Alfred Dunhill Championship First-Round Leader Tips: Take Tarrio

• 80/1 Santiago Tarrio can thrive in the early conditions

• Fellow early starter Joost Luiten loves the course

• Christiaan Maas could deliver a 100/1 Festive treat

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Weather forecast for Thursday: It's a hot day at Kruger National Park with temperatures nearly hitting the 90s in the afternoon. It's a flat calm morning, with winds rising to 10mph later in the afternoon.

Steve Rawlings in his preview highlights a tweet from Lou Stagner which shows that foot traffic and grass growth throughout the day makes it tougher to putt. Add in the wind picking up and it certainly looks an advantage to have a morning tee-time so I'll select all three players from the early wave.

Put trust in Tarrio

Spaniards have a good record at Leopard Creek, with wins for Pablo Larrazabal, Alvaro Quiros and Pablo Martin (twice!).

So I'm hoping Santiago Tarrio can make a fast start after being quick out of the blocks last week.

The 32-year-old was seventh after 18 holes of last week's South African Open thanks to a 67 before fading but a look through his records suggests FRL is the best way to back him.

Tarrio ended day one in the top 10 in three successive starts back in July/August while he was the first-round leader at June's Scandinavian Mixed.

Strong putting is rewarded at Leopard Creek and Tarrio was 13th for SG: Putting at the South African Open.

I'll back him at 80/1 from his 07:40 tee-time.

Look to Luiten

Joost Luiten was our 40/1 FRL pick last week and I'm happy to try him again at 50s in light of some comments from his website.

The Dutchman played pretty well at the South African Open where he finished tied 23rd in his first outing since a tied seventh in the Portugal Masters.

But it's pretty clear he'll be happier here. Luiten wrote: "We played the South African Open on the course of the Blair Atholl Golf & Equestrian Estate. That job was especially very long and frankly a bit boring. The long hitters had a big advantage also because the rough wasn't much.

"Next week I will be playing the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, one of my favorite courses bordering the Kruger Park. That means very nice views, but the holes are also just very good. Don't just pound the tee [shot] hard, but think and stay in position."

Luiten has two top fives in four starts at Leopard Creek and he's been fifth and eighth respectively after the opening 18 holes in both his last two visits.

Add that to a string of quick starts in recent DP World Tour events - his 63 in Portugal two appearances ago for example - and he's worth a play at 50s from his 07:20 tee time.

Happy Chris Maas!

Christian Maas got plenty of seasonal attention last week due to his name but his golf took the eye too.

The 19-year-old South African amateur is rated a huge prospect and was nominated for the prestigious Fred Haskins Award for his performances at Texas University.

Last week, Maas was third after 36 holes of the South African Open before finishing 35th while, on his previous start at pro level, he'd been the first-round leader at the Big Easy Tour - Blue Valley where he completed a wire-to-wire victory.

He's not played in this event before but Maas contested the African Amateur at Leopard Creek in February and shot 8-under to finish tied third so he knows and likes the course.

To reflect his growing promise, Maas has been paired with Ernie Els and Edoardo Molinari so hopefully he goes into show-off mode rather than freezes. They're out at 07:00.

Give him a whirl at 100/1.