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European Tour Fantasy Golf Predictions – 2017 Joburg Open

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Fantasy Golf Picks & Predictions for the 2017 Joburg Open

2017 Joburg Open European Tour Fantasy Preview

After a golfing year remarkable for all manner of reasons, we sign off 2017 at the tri-sanctioned Joburg Open.

Presented by the European Tour with heavy involvement from the Sunshine and Asian Tours, the rules have been re-written for this year’s edition of the tournament. Normally one of the first up in each calendar year, the 2018 edition has been moved to December and will feature a field of some 240 players playing across two courses – Firethorn and Bushwillow – at Randpark Golf Club on Thursday and Friday.

The field is then cut to 65 players and ties for a weekend at the tougher Firethorn course.

This longer stretch, at 7,595 yards for its Par 72, hosted the South Africa Open in 1995 and 2000 and is known for its demanding finish – holes 16, 17 and 18 have been described as ‘potential card-wreckers’ by 1995 SA Open champion Retief Goosen.

Zander Lombard of South Africa plays from a greenside bunker on the…

Zander Lombard of South Africa plays from a greenside bunker on the 18th during the third round of the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on January 16, 2016 in Johannesburg,… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Bushwillow is said to be the easier of the two courses, with tree-lined fairways and a parkland layout familiar to European Tour purists. At just 7,114 yards for its Par 71, the stretch plays even shorter than that when taking into account an altitude of some 5,000ft above sea level.

As ever in South Africa, both courses are mostly populated by the Kikuyu grass native to the country, with Bentgrass greens added for further complexity.

As well as the honor of winning the event, there’s plenty at stake for all in the field this week. The Asian Tour Order of Merit is still live, meaning that those involved have an excellent chance of accumulating some much-needed points in South Africa, while once again three passes to the British Open Championship are available to high finishers not already qualified.

That was the route to Royal Birkdale that Darren Fitchardt took when he won this event back in February. The South African finished a stroke clear of the rest in a tournament reduced to 54-holes due to storms and heavy rain, and in the process booked his pass to the third major of the calendar year.

He returns to defend his title in what is, unsurprisingly, a field packed with some of the finest South African players in the game. Louis Oosthuizen takes the bragging rights as the most decorated, although with two wins in 2017 – including last week’s Mauritius Open – Dylan Frittelli has started his own journey towards golf’s promised land.

They will be joined by the likes of George Coetzee, Haydn Porteous, Dean Burmester and Thomas Aiken, while the international charge will be led by the in-form Paul Peterson, Romain Langasque – third in Mauritius, and the Open De Portugal champion, Matt Wallace.

So who makes the grade for our final draft of 2017?

This Week’s Joburg Open European Tour Fantasy Picks & Predictions

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