After a brief jaunt to snowy Tucson, AZ, the European Tour is back in South Africa at Copperleaf Golf and Country Estate for the inaugural playing of the Tshwane Open (co-sanctioned event with the Sunshine Tour). This is the sixth event in South Africa on the 2013 European Tour docket. Copperleaf is an Ernie Els design (par-72) and measures a mammoth 7,791 yards. The course boasts wide fairways, which will be needed to navigate three par-5’s in excess of 600 yards (the fourth par-5 is a paltry 597 yards) and two par-4’s in excess of 500 yards. 156 players this week and the weather forecast is calling for hot and sunny conditions with a 50% chance of afternoon thunderstorms all four days.
Tournament Notes:
• Coming a week after the WGC-Accenture Match Play and up against the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic this week, most of the game’s top players are not present. Highest-ranked players in the field: #83- Simon Dyson; #86- Kristoffer Broberg; #88- Danny Willett; #93- Darren Fichardt (winner two weeks ago at the Africa Open) & #96- Jeev Milkha Singh.
• South Africans have won the last four European Tour events on their home soil (Fichardt, Richard Sterne, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel). In addition, South African Jaco Van Zyl won the Dimension Data Pro-Am last week on the Sunshine Tour in George, South Africa. Moral of the story? South Africans have home field advantage if not for sheer numbers in the field alone.
• As mentioned, inaugural playing so no past champions in the field.
Names to Watch (Odds) *Note: Only European Tour Members listed:
• Thomas Aiken (16/1) – One of the favorites this week and has to be feeling a little left out of the South African victory parade. Aiken is coming off a T6 and T12 in his last two co-sanctioned events in South Africa and since March 2009 has 12 Top-25 finishes on his home soil.
• Garth Mulroy (16/1) – South African has three Top-20s in his last three starts: T9 at Joburg, solo 4th at the Africa Open and T16 at Dimension Data. Additionally, Mulroy has the length off the tee (averaging 297 yards) to contend here. Last win was at the 2011 Alfred Dunhill, so it’s time.
• Steve Webster (22/1) – Englishman has four Top-10s in his last six starts. Easy to tell why. Blistering GIR of 83.33% leads the European Tour.
• Hennie Otto (28/1) – South African started 2013 off slow (missing four of his first five cuts) but seems to be heating up. T19 at Joburg followed by a T3 at last week’s Dimension Data. Otto knows how to win at home too, taking the 2011 South African Open. This could be his week.
• Andy Sullivan (33/1) – 2012 Q-School grad making most of his start to 2013. Three Top-10s in seven starts and Top 30 in Stroke Avg., Driving Distance, Driving Accuracy and GIR. Sullivan might just be the “foreigner” to join Henrik Stenson and Scott Jamieson as the only two non-South African winners in the last 13 co-sanctioned events in South Africa.