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40/141.00 FRL shot loves playing in South Africa
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129/1130.00 Van Tonder leads long odds trio in SA
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40/141.00 Canter backed to contend in Queensland
Joburg Open Tips & Predicitions
Joburg Open First-Round Leader Tips: Selections from 40/1 to 200/1
Dave Tindall: "Scott Jamieson loves playing in South Africa. He won the 2012 Nelson Mandela Championship, followed that with a third and a second in his next two starts in the country and has thrown in numerous strong performances since.
"Looking at his last dozen visits he's racked up a second, a third, a sixth and a seventh while his latest four finishes, all in 2022, are a quartet of top 20s. Crucially, fast starts are part of that package and he's ended day one in the top 20 in five of his last six SA starts.
"In the latest two he was eighth after the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship and fourth following the opening lap of the South African Open thanks to a 66.
"Jamieson's third place in Qatar, fuelled by that first-round lead, saved his Tour card so he should be in good spirits for this season opener, his first start since that big week in the desert."
Find Me a 100 Winner: Three to back in South Africa from 129/1 to 349/1
Steve Rawlings: "We already know that Daniel van Tonder likes it here so I was happy to chance him at 130.0.
"The Soweto-born 32-year-old finished third on debut last year but, given he won the Kenya Savannah Classic at tree-lined Karen Country Club in 2021, we shouldn't have been at all surprised that he played nicely around Houghton.
"That's van Tonder's sole success on the DP World Tour but he's won eight times on the Sunshine Tour so he's prolific enough and over-priced at 130.0."
Joburg Open: Europeans love playing at Houghton
Steve Rawlings: "South Africans tend to do really well in their homeland, but Europeans fare really well at this particular venue. Englishman, Bradbury, won here last year and the five editions of the Alfred Dunhill here were won by four Europeans and an Aussie.
"The Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship winners here at the end of the last century - Nick Price, Tony Johnstone, and Ernie Els - are all out of the top drawer and US Masters winners, Nick Faldo, Trevor Immelman and Adam Scott have all finished inside the first three places.
"In addition to Augusta form, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that Houghton correlates nicely with another tree-lined track - Wentworth - which hosts the BMW PGA Championship each year.
"This event is clearly not that strong so we won't find much Augusta form to ponder but anyone that's played well at Wentworth, or any other tree-lined track, will command respect and if they're European, given the past results at the track, that's worth an extra tick."
Joburg Open: Form stats for this week's co-sanctioned event
Andy Swales: "Although there's not a great deal of Course History available, it's certainly worth noting that last year's surprise champion Dan Bradbury 18/1 has hit a rich vein of form during autumn.
"After winning the Joburg Open in November 2022, the Englishman struggled during the first half of this year. However, since the start of October, he has posted four straight top-20s, including a brace of T-10s.
"Another strong Houghton performance is on the cards, even if Dan is unlikely to win back-to-back Joburg titles."
Australian PGA Championship Tips & Predictions
Australian PGA Championship: Canter can contend again
Matt Cooper: "Cam Smith, Min Woo Lee, Adam Scott, Cam Davis, Lucas Herbert and Marc Leisihman lead the Aussie charge; Adrian Meronk, Joaquin Niemann, Robert MacIntyre and Ryo Hisatsune head the cosmopolitan challenge.
"Canter was only T53rd on his only previous tournament start at Royal Pines but that came early in his first year on the main tour (2015), he's a much more accomplished player now and the venue is now Royal Queensland.
"He was T14th last time out in the Dunhill Links Championship and he was T17th in the Open in July. He also had five top 20s on LIV in the summer. This time last year was third in the Dunhill Championship and he can contend again."
Australian PGA Championship: Form stats for this week's co-sanctioned tournament in Queensland
Andy Swales: "Among the players who are enjoying good current form, and also have a decent course history, are Min Woo Lee 8/1, David Micheluzzi 33/1 and Ryo Hisatsune 25/1.
"Min Woo Lee has twice finished fourth at Royal Queensland. The first of these was at the Australian PGA Championship in January 2022. And, 10 months later, when the tournament was co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour, the current world No 45 repeated this feat.
"The well-travelled Australian won on the Asian Tour last month, and followed this by finishing tied-sixth on the PGA Tour, and then on Sunday posted a T-15 in Dubai."