-
Defending champ Bezuidenhout favourit in SA
-
Steve Rawlings' in-depth previews
-
Dave Tindall's each-way bets and FRL tips
-
Matt Cooper on the Alfred Dunhill
-
Read and follow our daily World Cup Live Blog here
-
Sign up for our World Cup Newsletter here
Alfred Dunhill Championship: Strong Valderrama link points to Otaegui
Steve Rawlings says: "A fast start is absolutely imperative here. As many as six of the last eight winners were inside the top-four after day one, seven of the last eight winners have been in front at halfway and eight of the last 11 led with a round to go.
"Other than Bezuidenhout, who sat third, the two odd men out sat second and trailed by a stroke. This is not a place to play catch-up and a morning start on Thursday could be a big plus.
Rain on Thursday night helped those drawn PM-AM (including the winner) in 2020 as the course played soft on Friday morning. But I'd definitely favour the Thursday morning starters as, ordinarily, this place gets fast and tough from the get-go.
As demonstrated in the tweet below, an early start is always beneficial. At an event where the course will speed up quickly, and where the track is at its best on Thursday morning, an early start on day one is usually a huge plus.
The defending champ Bezuidenhout heads the betting on the Betfair Exchange and rightly so. He'll be nicely rested after his third-place finish at the Joburg Open two weeks ago.
"That effort came two weeks after he'd finished fifth at the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Course form stands up nicely at Leopard Creek and he's the man to beat."
Steve's Bet: Back Christiaan Bezuidenhout @ 11.5
Alfred Dunhill Championship Each-Way Tips: Ashun can Wu Leopard Creek test
Matt Cooper says: "What really stands out at the moment about the Chinese golfer Ashun Wu is that he's playing very consistent golf without being spotted by the books.
"In his last seven starts he's played all four rounds in the Italian Open and Andalucia Masters, shared the first round lead in the Open de Espana on his way to 13th, added 16th in the Mallorca Open, top 30s in the Nedbank Challenge and DP World Tour Championship, then found himself fourth with 18 holes to play last week before having to settle for ninth.
"Those are solid returns for a four-time winner at this level (most recently earlier this year in Kenya) and I'm very content to take him at the price."
Matt's Bet: Back Ashun Wu 1pt each-way @ 41.0
Alfred Dunhill Championship: Course and current form stats
Andy Swales says: "Water comes into play on eight holes and, during the recent renovation, the majority of changes involved replacing turf on both fairways and greens.
"Where once was Kikuya, the fairways have now been sown with the faster-running Bermudagrass.
"As for putting surfaces, the original Creeping Bent is now ultradwarf Bermuda, while a number of fairway bunkers were repositioned. Routing remains untouched...
"No one has a Leopard Creek record to match Charl Schwartzel, the 38-year-old from Johannesburg. He's a four-time winner at the course, a four-time runner-up, was once third and also fourth. Tied-ninth in the national open on Sunday and made history by winning the first-ever event on the Saudi-backed golf tour a few months ago."
Andy's Player to Watch: Charl Schwartzel @ 15.014/1
Alfred Dunhill Championship First-Round Leader Tips: Take Tarrio
Dave Tindall says: "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."
Dave's Bet: Back Santiago Tarrio each-way @ 80/1