European Tour golf action resumes this week with Austrian Open

While the PGA Tour has been back in action from the coronavirus-related shutdown for about a month, the European Tour will finally make its return starting Thursday with the Austrian Open from the Diamond Country Club in Atzenbrugg, which is near Vienna. Joost Luiten (pictured) is the +650 favorite on the moneyline odds at William Hill sportsbook.

It's a very weak field because of a small purse and the fact that nearly every top European is either playing on the PGA Tour this week at the Workday Charity Open in Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, or is resting up to play at Muirfield next week in the big-money Memorial Tournament. In fact, the Austrian Open is technically part of both the European Tour and lower-level Challenge Tour.

This is the European Tour's first visit to the Diamond Country Club since the 2018 Shot Clock Masters that was won by Finland's Mikko Korhonen. That was notable as the first major professional golf tournament in the world to use a shot clock on every shot. That will not be the case this year. Diamond Country Club is a par 72 at around 7,450 yards.

Luiten, from the Netherlands, is ranked No. 104 in the world and clearly the most accomplished player with a realistic chance to win in the field with six career European Tour victories – last the inaugural NBO Oman Open in February 2018. Luiten won this event in 2013, shooting a 17 -under 271 to beat out Thomas Bjorn by two shots and hasn't finished outside the Top 10 in the Austrian Open in his five starts there since 2011. Luiten tied for 10th and 21st in his final two European Tour events this year before the shutdown.

Thomas Detry is the + 700 second-favorite. The Belgian is ranked No. 116 in the world and missed the cut the last time he played the Austrian Open in 2017 (the only time he has played the event). Detry has a best finish of T6 on the European Tour this season and he is yet to win in his career on that tour. Detry, 27, once was one of the top-ranked amateurs in the world.

Meanwhile, Austria's Markus Brier is a +30000 long shot to win even though he has taken this tournament a record three times – twice when it was a Challenge Tour event overall. He hasn't won at Diamond Country Club and last did at the Austrian Open way back in 2006.

Likely the biggest name in the field is Miguel Angel Jimenez, who helped redesign the course in 2010. The 56-year-old Spaniard and former Ryder Cup competitor has five Top 20s in his last six starts in this event. He did win on the PGA's Champions Tour earlier this year. Jimenez is +3500. 

Who wins this week's Workday Charity Open on the PGA Tour? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the projected 2020 Workday Charity Open leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed six golf majors and just called last week's winner, and find out.