European/Sunshine Tour - Joburg Open

It's not news anymore the fact that this season, South Africa is one of the countries (along with USA and UK) staging the most European Tour events (six each) and, bear in mind that the South African Open is not even part of the calendar this season! Whatever the reasons for this are, one thing is certain, the strength in depth of the South African professional golf at present is probably as high it's ever been, if not the highest ever. Just to put it into some (owgr) perspective, if South Africa would organise now an official owgr event only with SAF players, including all their top pros from the OWGR (5 in the top 50) and from their home tour, the winner of that event would earn no less than 30 owgr points! That's of course still not in the same league with US or UK, but it would be clearly quite a bit ahead of any other country out there...

Joburg Open is one of these six tournaments co-sanctioned between the European and Sunshine Tours in 2013 and one that is building already some history behind it, with this being the 7th time when it is organised. Charl Schwartzel could score a hat-trick with another win this year and he is clearly one of the big favorites, but the defending champion Branden Grace as well as guys like George Coetzee or Richard Sterne (also a past winner here) have shown repeatedly over the past year or so that they are determined and well able to be in contention in events like this. There are then quite a few other very capable home boys who would love, no doubt, to put their name on that trophy, but I feel it's about time for someone like Thomas Aiken to make a comeback to some good form and to put a stop to that big slide in the rankings... From the rather limited 'foreign' brigade, Robert Rock, Danny Willett as well as the two Scots, Warren and Drysdale could be a factor come Sunday, and apart from that, some of the southern emisphere brothers from South America have done quite well here, and in South Africa in general, in the past...

As we know, the 'top 64' for the WGC-MP will be one of the main topics of converstaion this week, and as I've been saying, there are three chaps playing in Johannesburg who are still in with a chance to catch a last minute ticket to Tucson, and that I'm sure should raise the level of interst in the event this time around. The three contenders are:
- R. Sterne: only a win will do, but based on his recent form and also as a past winner here, this is quite a possibility
- D. Willett: same as above, needs a win and he's been in decent form after his first win last year and he had two top 4 finishes here in the past
- K. Broberg - a solo 2nd could be enough for him and as he showed us at the Alfred Dunhill Champ last December, he's quite capable to get a solo 2nd in a big event in South Africa...

The tournament is hosted by the old Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club and will be played on two courses: East, the longest and toughest of the two (7592yds/par72) & West (7237yds/par71). As for the weather forecast, I guess this picture says it all... (not again! )

Spoiler:

pd

And when the field for the WGC MatchPlsay has been sorted we'll be talking about the Cadillac (and not necessarily a Pink one - Bruuuuuuuce!).
Apart from the owgr top fifty, the top ten in the R2D qualify. Of those not already eexempt, you'd have to think Jamieson is already almost certainly in, but these guys have a lot to play for next time they tee it up:

4th in R2D: Chris Wood with 329K Euros plus at least 34K from the MatchPlay.

6th: Gallacher: 314K plus 34K from MatchPlay.

7th: Webster: 256K playing this week - doesn't appear to be in next wk's field.

8th: Sterne: 244K and playing this week and next.

12th: Jaidee: 203K doesn't appear entered this week or next.

14th: Santos: 195K playing this week and next.

Others would pretty much need a win or two podium finishes (possibly).

Lots to play for!

Thanks pd. Yes the SAf golfers are really making their mark on the ET these years. And I still feel Goosen can make a comeback, either on th ET or in America. Impressive for such a relatively small nation.

Goose playing Pebble Beach this week peds . . . .

kwinigolfer wrote:Goose playing Pebble Beach this week peds . . . .

Cheers kwini. By "comeback" I also mean posting a decent result again.

Cheers kwini, pedro.

Very slow leaderboard updates from Johannesburg (updating after every 3 holes). Doesn't seem to affect Richard Sterne though, who looks like a man on a mission here... He's moved lightning fast through the front nine holes of the easier West course, finishing with an eagle and leading at 6-under, two ahead of Peter Uihlein...

Kwini, I am inclined to say that Webster won't be making it (top 10) as there will be a host of players passing him after the matchplay (making it to the last 8 renders a pay check of 200k in euro). Sterne has the same problem (except for winning this week and the next, but he will be in the top 50 by then). So I am inclined to say that only Gallacher and Wood have a realistic chance of staying inside the top 10 after the matchplay.

mighty,
Fair enough but still wouldn't rule Webster out completely - remember, most of Europe's best haven't earned that much, in many cases nothing.
Regardless, an opening 71 wasn't what the doctor ordered.

We've been mentioning Lagergren from Sweden here before, but Kieffer looks also like very good prospect for the Germans. Very solid start of the season for him so far.
Great start for one of my FT hopefuls, Aiken, with 5-under after 12 on the tough course...

You never know, but it's hard to see Webster making the top 10 there now, specially after that par finish today on the easy course... Right below him he has 4 Saffers that are quite likely to pass him this week, let alone after the Match Play. I'd say Santos may have a better chance than him at this stage the way he's playing...
Having the Match Play just before that deadline is a bit unfortunate as there are always at least a couple of top players who earn loads in Tucson and spoil the hopes of the lower ranked guys trying to use this avenue to get into Cadillac...

princedracula wrote:...Kieffer looks also like very good prospect for the Germans.

...and he looks jinx-proof as well. Ties Sterne at the top with 8-under after 16 holes!

EDIT: ...and Ross McGowan!!! Going mad out there on the front nine with -6. What's 'wrong' with him, he wasn't supposed to play this good...!?

Shane Lowry is on the borderline of making it into the matchplay aswell. He will have a nail-biting wait to see if anyone overtakes him before the cut-off point. He will have a great chance at the Irish open too as he lives on the course! Should be a good year for him, there's no question about his hunger.

