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Course winners chanced in Joburg
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Both recommended bets come from the Betfair Exchange
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One selection is available to back at 1000.0999/1!
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Read my Alfred Dunhill Championship preview here
As highlighted in the Alfred Dunhill Championship preview, 10 of the last 12 editions of this event (staged at Leopard Creek) have been won by a South African and seven of the last eight winners of the Joburg Open staged at this week's venue, the East Course at Royal Johannesburg, have been South African too, so I've concentrated entirely on the home contingent and I've picked two players that have already tasted success here...
Alfred Dunhill Championship bet #1- Darren Fichardt @ 210.0209/1
Since turning 50 in May, Darren Fichardt has been dividing his time between the DP World Tour and the European Legends Tour, and he's been competitive on both circuits.
His top five finish at the DP World Tour's Flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, has to be considered his best performance of the year but he has two runners-up finishes and a first on the senior circuit and he's been bang in-form very recently, winning the Legends Championship in Cambodia two weeks ago before finishing second at the Mauritius Legends event last week.
It's now eight years since Fichardt won on the DP World Tour but it was in the Joburg Open at this venue so with both course and current form to boast, he makes for a very straightforward selection at 200.0199/1 given he's no bigger that 125/1126.00 on the High Street.
Back Darren Fichardt (1.5Us)
Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 and 12 Us @ 2.01/1
Alfred Dunhill Championship bet #1- Louis Albertse @ 1000.0999/1
Although a much bigger price, my only other pick, Louis Albertse, is arguably an even more straightforward selection.
In 38 outings on the DP World Tour, the vast majority of which have been co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour dating back to 2018, Albertse has never finished inside the top 10 but he's contended strongly several times on the HotelPlanner Tour, with a best finish of third at last year's Cape Town Open, and in total, he has 20 top 10 finishes and three wins on the Sunshine Tour, with the latest of those three victories coming as recently as September this year.
That was his third victory in three years so at the age of 29 he appears to be getting to grips with tournament play.
The first of his three victories was in the KitKat Pro-Am at Irene Country Club (by four strokes) in May 2023 but it's last year's victory in the Tournament of Champions that really catches the eye given it came here around the East Course at Royal Johannesburg and that he won by a remarkable seven strokes!
He could finish only 13th when defending this year but that was a decent performance given he'd missed his previous six cuts, and it would have been a much better defence if he hadn't let things slip on Sunday with a 77.
Albertse finished 17th in the South African PGA Championship two weeks ago, having sat only 48th heading into the weekend, so he arrives back at Royal Johannesburg with a reasonable weekend performance under his belt last time out.
There nearly always seems to be one or two huge outsiders that get into the mix in these co-sanctioned events in South Africa so I was happy to chance the course winner at a ludicrous price.
Back Louis Albertse (0.5U)
Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 and 12 Us @ 2.01/1