Austrian Alpine Open 2025 Tips: 200/1 shot one of six for Jamie

The European Swing continues this week with a welcome return to Austria after a four-year absence, as the tour heads to Gut Altentann Golf Club for the Austrian Alpine Open.

As always, here is Jamie Worsley's comprehensive preview and his Austrian Alpine Open 2025 Tips. He's picked out six players ranging from 50/1 to 200/1!

The 2024/25 campaign has been the season of the breakthrough winner on the DP World Tour, and Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan became the 10^th such player—and fifth in the last six regular tour events—to earn his maiden DPWT success.

The Norwegian started the final round nine shots off the lead but made an incredible 10 birdies for a nine-under 62, forcing his way into a playoff alongside overnight leader Ewen Ferguson and Darius Van Driel. He then rolled in his 11^th birdie of the day on the second extra hole to claim the trophy.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The Austrian Alpine Open, a refreshed version of the Austrian Open, debuted on the DP World Tour (then European Tour) in 1990. After a seven-year stint, the tournament was downgraded to the HotelPlanner Tour (then Challenge Tour) in 1997, before regaining DPWT status in 2006.

Over the years, the event has had several notable champions, including Bernhard Langer (1990), Paul McGinley (1996), Bernd Wiesberger (2012) and Joost Luiten (2013). However, no one has enjoyed more success in this event than Austria’s Markus Brier, who captured three titles—two on the Challenge Tour (2002, 2004) and one on the DPWT (2006).

The event was last held in 2021, when American John Catlin emerged victorious. He returns to make a long-awaited defence of his title this week.

THE COURSE

Gut Altentann Golf Club opened in 1988 and was the first European design by Jack Nicklaus. It previously hosted this event from 1990 – 1992 but was extensively renovated in 2022 to bring it in-line with Nicklaus’ original plans.

The course usually plays as a par 72 but will play as a 6941-yard par 70 this week, with the 6^th and 12^th holes converted from par 5s into lengthy par 4s. It possesses 4x par 3s (155-195yds), 12x par 4s (362-499yds) and 2x par 5s (523-558yds).

Gut Altentann GC is an American-style parkland course, with large waste bunkers and water in-play on 10 holes, via lakes, ponds and a creek. They have created a hilly terrain, with manmade mounds coming into play throughout, and the majority of holes are open and exposed.

The fairway landing areas are predominantly generous, though several bottleneck the further you go and most are doglegged, some severely so. They are protected by large, smartly placed bunkers and while the mature trees rarely enclose an entire hole, they are occasionally positioned strategically and will cause line-of-sight issues into the greens if players find themselves on the wrong side.

The bentgrass/poa mixed greens are where the difficulty really lies around Gut Altentann GC and in true Nicklaus fashion, this is a second-shot golf course. These small, undulating and elevated surfaces are often very narrow or shallow in shape, and situated at an angle to the fairway, they are able to use some treacherously-tight pin positions. Well bunkered and with plenty of run-offs, hitting them will be a challenge.

This is a fun risk/reward course, with water in-play on three of the diminutive par 3s and each of the reachable par 5s. The par 4s offer great variety, with many short and gettable and a few lengthier holes—namely those converted par 5s—where players will be happy to get out with par and move on.

In addition, six of those 10 water holes come over the last seven on the course, which could lead to plenty of drama on Sunday.

THE WEATHER

Rain is forecast to be a persistent feature this week, falling on Monday and Wednesday preceding the start of the event and possibly reappearing on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

That should leave us with a receptive course and with little wind on the cards, scoring should be good in Austria.

KEY STATS

• SG: Approach/Greens-in-Regulation
• SG: Putting (bentgrass/poa)
• Par 4 Scoring

Iron play was already gearing up to be the most important asset to have this week due to the challenges that will be faced into the small greens. This belief is only strengthened by the likely receptive conditions.

If scoring is indeed good, players will need to make putts on the mixed bentgrass/poa putting surfaces, and with 12 par 4s at the course, par 4 scoring should also be a vital stat.

CORRELATING EVENTS

Finding correlating events/courses for new or returning venues is often tricky, but there are four that I think can help us figure out the puzzle at Gut Altentann Golf Club this week.

First up is the HimmerLand Resort, which hosted the Made in HimmerLand/Denmark on the DP World Tour from 2014 – 2023. This short, largely exposed and risk/reward course has bentgrass greens and manmade mounds that frame the holes throughout.

