Martin Kamyer can justify favourite tag at KLM Open, says Ben Coley

Ben Coley confidently expects Martin Kaymer to make a strong bid to land his second KLM Open title...

Martin Kaymer will go into the KLM Open as a well-backed favourite and he's capable of justifying support at Kennemer.

The former world No 1 landed this title at Hilversumsche five years ago and, having rediscovered his form with a strong run through the big summer events, he looks primed to return to winning ways and lay down an early marker in the Ryder Cup points battle.

Kaymer has always been the type of player to reproduce his best form in events he's played well in before, often in spite of changes to the venue. This Harry Colt-designed links course is exactly the right type of track for him and there's been marked improvement in his putting over the last eight weeks, which has triggered top-15 finishes in four of his last five events.

All of these efforts have come in more competitive fields and Kaymer need only continue what he's doing to enjoy a massive week in the Netherlands.

There's a strong British and Irish flavour to previous leaderboards with England's Simon Dyson landing the title three times and Ross Fisher, Darren Clarke, Paul Casey and David Lynn also featuring on the roll-of-honour.

Pick of the bunch this time around might be 21-year-old Matt Fitzpatrick, who arrives in magnificent form and has plenty of links experience having only recently graduated from the amateur ranks.

With the Walker Cup going on at Royal Lytham, the Sheffield lad will have a constant reminder of how far he's come in a short space of time and were it not for my faith in Kaymer, he'd rate a 

tempting each-way bet even at what appear skinny enough odds. I firmly believe he's destined for the very top.

Instead of backing Fitzpatrick at 33/1, I'll instead take a chance on Alejandro Canizares at almost three times the price.

The Spaniard, son of former Ryder Cup player Jose Maria, was seventh in this event on this course back in 2006, in what was just his second European Tour start having only recently graduated from Arizona State, where he pretty much matched the exploits of fellow alumni Phil Mickelson and Paul Casey.

With that in mind it's easy to file Canizares as an underachiever but last year's victory in the Trophee Hassan, one of the most dominant displays of the season, underlines just what he can do when everything clicks.

A top-20 finish in Crans suggests his game is in good shape as it has been for much of the campaign and with strong ties to both this course and Wentworth, Colt's most familiar work, he might go well and reward each-way support.

Ultimately though, while cases can be made for Richie Ramsay, an in-form David Horsey and South American duo Felipe Aguilar and Fabrizio Zanotti, I think Kaymer is going to take the world of beating.