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Five chanced at the Alfred Dunhill Championship
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A small profit was made last week with 100.099/1 pick, Renato Paratore, who was matched at the first lay back target of 10.09/1 on Sunday before eventually finishing tied for second in the South African Open.
The Italian never really looked like winning after he'd double-bogeyed the par five fifth in round four but he's one to keep an eye on and a third DP World Tour victory may well be on the cards soon.
Paratore is trading at 75.074/1 this week so he doesn't make the portfolio and neither does fellow Italian, Guido Migliozzi, who trades at 95.094/1, but I was very tempted to play the 26-year-old three-time DP World Tour winner.
As highlighted in the preview, Valderrama form holds up really well here and Guido finished sixth there in 2020 so he was on the radar but so too were plenty of others and a line has to be drawn somewhere. So first up is 22-year-old South African, Ryan Van Velzen, who finished alongside Paratore last week in tied second.
The 2020 Alfred Dunhill runner-up Jayden Schaper is quite well-fancied after his fifth-place finish in the South African Open last week (currently trading at 36.035/1) but it's hard to fathom why fellow 22-year-old, Van Velzen, is trading at in excess of 200.0199/1 after he outperformed Schaper on Sunday last week.
The pair began the final round of their national open tied for the lead and it wasn't a huge surprise to see both young men fail to break par with so much on the line, but I was very impressed with Van Velzen, who was in-the-mix throughout the week before a birdie at the 72nd hole saw him finish tied for second.
Both men look to have a big future and it's certainly the case that we've seen more of Schaper than we have of Van Velzen but he's a two-time winner on the Sunshine Tour and he's been dismissed too readily here.
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1
Matt Cooper runs through some of the outrageous winners witnessed on the DP World Tour lately in his each-way column and his list of unlikely victors includes last year's shock winner Ockie Strydom and the Scandinavian Mixed champ Dale Whitnell.
Strydom followed his bizarre win here with victory in the Singapore Classic a couple of months later and I just wonder if Whitnell can emulate him.
The 35-year-old's form fell off a cliff after his win in Sweden in June, but he's made his last three cuts and last week's tied 17th was a fair effort.
Whitnell isn't a player that contends with regularity so the fact that he finished fourth here on debut way back in 2009, and that he sat tied for third after three rounds 12 months ago bodes well.
He tumbled down the leaderboard on Sunday to finish tied for 26th last year but that was before he knew he had the game to win at this level and, just like Van Velzen, he's overpriced at over 200.0199/1.
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1
Odds in excess of 200.0199/1 are also too big for one of last week's picks, Deon Germishuys, who's a young player with a high ceiling.
Like Whitnell, the 24-year-old has found some form lately and after a string of missed cuts, he's made it through to the weekend in each of his last six starts.
Although he ended the week at the foot of the field following a disastrous weekend, the South African sat third after round one last year so the course suits him. I want to be onboard when he gets over the line for the first time.
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1
Sweden's Joackim Lagergren will have been a bit disappointed by his performance last weekend when he fell from second to 31st but that wasn't the first time he'd caught the eye of late.
He began the Open de France nicely (sat fifth after round one) before withdrawing at halfway and there are reasons to think he can improve on his record at Leopard Creek this week.
The 32-year-old Swede, who won the Sicilian Open on the DP World Tour five years ago, finished second to Adrian Otaegui at Valderrama last year and last week wasn't the first time he'd contended in South Africa lately.
Lagergren finished sixth in the Johnson Workwear Open back in March, having sat second with a round to go, and he looks a ridiculous price at around the 300.0299/1 mark.
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1
As highlighted in the preview, Spaniard's have a fine record at Leopard Creek so last but not least, I've backed Angel Hidalgo, who finished fourth behind Otaegui and Lagergren at Valderrama last year.
We haven't seen the 25-year-old since he finished 63rd in Qatar in October so it's interesting to see him in the field this week. If the break's done him some good, he might just contend.
He's a mercurial character but his fourth at Valderrama and his top-eight finish in the Dubai Desert Classic early this year, along with his top-10 finish in India, show he can turn up at a tough track and perform so I was happy to take a small chance.
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1
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