Denmark’s national event was renamed the Danish Golf Championship last year and took place at Lubker Golf Resort, which could also work as a comp. The short venue is tree-lined yet spacious, with small, elevated bentgrass greens, largely doglegged fairways and bold bunkering.

Host of the Open de France, Le Golf National, is another exposed American-style venue. Dramatic mounds frame many of the fairways and the undulating putting surfaces also use a bentgrass/poa mix.

Last of all, I think 2024 Italian Open host, Adriatic Golf Club Cervio is worth a look. As a par 70 measuring 6965yds, it’s almost identical in length to this week’s host. In addition, it features both tightly tree-lined and more exposed holes; the fairways are predominantly doglegged; and it is home to small, undulating greens.

THE FIELD

This week’s field is headed by Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who at No. 92 in the world is the only player from inside the top 100. He is closely followed by Haotong Li and Jordan Smith, who sit outside the top 100 at No. 103 and 105 respectively.

Defending champion John Catlin makes his first DP World Tour start since last year’s Irish Open. He is one of seven former winners in attendance, alongside Marc Warren (2020), Dylan Frittelli (2017), Chris Wood (2015), Joost Luiten (2013), Bernd Wiesberger (2012) and Rafa Cabrera-Bello (2009).

European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald will tee it up after flirting with the top of the leaderboard in the PGA Championship; talented young Spaniard, Luis Masaveu—who plies his trade on LIV—will make just his second professional start on the tour; and a new name among this week’s field is that of American and PGA Tour winner, Ryan Brehm, who takes advantage of the special PGA Tour exemption for the first time this week.

Austrian Alpine Open Odds

SELECTIONS

Market leaders (1/4 5 places): Jordan Smith 14/1, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 16/1, Haotong Li 25/1, Eugenio Chacarra 25/1, Matthew Jordan 30/1

A new course always means a certain level of uncertainty. Therefore I’m going to avoid the top of the betting and focus on finding some value further down the odds board.

1 pt Brandon Robinson-Thompson each-way (1/5 - 8 places) @ 50/1

Brandon Robinson-Thompson has threatened to breakthrough several times already in his rookie season on the DP World Tour. As a player who excels in approach and on the greens, this could be just the event for him to make that jump.

Robinson-Thompson looked comfortable when teeing it up at this level last year—finishing 6^th in the Czech Masters and recording top-20 finishes in Denmark and Spain. He’s carried that level of form over into 2025, picking up six top-20s in 11 starts and he has contended multiple times, recording finishes of 3^rd in Qatar, 4^th in Turkey, 7^th in the Joburg Open and 8^th in Bahrain.

Gaining strokes in each area, he doesn’t appear to have any real weakness. His putting has been especially strong, ranking 23^rd, but he’s been almost as impressive with his irons, ranking 16^th in greens-in-regulation and 31^st in approach. When we also factor in his rank of 16^th in par 4 scoring, he looks an ideal fit for this test.

Robinson-Thompson’s 14^th-place finish in Denmark last year bodes well. With both of his victories on the HotelPlanner Tour—in the 2024 Scottish Challenge and 2023 Irish Challenge—coming on short parkland courses, there is every reason to expect a big performance from him this week.

1 pt Frederic LaCroix each-way (1/5 - 8 places) @ 50/1

Frederic LaCroix has been highly consistent in 2025 and is one of the strongest ball strikers on the DPWT. He has a potentially strong piece of comp form relating to this test, and having produced an improved putting display in Belgium, he ticked a lot of boxes this week.

LaCroix has played a limited schedule this year, teeing it up just seven times, but across those starts he’s managed to accumulate four top-25 finishes. This includes on his last three starts, as he arrives here after finishing 13^th in India, 24^th in Turkey and 23^rd in Belgium.

His long game has done all of the heavy lifting, as he ranks 12^th off-the-tee, 16^th in approach and 34^th in greens-in-regulation. He’s largely struggled on the greens, but he ranked 15^th last week and I’m hoping he can maintain that at Gut Altentann GC.

LaCroix earned his DPWT breakthrough last year, at the short and somewhat strategic Lubker Golf Resort in the Danish Golf Championship. He can double his tally at this week’s similar setup.

