Fantasy Golf Predictions – The 2017 Joburg Open

European Tour Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the 2017 Joburg Open

The Joburg Open Fantasy Preview

Following the success of last week’s bizarre but kinda workable Super 6 event in Perth, the European Tour remains in the Southern Hemisphere and heads to South Africa for the Johannesburg Open.

There’s plenty of motivation to do well in this event – high finishers can earn an exemption into The Open Championship – and that’s why it’s quite disappointing to see so few of the European Tour’s big names making the trip.  With all due respect to them, Jordan Smith and Anthony Wall don’t really get the juices flowing.

This is a co-sanctioned event with the Sunshine Tour, and as such it is no surprise to see a deep South African contingent in the field.  When you look at their success in this competition – seven of the ten winners have been South African, and 10 of the first 20 players home in 2016 were local – another homegrown talent will probably fancy their chances of getting their hands on the trophy.

The Royal Johannesburg and Kensington is a beautiful golf club, with its West and East courses both in action here.  They share hosting duties on Thursday and Friday, with the tougher East getting the nod for the weekend.

The West track measures an average 7,203 yards for its Par 71 and plays as the easier of the two – a stroke index in the region of 69 is expected, while the East stretch, at a beastly 7,658 yards for its Par 72, will play at around 71.  It is thought to contain the longest consecutive Par 4 holes in the world (its 10th and 11th combine at more than 1000 yards). That said, this event has turned into a birdie fest in the past few renewals, with winning scores ranging from -27 (Richard Sterne in 2013) to Andy Sullivan’s -17 in 2015.

In 2016, Hayden Porteous became the first champion in five years to rank outside the top-20 for Greens in Regulation, so typically hitting greens is key, while Driving Distance is another factor; Porteous ranked fifth for this.  It’s worth remembering though that the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington club is at altitude, and so even the non-bombers can look long here.  Finally, and as you might expect from any tournament winner, Porteous putted well, ranking second in Putts per Round.

He broke the mould for GIR stats as Porteous also ended another angle of only drafting players in form.  He had missed his two prior cuts ahead of his triumph, but that could be an anomaly: Andy Sullivan, 2015 champ here, had won the South African Open and finished T4 in Abu Dhabi prior to his victory, while Richard Sterne had finished second the week before his win.  Charl Schwartzel, a back-to-back winner here in 2010 and 2011, had won the South African Open a week prior to his lifting of the trophy here in ’10.

One final thought: the weather forecast for Jo’burg this week is frankly disgusting.  There is no let-up in the rain from Thursday to Sunday, with every golfers’ worst nightmare – thunderstorms – predicted for Thursday and Saturday.  There is unlikely to be a draw bias as the downpours appear to be relentless, but the contest may be greatly reduced.  Sorry to put a dampener on things!

Nevertheless, here is six players to get on-side in your daily fantasy draft this week:

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Our Joburg Open Fantasy Picks and Predictions

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The 2017 Joburg Open Fantasy Picks

George Coetzee – $10,600 – Big George simply has to be picked when playing in his homeland and there is room off the tee.  A former winner here in 2014, his overall return at this stretch reads 13-24-1-3-14, and that is far greater than the Vegas sportsbook favorite, Brandon Stone.

Coetzee didn’t enjoy the Desert Swing so much although a T7 in Dubai was a nice indicator, and his game looks ideally suited to this test: he ranks inside the Tour’s top 30 players for long drives and putting.

A three-time European Tour winner and countless Sunshine Tour champion, if Coetzee is on his game he is as good as anybody else in this field.

Dean Burmester – $9,000 – The uber-consistent South African has enjoyed another fine campaign to date and has bagged five top-20 finishes in his last six starts worldwide.  He was poised for victory in Jo’burg as recently as two weeks ago in the Eye of Africa PGA Championship before a final round of 73, and he got that out of his system with a T17 at last week’s Date Dimension Pro-Am.

Combining solid course form (31-13-69-6-34) with an excellent statistical make-up – nobody on the European Tour drives the ball further, on average, than Burmester– we would like to think that he will go close this week.  He has finished in the top-20 in each of the last two years at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and South African Open, so clearly enjoys these co-sanctioned events.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout – $7,500 – The man with the almost unpronounceable surname broke his Sunshine Tour duck with victory in October’s Sun Fish River Challenge, and he has kicked on from there: delivering a trio of top-five finishes including a pair in the last wtwo weeks in the Data Dimension and Eye of Africa.

One start in this event has yielded a T22 return, which is promising enough, and in finishing second at the South African Open earlier this year he really caught the eye of European Tour officials.

His game is based on hitting lots of greens and making lots of birdies (he ranks second and nineteenth on the Sunshine Tour for GIR and Total Birdies), and so he looks well matched for this test.

Jacques Blaauw – $7,500 – You have to applaud any golfer who tries to take their game to the next level and that’s exactly what Blaauw is doing after signing up to the Web.com Tour.  He has already picked up a T6 at the Colombia Championship, so things are clearly moving in the right direction.

A homecoming here should suit Blaauw, who has recorded back-to-back T7s in this event, while a second in the Tshwane Open in 2015, for his biggest career payday, let the cat out of the bag for this prodigious talent.

He has won four times on various tours in his homeland, and so we don’t have to worry about his bottle should he get into contention on Sunday.

Erik van Rooyen – $7,200 – If form is key to success in the Jo’burg Open then we have to give Van Rooyen a go, who won in this city just two weeks ago in the Eye of Africa PGA Championship.

His victory came on the back of a blistering final round of 67, which shows grace under pressure, and he followed that up with an understandably-modest T27 at the Data Dimension.

He has gone four-for-four in this event (22-55-43-61) and it was his birthday on Tuesday, which in truth counts for absolutely nothing!

Ross McGowan – $6,200 – An outstanding under-the-radar pick this week, McGowan is an Englishman that has plied his trade successfully in South Africa.  Two top-10 returns from this tournament is testament to that, and in his penultimate start he enjoyed a fine run to T5 at the Eye of Africa event.

Highly rated as a younger man, McGowan won the English Amateur Championship and made the cut of a US Open, but injuries and a loss of form hampered his career.  But a renaissance in South Africa has brought him back into the mix for contention, and he has bagged five top-5 finishes in the past year alone.

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Cover photo via Instagram