The DP World Tour heads to the idyllic St Francis Golf Links in St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape for the inaugural staging of the SDC Championship.
2022/2023 DP World Tour
SDC Championship
St Francis Golf Links, St Francis Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa
16th-19th March
Jorge Campillo was not the Spaniard expected to shine at last week’s Magical Kenya Open. But he carded a final-round 66 to claim a two-shot victory (the third of his DP World Tour career).
The tour’s African odyssey continues south with the inaugural staging of the SDC Championship. This event will be a co-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour.
St Francis Golf Links
This week’s venue- St Francis Golf Links- is regularly ranked as one of the top ten courses in the entire country.
It’s designer- Jack Nicklaus- regards it highly, saying in a December 2006 interview that it may be the best golf course he has ever seen. That’s some mighty high praise (albeit from a somewhat biased source).
Designed by the ‘Golden Bear’ and opened in 2006, St Francis Golf Links is a real stunner. Located on a hill overlooking St Francis Bay, St Francis Links will pose a real challenge to the professionals.
It has hosted 11 events on the Sunshine tour, including the prestigious South African PGA Championship for the last two seasons (George Coetzee won last year’s edition with a 15-under-par winning score last year).
This is a classical links layout that will reward those able to negotiate the idiosyncratic contouring of this course. There are several risk-reward par 4’s that could prove decisive this week.
As with many links layouts, scrambling has proved to be a vital stat to consider at St Francis. Players will need to get up-and-down from various extreme runoff areas. I would also favour the heavy hitters who are able to avoid trouble through sheer power.
Charl Blaauw and his team are feeling ready for the Pro Am! Jeff and the rest of us agree!
— St Francis Links (@StFrancisLinks) March 14, 2023
Let's go baby!#SDCChampionship #ProAm #SunshineTour #DPWorldTour
@sunshinetourgolf @dpwtc @SuperSportTV pic.twitter.com/mNJsDq6SNZ
The Contenders
Jordan Smith leads the markets this week (which gives a fairly stark indication of how poor this field is). He has been in pretty ordinary form since his barnstorming October victory at the Portugal Masters.
The Spanish pair of Adri Arnaus and Adrian Otaegui have turned into perennial figures atop European leaderboards while Antoine Rozner has fast developed into one of the more exciting players on tour.
South African youngsters such as Schaper will look to make a splash in more illustrious company this week. Multiple DP World Tour winner George Coetzee will also back himself to replicate his performance at St Francis last year.
Our players are good. Really good.
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 4, 2017
Here's Sergio and George Coetzee driving the par four 17th. pic.twitter.com/Qye2xmODYy
Past Winners
N/A
To Win Outright:
Jordan Smith 22/1 | Antoine Rozner 25/1 | Adri Arnaus 25/1 | Julien Brun 25/1 | Jayden Schaper 25/1
Value Bets
Jayden Schaper- To Win 25/1 | To Place 11/2
Young Jayden Schaper could very well represent South Africa’s best chance of success this week. He has the distinct advantage of course experience, finishing 10th here in last November’s SA PGA Championship (he actually has course form of 5th, 6th and 10th at St Francis Links). With form figures reading 17-13-7, Schaper looks poised for a genuine tilt at the title this week. He was in the mix to claim that maiden DP World Tour title last week, faltering on Sunday with a poor putting display.
Wilco Nienaber- To Win 50/1 | To Place 11/1
The Bloemfontein bomber is surely destined to become a multiple winner on the DP World Tour. At times erratic, he hits the ball a mile and has the capacity to tame St Francis Links. He already has seven top 10’s on the DP World Tour (including a runner-up finish at the 2020 Joburg Open). He has already won on the Sunshine Tour and will be relishing his prospects on a course he knows well. He finished 6th here in an amateur event in 2015. He also won the Nomads Coastal event in 2017. He finished in the top 30 in Nairobi and will be one to watch at this price.
The Man to Beat- Antoine Rozner- To Win 25/1 | To Place 48/10
I can forgive Antoine Rozner his missed cut in Kenya last week. I’m even willing to look past the fact that he has very poor South African form (a 20th at the 2002 Joburg Open was his best finish in ten starts). Simply put, Rozner has been a class apart from most of this field in recent times. He won the Mauritius Open in December- an event also co-sanctioned with DP World Tour. He also finished in the top six of both the Singapore Classic and Thailand Classic last month.
