdeen and at the Renaissance Club, but he has history of making fast starts at Crans.

Elvira was 20th after last year’s opening round and despite missing the cut in 2023, he was joint leader at the end of day one with a seven-under-par 63.

Seventh after Thursday’s round in 2022, the last three years have seen Elvira burst out of the blocks.

His form does not suggest he has a big opening round in him, but memories of his recent trips to Crans may spark him into life once more at a course where he has generally played well in the last seven years.

Omega European Masters Tips 5: Nacho Elvira First-Round Leader (Each-Way) - 180/1 With Bet365 (Five Places)

*Odds correct at time of publish, 5pm, 26/8/25