1 pt Jacob Skov Olesen each-way (1/5 - 8 places) @ 80/1

Jacob Skov Olesen is out to a very attractive price despite not doing a whole lot wrong. Having backed him in the last three events, I see little reason to abandon him at a course where he looks a sound statistical match.

Appearing extremely comfortable on the DPWT since turning pro, this former No. 12 amateur and winner of the 2024 Amateur Championship began 2025 with two missed cuts in the Middle East but has only missed one in his last six starts. He’s recorded four top-15 finishes in that period, two of which resulted in top-10s: 7^th in the Joburg Open and 8^th in the China Open.

The Dane is gaining strokes right through the bag overall but is just failing to blend it all together in one event. He ranks 34^th in approach and 35^th in greens-in-regulation, 47^th on the greens, and most adept at scoring on the par 4s—ranking 11^th in par 4 scoring—he ranks positively in each of the key categories.

Olesen finished 5^th in last year’s Danish Golf Championship when still an amateur and can gain his first professional title at a comparable layout this week.

1 pt Oliver Lindell each-way (1/5 - 6 places) @ 80/1

The once precociously talented Finn, Oliver Lindell has had to wait nine long years for his shot at the DPWT, which he secured by finishing 3^rd on the Road to Mallorca on the HotelPlanner Tour last season. He’s looked at home at this level for the most part and starting to find form with his irons, he can enter the winner’s circle this week.

Lindell began this 2024/25 season strongly, recording three top-25 finishes in four events at the end of last year. 2025 started similarly positively, as he finished 14^th in Qatar on his third start of the year, and after the six less impressive results that followed, he has bounced back with finishes of 12^th in the Turkish Airlines Open and 25^th in the Soudal Open on his two latest starts.

He shone with his iron play last week, ranking 11^th in greens-in-regulation and 15^th in approach. This followed another strong approach display in Turkey and ranking 27^th for the season as a whole, he’ll feel more confident in attacking these small greens than many players in this field.

Comp form for Lindell is thin on the ground, but he did finish 26^th on his only visit to HimmerLand on the DPWT in 2016. Furthermore, he has an excellent record in Austria at the Euram Bank Open—played at the short and fiddly Adamstal Golf Club—where he has previously recorded finishes of 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th.

1 pt Elvis Smylie each-way (1/5 - 8 places) @ 100/1

After returning to form on the DPWT on his last two starts and giving a good account of himself in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, Elvis Smylie looks a huge price to contend in Austria.

Smylie earned his DPWT card after winning the Australian PGA Championship at the end of last year—where he beat a stacked leaderboard including the likes of Cam Smith, Jason Day, Marc Leishman and Cam Davis. He couldn’t quite find his feet as he began this global schedule in 2025, but he did record back-to-back finishes of 15^th and 16^th in China when we last saw him on the tour, while in his most recent start he finished 72^nd in the PGA Championship.

The Aussie youngster looked sharp with his irons there, ranking 37^th in approach in that elite field. This was a continuation of the form he’d shown in approach on his previous two starts in China, and I’m hoping he can keep up the quality approach play this week.

Smylie is one of the brightest stars in Australian golf and having held off major champions and proven PGA Tour winner for that Aussie PGA success, he looks fantastic value off the back of three encouraging performances in a row.

0.75 pts Algot Kleen each-way (1/5 - 6 places) @ 200/1

To finish, I’m going to take a punt on new Swedish pro Algot Kleen. This former top-25 amateur performed with enormous credit on his pro debut at Rinkven last week, where he hit the ball just about as strongly as anyone. He could be absolutely anything in the pro ranks, and it won’t take long for these starting prices to drop significantly if he again looks at ease in this company in Austria.

Kleen reached a high of No. 23 in the amateur rankings and racked up several noteworthy performances. One that especially stands out is his runner-up finish in the 2022 General Hackler Championship behind a certain Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen—our second-favourite this week.

He’s finished no worse than 34^th in six amateur starts this year, including recording three top-six finishes. He carried that over into his professional bow, finishing 31^st in the Soudal Open and if it wasn’t for a chaotic nine on the par 5 17^th in round three, he’d have finished just outside the top 10.

Kleen ranked 7^th in approach and 8^th off-the-tee there, displaying power and accuracy. We’ve seen just how quickly some of these top amateurs can adapt to the professional game in recent years, and last week’s performance certainly offered encouragement that he could be another to make a smooth and effortless transition.

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