The European Tour is no more and has been replaced with the DP World Tour which begins in earnest this week with the Joburg Open once again the tournament to kick off another campaign of globetrotting for the stars of this side of the pond.
This tournament wasn’t held last season because of the pandemic so JB Hansen would finally have got the chance to defend his title. He has chosen not to enter the event though so we are guaranteed a different winner this week.
Recent Winners
2020 – JB Hansen
2017-18 – Shubhankar Sharma
2017 – Darren Fichardt
2016 – Haydn Porteous
2015 – Andy Sullivan
2014 – George Coetzee
2013 – Richard Sterne
2012 – Branden Grace
2011 – Charl Schwartzel
2010 – Charl Schwartzel
2009 – Anders Hansen
The Course
We remain at the venue last used for this tournament which is the Randpark Golf Club in Johannesburg. The track has been used for the South Africa Open as well so it will be pretty well known for many in the field. It is a par 71 which stretches to 7,506 yards. If that sounds like a monster of a course do remember that we are at altitude in Johannesburg so the ball flies further which means that the course doesn’t play to anything like that sort of yardage in reality.
Finding the greens is not necessarily the easiest task in the world on this course and actually the statistic that appears most important is scrambling so I’ll certainly be having those with decent short games on side. Driving accuracy is more important around here than distance which would make sense given that the greens are hard to find. You’ll have a much better chance of doing it from the fairway. In the main the best putters have won the tournament here which I guess is a pretty obvious statement.
The Field
With the last season of the European Tour only finishing in Dubai last week the immediate boost in prize funds and everything else that is coming with the DP World Tour hasn’t attracted the best field this week. The field is largely made up of South African players with the likes of Dean Burmester, Dylan Frittelli and Wilco Nienaber among the home stars looking to win a tournament on home soil. Justin Harding and George Coetzee are two others.
There are a few overseas competitors in the field this week with the Czech Masters champion Johannes Veerman, former Wales Open winner Romain Langasque and the talented Matthias Schmid among them. Brandon Stone is a previous winner around here and he is looking for another success as are previous winners of this tournament such as Darren Fichardt. Richard Sterne, Daniel van Tonder and Zander Lombard are other home hopefuls.
Market Leaders
Dean Burmester won in South Africa three weeks ago and he finished sixth in Dubai to end the European Tour season last week. He’s clearly in good form but this will be the fourth straight week he has teed it up and I always think it is asking a lot to maintain form and intensity for that long, especially when there has been a bit of globetrotting going on in that time. He is probably the best player in this field but has three missed cuts and two top 20s in his five starts here. I might have considered him at a bit bigger but at 10/1 he isn’t for me.
Dylan Frittelli is the second favourite this week at 20/1 but he is going to need a return to home surroundings to bring a huge turnaround in his form just to be competitive here let alone win the tournament. He has played here twice and has offered little on each occasion. There is nothing in any of his statistics that bring about confidence he is ready to go in suddenly so other than his reputation and being on home soil I’m not sure he has much going for him here.
Wilco Nienaber and Romain Langasque come next in the betting at 25/1. Nienaber has showed his promise for a while but his year has been so bad he had to get his Tour card for this year via the Challenge Tour final and while he did it that isn’t a huge confidence boost as a punter. A better boost is the fact he was second here in 2020 and won on his last trip to South Africa so perhaps he shouldn’t be ruled out. Langasque was also second on his last trip here in 2018 and was on the scene in Valderrama last month so he isn’t without a chance. His putter hasn’t cooperated for a while which is a huge negative.
Johannes Veerman comes next on the best odds at 28/1. The Czech Masters champion appears one of the better players in the field. He has played here three times with results of MC-13-35. Interestingly on the last two starts he has begun with rounds of 62 and 64 but he hasn’t been able to see the job through. He’s clearly a better player in a better place now though and that might well be significant. He’s a perfectly fair price at 28/1 albeit to fewer places.
Main Bets
You have to putt well around here and it isn’t very often that George Coetzee doesn’t do that so I think he is something of an automatic pick this week. He has won two of his last five starts in South Africa and is a winning machine in this part of the world. He had a couple of questionable efforts around here but then he finished in a tie for sixth place in 2020 and I suspect given how well his putter is cooperating that he is a force to be reckoned with this week. In South Africa Coetzee has two wins, two seconds and two more top 10s in his last 10 starts so the 33/1 on him looks a natural bet.
Jayden Schaper is my other main bet this week. There are many things that interest me about the South African youngster this week not least the fact that his two starts here have yielded finishes of 6-18 The other thing which catches my eye about him is that in his last eight starts he has five top 10 finishes and a T12 so he is in conditions which really suit him. Schaper belts is a long way which will see him take care of the longer holes here which is a requirement and is putter has been in good form in recent times. Schaper could be the next big thing from South Africa and that could start here.
Outsiders
I’ll take a couple of South African outsiders as well with the first of those being Jaco Ahlers. Ahlers is another who is in decent form and he finished fourth here in the South Africa Open last year. In his last 10 starts he has five top 10 finishes which includes a couple of runner up efforts so he has been knocking on the door for a victory. If something has held him back it has been off the tee but there isn’t much of a test in that department here. This is a course for the irons and the putter and there has been nothing wrong with his game with those clubs. He might just be a big price here.
Another player who ticks a lot of boxes this week is Neil Schietekat, a player who has finished 2-5 in his last two starts. When you consider there are doubts over a number of the leading contenders in this field I think Schietekat could be worth a go here. He has played here on six occasions with his best effort coming last time out when he finished T11. While you have to go back to 2018 for his last win in South Africa, he has finished second four times and in the top 10 on another 10 occasions. Given that he looks in good form it might not be much of a stretch to suggest he could contend throughout this week.
Tips
Back G.Coetzee to win Joburg Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-8)
Back J.Schaper to win Joburg Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 36.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-8)
Back N.Schietekat to win Joburg Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-8)
Back them here:
Back J.Ahlers to win Joburg Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-8)
Back him here:
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