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After the abortive start to the season at the end of 2021, the DP World Tour returns to South Africa for two weeks for two inaugural events on two courses that haven’t previously been used on the Southern Africa Tour in over a decade. This may be good for showcasing golf around the world, but not for betting. Both events are played on courses designed by Jack Nicklaus. Whereas next week’s course was opened seven years ago, Pecanwood Golf and Country Club opened in 1996. Since then, it has hosted several national amateur, two Big Easy Tour events in 2021 and a single Southern Africa Tour event – the Eskom Power Cup – in 2007. The course is long, measuring 7,697 yards, with one par-5 measuring 636 yards, and is a par-72. However, based 18 miles north Johannesburg, it is at altitude so these yards are much shorter in real terms. This can be evidenced by the 2007 Eskom Power Cup. Unfortunately, the Southern Africa Tour didn’t collate driving distance stats at the time, but the winner, Chris Swanepoel, ranked 2nd in driving accuracy that week and led the field in par-3 scoring (5th in par-4 scoring and 3rd in par-5 scoring). Admittedly, that was 15 years ago, but these are the only playing stats available for a Tour event on this course and the course yardage was 7,676 yards that week. Given that this is a Jack Nicklaus-designed course, it is likely to favour longer hitters over shorter ones, but not of central importance, as appears to be the case in 2007. These courses tend to be risk-reward courses which favour high and left-to-right ball flights. As with most Nicklaus-designed courses, the fairways are generous with a focus on the second shot. Scoring has been low on this course and, given the weather forecast, is expected to be so again this week. Given that the only Southern Africa Tour event held here was 15 years ago and there is a lack of course history in general at Pecanwood, there are only two angles offered this week. Angles to consider: 1. In-form players will contend The 2022 golf ‘season’ is fully underway now and particularly in South Africa where it is now late summer. J.C. Ritchie won back-to-back events in February on the Southern Africa Tour in events co-sanctioned with the European Challenge and while last week’s winner, Oliver Hundeboll Jorgensen, did not have a lot of form in February, all the rest of the top-5 did. 2. A good history in South Africa is important From the kikuya grass to the event being hosted by the Southern Africa Tour, there is plenty of reason to expect the winner to have a good record in South Africa. This would normally manifest in terms of a home player winning such events and South Africans have won four of the last five European Tour co-sanctioned events in South Africa, but it was just one of the five before that so the ‘home player’ angle can be overstated. Of those last 10 co-sanctioned events in South Africa, only one winner (David Lipsky, 2018 Alfred Dunhill Championship) hadn’t already recorded at least one top-10 in this country. Given that he was a 150/1 shot, it is not surprising. However, the next three players on the leaderboard had already secured at least one top-10 finish in South Africa. Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players has been selected. Scott Jamieson
Jamieson is a player in good form with two top-10 finishes in five starts in 2022 (Abu Dhabi Championship and Ras al Khaimah Classic). He has already won in South Africa (2012 Nelson Mandela Championship) and has four other top-3 finishes so is clearly comfortable in this region. Jazz Janewattananond The Thai has had a busy start to 2022, opening the year with a top-10 finish in the Singapore International on the Asian PGA Tour, playing in four events in the Middle East across the DP World and Asian PGA Tours, and then finishing 6th and 11th in the last two weeks on the Asian PGA Tour in Thailand. That is good form and follows on from the top-5 finish that he recorded on the European Tour in November (Dubai Championship). He has won five times on the Asian PGA Tour, plus once on the Korean Tour. He hasn’t played in South Africa since 2017, but the 26-year-old is a far better player now. Marcus Armitage
Armitage has won on the DP World Tour - last year’s European Open - and has shown good form so far this year with three top-20 finishes in five DP World Tour events. His form is also good in South Africa with three top-6 finishes in his ten starts on European Tour co-sanctioned events. All these pre-date his win last year. Tips 0-3; -6.00pts 1pt e.w. Scott Jamieson 70/1 (10Bet, Sport Nation 1/4 1-2-3-4-5) 18th 1pt e.w. Jazz Janewattananond 90/1 (10Bet, Sport Nation 1/4 1-2-3-4-5) 47th 1pt e.w. Marcus Armitage 33/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook, Betway 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) 11th
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