The penultimate golf tournament of 2025 on the DP World Tour takes place this week when a number of leading lights head to Johannesburg for the Alfred Dunhill Championship, an event co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour.
Shaun Norris won this tournament on home soil last term and he is back in the field to attempt to make a defence of the title but he’ll be defending the trophy on a different course to the one which he won on which always throws up a different dynamic.
Recent Winners
2024 – Shaun Norris
2023 – Louis Oosthuizen
2022 – Ockie Strydom
2020 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout
2019 – Pablo Larrazabal
2018 – David Lipsky
2017 – No Tournament
2016 – Brandon Stone
2015 – Charl Schwartzel
2014 – Branden Grace
The Course
We are back at the Royal Johannesburg Club in the South African capital city this week. This will be the first time that this course has staged a DP World Tour event since 2017 when the Joburg Open was last here. The one thing you can say about that tournament was when it was held here it generally delivered a top level winner so this might be a week for the better players in the field to shine on the par 72, 7,656 yard course.
The first thing to note is that the course doesn’t play nearly as long as the yardage as we are very much at altitude this week. The players who tend to fair the best here are the ones who hit a lot of greens. This isn’t a massive test off the tee so we are looking for players who attack with their iron shots. Usually scoring here is pretty low so it would make sense to have a confident putter on side, or someone who has shown a bit of form with the short stick.
The Field
At this time of year you wouldn’t expect too much in terms of top quality in the field but to be fair to the organisers they have attracted a quartet of players in the top 100 in the world rankings to compete in the event. They are the home trio of Thriston Lawrence, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Aldrich Potgieter while the man who will be defending the title in Mauritius next week, John Parry, is the other member of that band. The defending champion Shaun Norris is in the field as well.
These early season tournaments offer up the chance for the field to earn some necessary Race to Dubai points and we have three members of the early top 10 in those standings here in Bezuidenhout, Jayden Schaper and Dan Bradbury while Michael Hollick, Julien Guerrier and Angel Ayora are inside the top 20 beginning the week. A couple of other names to note include Dean Burmester, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen.
Market Leaders
Christiaan Bezuidenhout is one of the leading lights in the field and he will tee off as a 9/1 favourite to win the tournament on home soil. If iron play is the required need for this course then he certainly ticks that box as one of the leading iron players in the sport so there is certainly no reason to oppose him on that. The South African was fourth at the Nedbank last week and looks like the one to beat but whether the price is a little too skinny would be the only question mark.
Another South African comes next in the betting at 12/1 to win on home soil this week. That is Jayden Schaper, the man who was in a tie for second in Sun City last week. That followed a top 20 in very illustrious company at the DP World Tour Championship at the end of last season so there will be plenty who prefer Schaper to Bezuidenhout at a bigger price, especially as he is a decent iron player himself. He certainly isn’t one to sleep on.
The Spanish star in the making Angel Ayora is also 12/1 to win this tournament. There is no doubt that there is a DP World Tour victory waiting for him in the not too distant future given how well he strikes the ball. Ayora arrives here off the back of four straight top 10 finishes on the DP World Tour which includes the two Rolex Series events to finish off last season and also at the Nedbank last week. He is aggressive and in good form and shouldn’t be too far away.
A pair of South African players are the only other men in the field who are shorter than 28/1 and they are LIV Golf stars Dean Burmester and Branden Grace, neither of whom are strangers of winning on home soil. Grace might have his best days behind him but he has won around here in the past while Burmester is aggressive enough with the irons and a solid enough putter to get the job done. These two should be of interest when contemplating shortlists as well.
Main Bets
Dan Bradbury has already won on the DP World Tour in South Africa when he landed the Joburg Open a few seasons ago and having finished second in the Nedbank last week his love affair of the country looks to be continuing. In that tournament he led the field in strokes gained on approach which feels like a big statistic this week and he generally putts well in this part of the world too which is no bad thing. He posted -16 last week and -21 when he won the Joburg Open in 2022 so scoring low doesn’t faze him. As well as his win at that Joburg Open and second place last week, Bradbury has two other top five finishes in South Africa on the DP World Tour and looks a fair bet to add to those numbers this week.
Richard Sterne has won around here before when the Joburg Open was staged at this course and given that he finished last season in decent form he looks worth a go at the prices. He is generally a good iron player which automatically moves him up a shortlist this week but having finished third in the Dunhill Links in October along with T14 and T12 finishes in the Genesis Championship and Abu Dhabi Championship respectively, he should arrive here in decent form. Players generally go well on courses they have good memories and I’ll pay to see if Sterne does that this week.
Outsiders
Antoine Rozner has stuttered a bit in his career since he picked up playing rights on the PGA Tour but at his best he was one of the better iron players on the DP World Tour and very aggressive with those clubs too so if he can get back to that then there is no reason why he can’t be a bit of a sleeper here. You can get 70/1 on the Frenchman with some good each way terms and you would have to feel that a couple of years ago, prior to dabbling on the PGA Tour, he would have been no bigger than half of this price. With that in mind, I’ll pay to see how he goes here.
Jacques Kruyswijk finished fourth here in the Joburg Open back in 2017 and having won the Kenya Open earlier in the year he is obviously very comfortable in the continent of Africa and with his long game looking in decent order, he interests me this week too. Kruyswijk was fourth in strokes gained on approach in a better field than this on a tough course at the Nedbank last week so that has to be a positive and we know from his previous good tilt here that he can handle the greens here and it wouldn’t be a surprise were he to be right in the mix once again.
Tips
Back D.Bradbury to win Alfred Dunhill Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back R.Sterne to win Alfred Dunhill Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 46.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back A.Rozner to win Alfred Dunhill Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 71.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back J.Kruyswijk to win Alfred Dunhill Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