Incontinentia: if he would stick to nailbiting, that might benefit him as it would over time provide the option of regular airliners instead of his private Tupolev.

I see super realist has another disciple

you were fishing for it inco

incontinentia wrote:Shane Lowry ... there's no question about his hunger.

Theres a strong possibility of Shane facing Tiger in round 1 of the matchplay. What a scalp that would be!!

or lowry v mcilroy. sure lowry would fancy his chances against the covert wielder.

I don't expect Rory to be no.1 for much longer to be honest.

i'm sure once nike release the bluTAC insert they're preparing for the bright-redCOVERT things will be fine again.

Inco, Super sends his regards

Inco, I do agree that I do not expect McIlroy to stay no 1 the whole year. Tiger has some work to do but should be able to overtake him if he stays in his winning mood

Indeed mighty, i'm sure most people on this forum think the same.

It's been an interesting lesson for me that folks were saying a couple of months ago that McIlroy was wa-aay ahead of everyone else in the rankings, and it was a guarantee that he would stay at #1 for ages. A few tournaments later, some have noted that the gap between #1 and #2 is pretty close.

I can imagine the carnage on here if Mr Woods reclaims the top spot!

Where is super_realist? 5 posts about Lowry and 5 about Tiger, and no reaction? I'm starting to get worried...

Skiing in Austria so he said last week

BlueCoverman wrote:Skiing in Austria so he said last week

thats not the reason. In truth, super realist has come to his senses and realised the immensity of both players, and that to criticise them is folly.

BlueCoverman wrote:Skiing in Austria so he said last week

...taking the occasion to visit Vonn, telling her the truth about Tiger?

I am really pleased to see local lad Tommy Fleetwood showing some good form of late. Put in a very gutsy performance in the last event of the 2012 season to retain his card.

Seems to be settling much better this year and playing with much more freedom and confidence. Hope he secures his card earlier and goes onto bigger things.

A couple of years back I had the pleasure of playing in a group which was behind Tommy and his friends at his home club. He played of yellow tees with his friends that day and was an absolute pleasure to watch. Hit the ball absolutely miles and the ball striking was unbelievable.

Another time at the same course, I went out to play 18 holes and Tommy was on the practice green when I was on the first tee and was still on the very same green 3 and a half hours later when I finished. The difference between us and them I suppose.

Thanks simo, he looks indeed to be settling in well this start of the season. Had a bit of a tough start yesterday with four 5s on the scorecard in the opening 6 holes, but came back really well and never looked back since...

Seems we may get another Fisher to talk about, don't really know too much about this one though apart from the fact that he did very well towards the end of last year on the Sunshine Tour winning 3 events there in the space of ~2.5 months. Already 6 shots ahead of Sterne at the moment...

Shane Lowry and even Wiesberger will be very happy to see that, especially now that Mickelson has confirmed that he won't turn up at the WGC Match Play...

And Nick Dougherty tied for 196th place...

Leaderboard seems to be offline at the moment. Do they have the same provider in SA (or the European Tour) as the PGA tour?

Looks like it TMO... Updates haven't been great on that leaderboard this week.

And here comes an eagle for Tommy Fleetwood, now tied for 3rd with King Charl. Another great round for Santos...

Remarkable comeback by good old Graeme Storm, after a horrific 76 yesterday he has managed a 62 today and will make the cut.

Superb response from Sterne, back to the lead going into the weekend. Should be a good contest with Coetzee and Schwartzel who also look in great form. But a bit of a shocker to see the defending champ, Grace, missing the cut...

This actually the first time that I have seen the 65 and ties cut rule make a difference (69 instead of 93 players making the cut) or has that happened before?

Aiken is catching up with the leaders this morning, good to see. Also a welcome sight, seeing Tom Lewis finally putting together a few decent rounds of golf once again...

. . . . and pleased to see goldwolf's prodigy, Gary Boyd, in line to earn some ducats.
Beginning to look like a two horse race though.

Leaderboard malfunctioning again...

This is probably the best showing from Peter Uihlein since he came to Europe.

Leaders not able to increase the distance from the chassing pack. And I fear that if they stay only within 3-4 shots of King Charl, they may get swept tomorrow by the Masters champ. His game still looking a bit rusty at times, but certainly not too far from where he was before Christmas. Bad weather forecasted for tomorrow and that may throw a spanner in the works as well...

Five shot lead for the front-runners as they enter tomorrow's final furlong.
Really hope Richard Sterne - if he wins he'll be back where he belongs.


If Uihlein's any good, this is the sort of event that could propel his career forward - especially if he can follow it up next week.

Flying start for aiken with a eagle but he wil prolly need an 59ish round to win today

Sterne suddenly 5 shots ahead! It's his to lose now...

The sight of Drysdale surrounded by 10 Saffers at the top of the leaderboard, for one it reaffirms the state of the South African golf at the moment, but it also makes me wonder if this is all good news for the events held over there... If the foreign brigade sees this trend continuing, they may decide to go somewhere else in future where they have more of a chance to get a decent result...

Contrasting fortunes for Coetzee and Aiken at the 10th hole: birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie (-4) vs par-triple-bogey-double (+6).
Aiken would've been chassing Sterne now if he could borrow Coetzee's scores there...

Congrats to Sterne! 2nd place battle still underway

PD in fact Aiken's triple was on the other course but still, with Coetzees scores he would have won the whole thing

That's true TMO, forgot about that... must be the number 10 itself then...

You know that the favorites have been up to the task when you have the winner, runner-up, one of the 3rd places and two other top 10-ers in your fantasy team, yet you just about manage to squeeze into the first 5000...