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40/141.00 Casey Jarvis is on a roll and has past history here
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55/156.00 Zander Lombard won Q-School by 13 shots and can thrive again
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80/181.00 Brandon Robinson-Thompson had back-to-back FRLs in February
Weather forecast for Thursday
It looks a pleasant day for golf on day one with wind speeds not too testing (9-12mph for most of the round).
Temperatures rise from the mid-60s in the morning to the early-80s in mid-to-late afternoon.
Royal Johannesburg (East) hosts a DP World Tour event for the first time since 2017 (Joburg Open).
On that occasion, Englishmen Aaron Rai (in just his third DP World Tour start) and Paul Waring shot the lowest rounds on the East Course, both carding 64s.
There looks to be no wave bias which is just as well as it's now less than 24 hours before play starts and the tee-times haven't been published!
FRL Bet 1: Casey Jarvis @ 40/141.00
If you want a player in red-hot form to keep the good times rolling in round one, look no further than Casey Jarvis.
The South African has won twice on the local Sunshine Tour in November, shooting scores of 62 and 63 on the way to victories in the Hyundai Open and Vodacom Origins Final.
Either side he posted 17th in the DP World Tour's India Championship while last week he added a top 10 in the South African PGA Championship.
As bonus info, Jarvis won the South African Amateur on this very course in 2020.
"I'm feeling very confident. To get the two wins is very special. It's nice to head into a week like this on a golf course I know very well, and with some confidence," he told the Sunshine Tour website.
Jarvis is striking the ball nicely with his irons - a key skill this week - and he's been in the top five after day one in two of his last five starts. One of those was the India Championship.
Back Jarvis for FRL at 40s (1/4 Odds, 5 Places).
Back Casey Jarvis each-way for FRL
FRL Bet 2: Zander Lombard @ 55/156.00
After his win by a ludicrous 14-shot margin at DP World Tour Q-School last month, I can't leave Zander Lombard out of the staking plan.
The South African shot 37-under, with nearest challengers Connor McKinney, Shubhankar Sharma and Aaron Cockerill back on 23-under.
Lombard was out of the gates fast with a 64 to lie second after 18 holes of the six-round event and seven starts ago he was a first-round leader at the Sunshine Tour's Vodacom Origins Devonvale in September.
Not surprisingly after that massively impressive but gruelling six days in Spain, he missed the cut at the Vodacom Origins Final on his return home.
But a week later, when he'd taken stock, Zombard finished seventh in the South African PGA Championship, improving his position each day.
He's a former runner-up at Royal Johannesburg (East) so there's plenty to like at 55/156.00.
Back Zander Lombard each-way for FRL
FRL Bet 3: Brandon Robinson-Thompson @ 80/181.00
As a slight nod to those fast starts here by Rai and Waring, I'll add an Englishman at a nice price.
Brandon Robinson-Thompson has some strong pre-cut play in recent weeks.
He was fifth at halfway in October's India Championship while he sat sixth after round one of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai thanks to a 67.
Earlier this year in February, he had back-to-back first-round leads in the Bahrain Championship (R1 61!) and Qatar Masters (R1 66) so Robinson-Thompson seems to start fast when having a bit of sun beaming down on him.
The final piece of the puzzle is that in his one outing in South Africa this year he posted seventh in the nearby Joburg Open.
He closed with a 65 there to perhaps suggest he was getting used to the altitude and it bodes well for a good start here.
Back Brandon Robinson-Thompson each-way for FRL