The first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge takes place on the Gary Player Course down in Sun City in South Africa as the players head onto the course for competitive action for the first time this week.
There is a massive first prize for this tournament and with it being a Rolex Series event the rest of the prize pool is decent enough so each man in the 63-man field will be looking to get off to a strong start and set themselves up for a decent cheque.
First Round Leader
Whenever a Rolex Series event comes around we always like to take on a couple of bets in the first round leader market. As with last week the field all go out within the space of a couple of hours so there is no weather bias or course issues or anything like that so it is basically a case of picking who we like.
Alex Noren has won around here in the past and he opened up with a six under par round in Turkey last week. That was a shot back from the first round lead but more importantly it highlighted that his game is coming back. I’m not convinced it is there to compete over four rounds around here but given that a good number of the field will be seeing the course setup for the first time and some of those who aren’t won’t be in the best form, I think the Swede could go in for the first round lead.
Justin Harding has a decent record round here and this is such a big event for South Africans that I can’t go the whole week without getting involved in one of them. I’ll take Harding to get off to a fast start. This is his debut here which is less than ideal it has to be acknowledged but he’ll be amped for this opportunity. The South African has a wonderful short game which will see him ahead of some on this circuit and he’ll be decent enough with the long game in home conditions. He stood out at 50/1.
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Thursday 3 Balls
The 63 man field go out in threes for the opening round with the last group seeing the defending champion Lee Westwood, Race to Dubai leader Bernd Wiesberger and European Tour star Matt Fitzpatrick going out at 08.50 GMT with Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Wallace and Erik van Rooyen go out 11 minutes prior to that.
This is a Rolex Series event which means that all 21 groups that are setting off on their journey will be priced up for the opening 18 holes. There is one bet which gets my attention and it comes in one of the earlier groups out onto the golf course. The beauty of this tournament is Sky are live for the first tee shot so we don’t have to miss a thing.
David Lipsky/Henrik Steonson/Adri Arnaus
Match tees off at 07.22 GMT
The group in question sees the former major champion Henrik Stenson out with two of the better players on the European Tour circuit in the form of David Lipsky and Adri Arnaus in just the third three ball of the day off the first tee.
Lipsky has a pretty ordinary record around this track, which I’m a little surprised at given that his record in the Swiss Alps is pretty strong. I can’t ignore the two spins he has had around here. Arnaus is here for the first time and I’ve mentioned all week how much of a negative I see that as being, which leaves Stenson and he is my selection in this three ball. His last three appearances in this tournament have all culminated in top 10 finishes and that is no surprise with the ball striking ability he has. I don’t think he’ll have to hole many putts to win this group but the more he holes the more I see him winning by.
Tips
Back A.Noren First Round Leader (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back J.Harding First Round Leader (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 51.00 with William Hill (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
Back H.Stenson to beat D.Lipsky & A.Arnaus for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betway
Back him here:
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