European Tour - Tshwane Open

Having big problems remembering the name of this new event (as well as pronouncing it), the last one in the long South African swing this season. Hopefully it will be memorable for all the good reasons after this week though. There's no history here so there's very little to say, apart from the fact that it will be hosted by the Copperleaf Golf and Country Estate, on the 2nd Ernie Els signature course in SAf (built on a piece of land where Ernie's grandfather used to live, apparently...).

Simon Dyson is the highest ranked player in the field, and he'd be delighted if he could lift the trophy at the end of the week, he badly needs it as his slide down the ranks is gathering pace and could be out of the top 100 pretty soon if he doesn't wake up soon enough... A win for him looks unlikely though, as he's already expressed some concern about the length of the course (almost 7800 yards!!), a part of the game that it's not exactly at the top of his abilities... So, look for probably yet another one or two local 'bombers' to take control of the proceedings. Other notables in the field include Jeev M Singh, Eddie Molinari, DC, Larrazabal, Hoey, Rock, Campbell, Broberg, etc...

Early days, but Fichardt seems to be determined to use the positive momentum and add another title under his belt. They may be small wins, but they certainly count...
At the opposite pole, I wonder why Dyson bothered at all coming here since he sounded so positively negative in his expectations prior to the event. Proping up the leaderboard is a bit embarassing for someone with his CV (Aiken and Van Zyl not too far ahead of him)...

Ridiculous negativity from Dyson, self-fulfilling though.

Hadn't realised David Howell had squaked into the Top 200 - a promising round going today also. Better from Horsey and pleased to see Jeev playing well - India next for him where there's not a bad field, especially considering the date.

And a promissing bogey-free 3-under par round for DC, good to see...

Young Swedish rookie Bjorn Akesson in a share of the lead with Fichardt...

Easy to sneer at these tournaments but some good players can really get their season jump-started - Danny Willett a case in point as he looks to build on last year. Out in 37, home in 31. Good start and lots to play for.

More good play from Willett and David Howell today. And: Is Simon Dyson going to mount a comeback? -2 after 4 holes.

Slim chances for Dyson at this stage, I'd say...

Imagine George Coetzee won't be too thrilled to see another Coetzee get an ET win ahead of him...

And confirmation of 4 Asians just qualified for The Open this summer: Daisuke Maruyama and Hideki Matsuyama (am) from Japan, Kiradech Aphibarnrat from Thailand and Wu Ashun from China. Heartbreak for Siddikur, who was almost certain to make it, only to send his tee-shot at the par 3 17th in the drink... Tough!

Great to see Howell finding some form recently.

Play suspended "due to a dangerous situation"; What's that all about? Pistorius has already completed his round after all.

That might be the problem Kwini, he needs to improve his chances of making the cut.

A whole bunch of withrawals I guessing they were players who had a few holes left of their 2nd round and were given a pass out due to their having now chance to make the cut.Big course 4 par 5s at 600.

Nah... Must've been their wisdom teeth...

Jeev Milkha did a Camillo, almost leading after 1st day, missed cut after 2nd...

Common wisdom tells us that we have the wrong Coetzee and Van Der Walt at the top of this leaderboard right now...

Van der Walt gets the win, cue uproar on twitter, seems there was an issue regarding him fiddling his scorecard in an ET event 6 years ago, and some pros have long memories...

...not to mention that he spoilt my fantasy team, as I've voted with the other van der Walt...

Don't remember what happened, but here is a piece of a story I found on that:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/6960233.stm

Oddly enough, it happened at the Russian Open, same as for Eliot Saltman (just a different year). This year the Russian Open is back on the calendar, so we should wait with interest...

Good run for Fichardt during this South African swing, and the best finish on the ET so far for Peter Uihlein!

I wonder what actually happened there? Must be that his marker entered a score in error that DVdW didn't spot.
So who did?
No apparent incentive for any golfer to sign for an incorrect score, surely?

Unless the marker wrote a lower score on a hole than he actually took

Yeah, but surely there's far more to lose than you could ever realistically hope to gain.
Tho' I quite understand it might have gone unnoticed, but look what he lost.

I get that but if you're not paying attention it's easy to screw up. How many times have pros ballsed something apparently so simple up. In this case the penalty was huge; hope he hadn't spent the money!

Another DVdW account:

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2987810

Also separated tweeted inferences from Scott Drummond that DVdW is a cheat.

Who knows?

So, the European Tour issues a statement saying that it supports R&A proposal on anchoring... Good!

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/news/newsid=186246.html