South African Open Tips

South African Open Championship hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni - Glendower GC,Ekurhuleni, Gauteng,South Africa

21 November 2013 - 24 November 2013

Tip date: 19 November 2013

It’s the first event of the new European Tour season and takes place at Glendower GC. The course is a long 7500 par 72 with tree lined fairways. The gently undulating greens are relatively slick. Errant tee shots will be punished more heavily this year with the rough being up. Clearly accurate hitters will have an advantage. Water features on a number of holes so this could be quite a decent test. The non-running Henrik Stenson was last year’s winner.

Name	Odds	Bookmaker
Darren Fichardt	2pt each way 33-1	SkyBet	Finishing position: T37 Back Darren Fichardt Again
Darren’s looking a good bet this week. He’s in solid form at present having had a decent end to the season. He’s also making some positive noises about the state of his game right now. Fichardt is on very familiar ground this week and knows Glendower well. If the putter works this week then he’s a class above most in this field. He’s had a win and a runner up finish in South Africa in 2013 and looks a good bet to add to those successes this week.
Tjaart Van Der Walt	1pt each way 100-1	Ladbrokes	Finishing position: MC Back Tjaart Van Der Walt Again
Tjaart Van Der Walt, like many South African players, reserves his best form for his own country. He’s had a series of good finishes over the years and is always worthy of consideration in his own back yard. In fact, he had a six stroke victory in his last start on the Sunshine Tour. He had the heartbreak of missing out on a card at Q-School by a single shot last week. We think it’s worth a small punt to see if he can rebound with a positive result this week.
David Drysdale	1pt each way 150-1	Sportingbet	Finishing position: T59 Back David Drysdale Again
David’s year has followed a familiar path for the 38 year old Scotsman. As usual he’s comfortably held his card playing some solid, if unspectacular golf. He always seems to play his best away from mainland Europe. He’s had a number of high finishes in South African events over the years. With that in mind we feel a small interest at pretty good odds is justified this week, especially when you look at the quality of the field.