We’ve travelled the 1,000km from East London to Waterkloof in South Africa for this week’s Tshwane Open. With a new venue this year - Pretoria Country Club - and a strong local field we set our stats gurus the challenge of selecting five players for yourFantasy Race to Dubaiconsideration.
Ross Fisher
While the reigning Tshwane Open champion won’t be defending his title at the same course where he won 12 months ago, that probably won’t hurt Fisher’s chances. Sitting third in this year’s Race to Dubai, the Englishman has featured in the top 25 in six of his last eight starts, including two runner-up finishes. It appears Fisher has special affinity with South Africa; in his last four starts here Fisher has finished third, tenth, first and second. He’s yet to defend a title in his professional career, could this be the week?
George Coetzee
While this is the first time the Tshwane Open has visited Pretoria, one man who knows this course well is George Coetzee. He won the first golf tournament he ever played, aged ten, when he shot 49 in a nine-hole event at Pretoria CC. He’s been a member of the club since a young age and once spent six weeks of ‘community service’ spotting balls for members after being caught playing without a shirt on a particularly hot day in his homeland. The 27 year has been tinkering with his swing this season and while he hasn’t quite yet found the form that saw him pick up his first European Tour win last season, two top 25s in his last four starts have shown signs the South African is finding his feet once more.
Morten Ørum Madsen
It’s been a wild and wonderful start to 2015 for Morten Ørum Madsen. He entered the final round at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic as Rory McIlroy’s closer challenger and despite an opening triple bogey, he battled to a fourth place finish. Last week at the Africa Open he shot an opening round 71 which included six birdies, four pars, four bogeys, two eagles, a double bogey and a triple bogey. He later went on to shoot 64-66 on the weekend to earn a top three finish. The Dane will be hoping his length will give him an edge at the 7,063 yard par-70 layout this week which features five par fours over 450 yards.
Jaco Van Zyl
Few players like playing in South Africa more than Van Zyl. Half of his ten European Tour top five finishes have come in his homeland and he arrives at Pretoria CC on the back of a sixth place finish in Joburg and a third place finish at the Africa Open last week. Playing this season on a medical exemption, having undergone knee surgery last year, the 36 year old is playing some of the best golf of his career in recent weeks. He’s broken par in his last eight rounds on the European Tour and is 29 under par over that stretch.
Jorge Campillo
Coming off the back of a third place finish last week at the Africa Open, Campillo arrives in Waterkloof in consistent form. The player who was once the number one amateur in Spain in six different years has made his last eight cuts on the European Tour and finished inside the top 35 in his last three starts in South Africa. He’s averaged 68.75 in his last eight rounds and could very well fly under the radar this week at the Tshwane Open.
