Alfred Dunhill Championship Golf 2022 – Tournament Outright Tips and Betting Preview

There is one last golf tournament in South Africa on the DP World Tour in 2022 and it takes place this week when the wonderful Leopard Creek will host a number of star golfers when it stages the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

This tournament wasn’t held last year so Christiaan Bezuidenhout finally gets the chance to defend his title. He’ll do so against a very good looking field for this time of year but on the same course he won on in 2020.

Recent Winners

2020 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout

2019 – Pablo Larrazabal

2018 – David Lipsky

2017 – No Tournament

2016 – Brandon Stone

2015 – Charl Schwartzel

2014 – Branden Grace

2013 – Charl chwartzel

2012 – Charl Schwartzel

2011 – Garth Mulroy

The Course

It is the Leopard Creek Country Club that is the venue for the tournament this week. You never truly know what is more stunning here, the wildlife or the golf. Hopefully both will be fantastic around this par 72 track which measures 7,249 yards. The course underwent some work in 2017 and since then we’ve seen winning scores of -14 twice courtesy of an insane putting display from David Lipsky and that effort from Bezuidenhout, and -8 so this is a much tougher track than it used to be.

That makes accuracy very much a premium here. There was an element of that anyway with water in play on a number of the holes but since the changes the keys to success here very much seems to be hitting a lot of greens and having a very warm putter. The course has been fast and firm over the last two years and there is little to suggest we will get anything different here so accurate hitters who have been putting well should make the shortlist.

The Field

As with the other two weeks to open up the season in South Africa, the field is largely made up of leading South African golfers. That is nothing new given that Christmas is approaching and the top European golfers tend to leave it until the desert swing to get their new campaign underway. We still have some class acts on show though in the form of the defending champion Christiaan Bezuidenhout as well as Louis Oosthuizen, former winner Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and the winner last week in Thriston Lawrence.

They are not the only players from the Sunshine nation to be teeing it up with a chance this week. Dean Burmester is a danger whenever he tees it up on this tour while Hennie du Plessis and Wilco Nienaber are billed as winners in waiting. The European charge this week is headed by Adrian Otaegui and Eddie Pepperell, each of whom have a good profile for this track. Laurie Canter, Jorge Campillo and Edoardo Molinari would not be surprise winners.

Market Leaders

Christiaan Bezuidenhout is the 9/1 favourite to win the tournament. Regular readers will know that I’m not a fan of backing defending champions to make a successful defence of their title because of the strains on their time but given that it is two years since he won this crown originally that might not be such an issue this time around. He has finished fifth and third in his last two starts so he is in decent form for a good crack at defending the title but this feels like a stronger tournament than a single figure winner. That said, his last seven events in South Africa have form figures of 1-15-1-1-6-5-3 so he is tough to ignore even at a skinny price.

Charl Schwartzel is a three-time winner around here and he is 12/1 to win the title once again. That is more the price I would have expected the favourite to be in this field. I guess the question is whether Schwartzel’s best days are behind him and if they are then he isn’t likely to contend. The other question is whether his win on the LIV Tour earlier in the year has taken away any of his competitive edge. He was in the top 10 last week which suggests that isn’t the case so Schwartzel should be a leading contender here.

Louis Oosthuizen is also 12/1 to win the tournament and the same question about his competitive edge remains now that he has defected to the LIV Tour. He hasn’t played for almost a couple of months so you would imagine he is going to be rusty and that is probably more of a concern than his competitive edge, especially when you consider so many in this field have played one of the last two weeks if not both of them. This is a tough track and I’d like a competitive hit prior to the tournament in a player I’m backing so he isn’t for me this week.

Dean Burmester is the only player in the field shorter than 20/1 aside from the three already named. He is 18/1 to win this tournament. He was fifth in the South Africa Open last week so he arrives here in decent form and if length matters he certainly has plenty of that. I’m not so sure it will but there is plenty of class in him so he could easily contend in this anyway. Seven missed cuts in nine spins around here doesn’t inspire me into a bet though.

Main Bets

Charl Schwartzel is my idea of the winner this week. He loves Leopard Creek and has form figures here of 11-19-1-2-2-MC-14-2-2-1-1-26-1-4-MC-3. To say that he knows this place like the back of his hand and has good memories here is an understatement. Schwartzel had a spin last week where he made the top 10 and while there are all sorts of controversies surrounding his LIV win in England back in June, the field he beat that week contained top class golfers of a higher level than what he’ll encounter here. I would imagine the motivation for Schwartzel is world ranking points and while there aren’t a great deal on offer here, every little will help him. I think he’s the one to beat this week.

This is a tricky week to use statistics to guide us because some of the caddy recorded statistics last week look ridiculous but while George Coetzee might not have gained quite the amount of shots off the tee last week that was recorded but we can deduce that he was hitting the ball well. The opposite can be said of his putting but that is less of a concern because he is usually a very good putter and if he can rediscover some form with that club then there is no reason to suggest he can’t be competitive here. It is only a month or so ago that he won the South African PGA Championship and he has a couple of top 10s around here so at 40/1 he could be a big price this week.

Outsiders

I’ve been waiting for the week to back Louis de Jager and I think this might be the one. He has four top 10 finishes in his last 10 starts and that includes a fifth place at the Joburg Open a couple of weeks ago. De Jager has put himself into position to win on a couple of occasions but has either found a couple too good or not made the most of his opportunity. In those 10 events four times he has been in the top four for putting average and looks to be in the best form he’s ever been coming to this tournament. He has to be said his record here is average but he has shot 69 and 67 around here and if his current form inspires those sorts of rounds out of him he could well be in the mix again.

Ockie Strydom put himself in the mix to win the South African Open last week but a third round that wasn’t up to scratch soon put paid to his chances but I think his time is going to come. He has had eight top 10 finishes in South Africa in 2022 and but for that third round of 75 last week he would surely have added another to his total. He is knocking on the door and what those results show is that he is hitting the ball incredibly well. He looks a huge price based on the way he is hitting the ball, if he can just put four rounds together.

Tips

Back C.Schwartzel to win Alfred Dunhill Championship (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 13.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-7)

Back L.de Jager to win Alfred Dunhill Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-7)

Back them here:

Back G.Coetzee to win Alfred Dunhill Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)

Back O.Strydom to win Alfred Dunhill Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 176.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-7)

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