Golf Form Guide / Mike Norman / 16 January 2012 /

Mike Norman's updated form guide has thrown up a trio of South African-born players to follow at this week's prestigious Volvo Golf Champions event.

I mentioned towards the end of last season that one of the strongest form lines in golf presently is South African players winning tournaments in their home country. That form line continues to impress after last week's Joburg Open.

Branden Grace captured his maiden European Tour title in Johannesburg on Sunday meaning South African born golfers have now won nine of the last 10 tournaments to be played in their homeland.

And if you take a closer look at the results of the individual events in the last decade - African Open, SA Open, Alfred Dunhill Championship, Joburg Open etc - they are littered with local players not just winning, but also making up the majority of the top-10 finishing positions.

This week's Volvo Golf Champions is the final leg of the season-opening 'South African Swing' and you won't be surprised to learn that three big-name home players - Louis Oosthuizen at [6.4], Charl Schwartzel ([8.0]), and Retief Goosen ([14.0]) - head the betting. The tournament has a limited field, exclusive to winners of a European Tour event in the last 12 months and/or players - Colin Montgomerie for example - who have notched 10 or more European Tour victories during their career.

It means that only five players on the current 'form guide' list are due to play this week, but with all five being South Africans I'm pretty confident that our form players will serve us well.

Tournament Finishing Positions

(Tournaments used: Joburg Open, Africa Open, Dubai World Championship, UBS Hong Kong Open, SA Open Championship, Iskandar Johor Open, Alfred Dunhill Championship)

Jaco Van Zyl (3)... 23
Louis Oosthuizen (3)... 21.5
Branden Grace (2)... 19.5
Hennie Otto (2)... 15.5
Peter Hanson (2)... 15
Alvaro Quiros (2)... 15
Jamie Elson... 14
Retief Goosen (2)... 14
Garth Mulroy (2)... 13.5
Trevor Fisher Jnr... 12.5

*number in brackets after a player's name is the number of top-10 finishes achieved in form guide qualifying period
**players in bold are scheduled to participate in the next tournament on tour

Last week's headline player Jaco Van Zyl has moved to the top of the form guide thanks to another excellent performance, a tie for third, meaning he has recorded three top-four finishes in the tournaments used to comprise this week's list. He doesn't play this week however so our eyes will be on tournament favourite Oosthuizen, last week's winner Grace, and recent SA Open Championship victor Hennie Otto.

Players to watch: Louis Oosthuizen ([6.4]), Branden Grace ([32.0]), Hennie Otto ([55.0])

The Cut-makers

Jaco Van Zyl... 22
Jamie Elson... 18
David Drysdale... 17
Trevor Fisher Jnr... 14.5
Lyle Rowe... 13.5
Andrew Parr... 13
Luke Donald... 12
Garth Mulroy... 12
Gregory Havret... 12
Ockie Strydom... 12

Van Zyl was also the player that served us best from this section at last week's Joburg Open. He was four shots back and just inside the top 20 at the halfway stage, and was available to back at [5.2] in the Top Five Finish market. A terrific weekend performance saw him climb up the leaderboard however, and although he never threatened to win he did eventually finish in a tie for third.

From this week's list only Garth Mulroy is teeing it up in Fancourt, but with there being no halfway cut the advice is to back him In-Play after two rounds only if he is within six shots of the lead.

Players to watch In-Play: Garth Mulroy

I'll be back next week with an up-to-date form guide ahead of the Abu Dhabi Championship but don't forget to check The Punter's excellent guide to this week's Volvo Golf Champions later in the week

Nb: This form guide is not opinion based, nor is it a tipping column, it is designed to aid punters by accurately recording recent results to compile a list of the best-performing golfers during the qualifying period.

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