The opening round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge takes place out in Sun City on Thursday and it will give the 72 man field the first chance to see the course in competitive play this week and allow them the chance to get themselves off to a fast start as they go in search of their share of the prize pool.
This is the second to last event of the European Tour season so every pound is important in an attempt to qualify for Dubai next week or to push their way into the top 10 of the Race to Dubai standings where there is a bonus at the end of the campaign.
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First Round Leader
As ever the first market to target is the one for the first round leader. As with last week the field is condensed enough so that it all goes out in the one session of play. Just 121 minutes will be between the first man teeing off and the last man so even if conditions were forecast to change it wouldn’t have too much of an effect.
That means we can just pick someone out to back in the hope that they are good enough to deliver the goods. That man for me this week is Ross Fisher. He is no stranger to going well around here. When he was second to Danny Willett a few years ago he led the field after 18 holes. Fisher has never opened up with worse than a 70 around here and he’s been on Twitter all week saying how much he is looking forward to the tournament. I wouldn’t rule out a fast start from him.
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Thursday 3 Balls
The 72 men have been put into 24 groups for the opening round of the tournament with 12 groups off the first tee and the other 12 off the tenth tee. The final group off the first tee consists of Rory McIlroy, Haotong Li and the defending champion Branden Grace. They will get plenty of the coverage while two groups before them Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Louis Oosthuizen should have a sizable gallery around with them.
All of the groups out onto the golf course have been priced up by the bookmakers which gives us a decent selection to have a go at. I always think the first round of this one is tricky to call though so I’m going to restrict myself to one bet in the three balls for this opening round.
Brandon Stone/Ryan Fox/Lucas Bjerregaard
Match tees off at 08.40 GMT
The penultimate group onto the first tee on Thursday morning sees the Scottish Open champion Brandon Stone out alongside the popular New Zealand player Ryan Fox and the winner of the Alfred Dunhill Links in Lucas Bjerregaard.
Bjerregaard and Stone have the chance to boost their top 10 hopes in the Race to Dubai rankings heading into Dubai next week and they both look to have the game to go well around this course. Fox will belt the life out of it off the tee which is decent enough but the rest of his game lacks the quality of the other two to get the job done here.
Aside from the Dunhill Links, Stone has been quite quiet since he won the Scottish Open and only in the two majors has he broken 70 in the first round. Bjerregaard has made a string of fast starts in recent times and arrives here full of confidence. I think he’ll take this three ball down.
Tips
Back R.Fisher First Round Leader (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back L.Bjerregaard to beat B.Stone & R.Fox for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Unibet
Back him here:
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