While the leading golfers around the world head to Mexico for the WGC those not so fortunate to make it into that tournament will travel to South Africa for the latest European Tour event – the Tshwane Open.
This is another tournament which is co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour and after the weather ruined the Joburg Open last week everyone will be keeping their fingers crossed that this tournament is unscathed.
Recent Winners
2016 – Charl Schwartzel
2015 – George Coetzee
2014 – Ross Fisher
2013 – Dawie van der Walt
The Course
Pretoria Country Club is the venue for the third successive year. The course is a par 71 which only measures 7,081 so it isn’t long and as such doesn’t necessarily suit the bombers.
In fact the key requirement around this course is accuracy in the long game. There is a video doing the rounds from Pep Angles where he drops a ball into the rough from not much of a height and it completely disappears so you don’t want to be backing anyone finding that stuff.
The course is treelined so the tee to green game will really be in focus this week. Accuracy really is the name of the game.
The Field
With so many of the top players over in Mexico it goes without saying that the field isn’t the strongest this week but it does have a competitive feel to it.
Former champion George Coetzee is in the field as is another in Dawie van der Walt. South African stars such as Dean Burmester, Jaco van Zyl and Thomas Aiken all tee it up this week as does the Chinese youngster Haotong Li.
Market Leaders
George Coetzee is the favourite to win the tournament this week. He begins the event as a 10/1 shot and coming into it off the back of a top ten finish last week he should be confident enough. He hasn’t won for a while though which would be a concern.
Dean Burmester also went well last week and he starts out as a 14/1 chance. Whether he has the accuracy to get it done remains to be seen but one man who definitely does is Thomas Aiken. He begins the week as a 22/1 chance.
Jaco van Zyl has knocked on plenty of doors in the last couple of years and if this one opens for him his backers will be rewarded at 25/1. It is 28/1 bar.
Main Bet
I’m only going with one main bet this week and it is on a man who I took last week who should be even better suited to this course than he was the two then. That is Thomas Aiken. Aiken is a monotonous straight hitter of a golf ball which is ideal for around here.
He began the year in the South African events in pristine form with a couple of top five finishes. Courses since then haven’t necessarily suited him but in the tournaments this course has hosted apart from this one Aiken has six top 10 finishes. Treeline courses are his thing as his Wentworth record shows and he should be a leading player this week.
Outsiders
This feels like the sort of event to chuck a few quid at some bigger priced runners and that is how I’ll complete my team to take into battle.
I’ll begin with a man who has already won in South Africa this season in Graeme Storm. He is another one who rarely shies from the fairways and while his form figures have dipped in recent times one or two things have gone against him at crucial times. I don’t think he’s playing badly though and at 66/1 with winning form in this field he looks a big price.
Jeff Winther was second here last year and I fancy he is building up for another decent tilt at the title here. He looks perfectly suited to the track. Like the majority of Danes he is an excellent ball striker with accuracy always the order of the day for him. His tee to green game was immaculate last week and while the putter didn’t cooperate it is clear he knows these greens better. I fancy him to be right in the mix here.
Felipe Aguilar is another one who hits the ball straight off the tee and that really can’t be underestimated this week. He may well have taken inspiration from his fellow South American player Fabrizio Zanotti winning recently and that should encourage him to get back among the winners again. He opened up in Dubai with an excellent round so he has the scores in him and on this track he has all the tools needed to be competitive.
Finally I’m going to have a go at Tjaart van der Walt who hit more fairways than anyone last week. If he repeats that here he will have a significant advantage on the rest of the field. TVDW has previous around this track finishing third here two years ago and given how well he looks to be striking it off the tee I wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t too far away this week.
Tips
Back T.Aiken to win Tshwane Open (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 23.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back J.Winther to win Tshwane Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back G.Storm to win Tshwane Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back T.van der Walt to win Tshwane Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back them here:
Back F.Aguilar to win Tshwane Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
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