European Tour Fantasy Golf Predictions – Magical Kenya Open

2019 Magical Kenya Open Preview

With the great and good of world golf heading off to TPC Sawgrass for THE PLAYERS Championship, the European Tour is very much taking second billing this week.

And, to give it its full title, the Magical Kenya Open does not quite live up to its name.

Promoted from the Challenge Tour, the event has not been supported by the big-name regulars, and so a very sparse field will assemble for what is in essence a glorified Sunshine/Challenge Tour event.

It’s a shame that it hasn’t been supported: a new event in a developing country is a fantastic opportunity to grow the sport, but the players have their own reasons for staying at home and that is to the detriment of the competition.

Nevertheless, there’s a full DFS slate, and so we must march on.

In stark contrast to the vast open expanses of space the players have enjoyed on the Desert Swing, the Karen Country Club – our host this week – is a very different test of skill.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa plays his tee shot on the par…

Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa plays his tee shot on the par 5, third hole during the first round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on the Majlis Course at the Emirates Golf Club on January… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

A typically African layout, the tight fairways are lined with tense trees and shrubbery, and so keeping your ball in play is essential.

The real estate sits at a high altitude too, which helps the ball fly, and so the 6,920 yard Par 71 will have a true distance of around 6,400 yards.

Mind you, this doesn’t appear to be a bomber fest, although even the shorter hitters will be hitting wedges into flags this week and that should present plenty of scoring opportunities.

The Karen Country Club gives with one hand and takes with another, as far as the native African players are concerned. The fairways and rough are Kikuyu, the grain of grass local to the continent, but the greens have been switched to Bentgrass, which is more familiar to those from the northern hemisphere.

And really, that’s all we know about a layout that hasn’t seen competitive golf since 2016. Unfortunately, it’s one of those suck it and see weeks of DFS action.

The pricing hasn’t helped matters, either. The top salary goes to Justin Harding, who won in Qatar last week, but he’s got a lot of traveling to do and you never quite know how an event winner will react the week after their triumph.

The next three in the salaries – George Coetzee, Erik van Rooyen and Romain Langasque – can all be filed under the same category: supremely talented, but hopelessly inconsistent!

So, our draft for the Magical Kenya Open takes on a different feel; let’s take a look who has made our roster.

[membership level=”0″]

This Week’s Magical Kenya Open Fantasy Picks & Predictions

You must be a Premium Member to view our exclusive fantasy golf picks.

Already a member?  Sign in Here.

[/membership]

[membership level=”1,2,3″]

This Week’s Magical Kenya Open  Fantasy Picks

Christiaan Bezuidenhout – $9,300 – There is some reticence at backing the South African at this price, but as regular readers of this column will know we highly rate this youngster and this test looks perfect for him.

Bezuidenhout finished T2 at the Qatar Masters last week, and that was one of the best pay days of his career to date.

In 2018, the South African spread his wings onto the European Tour and played plenty of good golf in weird and wonderful locations, which shows his game travels well. But now, on his native continent, he will feel right at home.

A winner on African soil in the past, perhaps this will be the week where Bezuidenhout takes center stage.

Shubhankar Sharma – $8,900 – The forgotten man of European Tour golf could surprise a few this week.

The Indian burst onto the scene when winning the Joburg Open and Maybank Championship, before promptly leading the classy WGC-Mexico with a round to go.

So Sharma clearly has bags of talent, and if he can realize some of that here he could go very close.

You might not expect someone of Asian heritage to prosper in Africa, and of course his big breakthrough came with that victory in Johannesburg.

Another eye-catching couple of performances came in the Hong Kong Open, where the host course Fanling is similarly tight and tree-lined as Karen CC. Sharma has banked consecutive top-10s there.

A lack of form and confidence has blighted his game lately, but he did the sensible thing of playing an Indian Tour event a couple of weeks ago and finished T2, so perhaps things are looking up.

Oliver Wilson – $8,600 – Leading after 54 holes at the Qatar Masters, Oliver Wilson arguably should have converted what would have been his second European Tour title.

It didn’t quite go to plan, but that battle in contention should serve him well in the future.

And this isn’t a guy afraid of getting over the line. In 2014 he won the prestigious Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and he triumphed twice on the Challenge Tour in 2018.

Wilson has already banked a pair of top-five finishes on African soil this season, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he makes it a hat-trick this week.

Anton Karlsson – $8,000 – Watching this Swede go about his business last week in Qatar it looked as though he is a player of real promise.

Karlsson was another who fluffed his lines when in contention, but a T2 finish is another step in the right direction for the youngster.

It’s early days for this Challenge Tour graduate, but already the signs are he has a bright future, and a return to Kenya – where he banked a top-10 on the second tier last term – could help to consolidate those feelings.

Jacques Kruyswijk – $7,300 – After a hapless run of missed cuts, there were some green shoots of recovery for the South African in Qatar.

His Friday 67 was among the best rounds of the day, and his ball-striking stats are trending in the right direction.

Kruyswijk’s problem tends to be his waywardness with the driver, but he will take plenty of irons off the tee and Kenya, and that will help him to keep his ball in play.

Maybe the good times – he notched four top-10s in 2018 – are just around the corner.

Kim Koivu – $7,000 – This Finnish player is highly-rated by many in the game, and despite a poor run of form he might just appreciate a return to an event of Challenge Tour quality.

He won three times on that tour in 2018, including the Rolex Trophy, and so clearly is a player of immense talent.

It hasn’t quite happened for him on the European Tour as yet, but a T7 at the Hong Kong Open confirms his preference for tight, fiddly tests.

A cut made in less suitable conditions last week in Qatar can act as a springboard.

[/membership]

Cover photo via Instagram