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PREVIEW: 2021 Sunshine Tour – SA Open

Damien Kayat previews the 2021 SA Open taking place at the Gary Player Country Club, Sun City.

SA Open Championships: Day 2
Image Copyright - Steve Haag Sports

Damien Kayat previews the 2021 SA Open taking place at the Gary Player Country Club, Sun City.

Two women looking excitedly at cellphone

2021 Sunshine Tour
SA Open
The Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, South Africa
2nd-5th December

Last week turned out to be quite the inauspicious start for the newly branded DP World Tour. Thriston Lawrence became the highly illustrious maiden champion on the tour (despite only playing 36 holes). The event was hugely affected by concerns surrounding the ‘Omicron’ Covid variant, one which has seen infections in South Africa increase rapidly. The tour was forced to initially cut the event down to 54 holes due to impending travel restrictions. But poor weather conditions forced the organizers to cut it down to 36 holes. Perhaps more disturbingly, this week’s event is no longer a co-sanctioned event with the Asian Tour and DP World Tour. It will purely be organized as a Sunshine Tour event (clearly the absence of many European Tour regulars played into this decision). Sadly, next week’s event at Leopard Creek has already been cancelled. What makes this week’s downgrade doubly sad is the history surrounding this venerated event.

This event dates all the way back to 1893, making the SA Open the 2nd oldest national open in the world (only the Open Championship surpasses that duration). Gary Player Country Club will host once again following Christiaan Bezuidenhout’s victory 12 months back. This is obviously the perennial host course of the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Gary Player’s iconic course is a parkland classic set in a volcanic crater. Despite being played at altitude, this course is still an absolute monster at 7, 833 yards. Players will need to drive well this week, combining considerable distance with accuracy. In short, this is the type of course that Dustin Johnson would relish. Lee Westwood- long considered one of the best ball strikers in Europe- has won the Nedbank Golf Challenge on three occasions. It has fairly narrow Kikuyu fairways and extremely punitive Kikuyu rough. The small, heavily bunkered bentgrass greens will require extreme accuracy from the fairway. Three of the last seven Nedbank winners have ranked 1st in Greens in Regulation. In reality, every aspect of your game has to be in shape to contend here.

Despite the absence of all the key European players, this year’s event has actually managed to compile a fairly decent SA rollcall. Defending champion Christiaan Bezuidenhout is a perfect fit for this course and will take some beating this week. Garrick Higgo and Dean Burmester are arguably the two form horses and will also look to contend. Big-hitting Wilco Nienaber looks absolutely perfectly tailored for the challenges that await at Gary Player Country Club. Zander Lombard and Shaun Norris were in contention last week and will look to write some wrongs this week. You also can’t write off Joburg Open champion Thristen Lawrence after his exploits last week.

Past Winners

2020: Christiaan Bezuidenhout (-18)
2020: Branden Grace (-21)
2018: Louis Oosthuizen (-12)
2018: Chris Paisley (-21)
2017: Graeme Storm (-18) *playoff

To Win Outright:

Christiaan Bezuidenhout 6/1 | Dean Burmester 10/1 | Garrick Higgo 11/1 | Dylan Frittelli 12/1 | Johannes Veerman 14/1

Value Bets

Zander Lombard- To Win 35/1 | To Place 15/2

I really think that Lombard has the capacity to bounce back from last week’s disappointment. He had decent stats in his runner-up finish, ranking 16th for GIR and 4th for scrambling. But crucially, he has some real course credentials. He led the Nedbank after rounds two and three in 2019, before a mini-collapse saw him finish in 8th. Lombard will probably be relishing this slightly truncated field and I think he represents excellent value at 35/1.

JBE Kruger- To Win 125/1 | To Place 25/1

As an outside bet I’m opting for six-time worldwide winner JBE Kruger (those six victories include four victories in his native South Africa). He also showed that he still possesses the winning touch this year, claiming the Gauteng Championship. He arrives at this event off the back of six straight cuts. He had a decent 32nd place finish last week at the Joburg Open. More importantly, he is yet to finish outside the top 20 at this course. That includes finishes of 3rd and 8th in Sunshine Tour events. He also finished 18th in this event last year. 125/1 looks very inviting for that type of course history.

The Man to Beat- Wilco Nienaber- To Win 25/1 | To Place 11/2

I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but big-hitting Wilco Nienaber surely has to contend this week. The 21-year-old has endured some recent struggles, missing out on a DP World Tour card in the Challenge Tour Grand Final. Nienaber may feel slightly less pressure this week with the downgrade in status. He is purely playing a Sunshine Tour event (he won the Dimension Data Pro-Am in May). Nienaber tied for 11th last week despite three double-bogeys over the weekend. That’s what the youngster has to watch out for: those big numbers.

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