Canary Islands Championship 2021: Form stats for this week's tournament in Tenerife

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Plenty of space on Costa Adeje's Paspalum grass fairways

"South Africans have won the last four non-American based European Tour events. One of these victories belonged to Justin Harding who tied-12th on Sunday and should contend again this coming weekend."

The third and final event of the European Tour's Canary Islands Swing takes place on Tenerife's south-west coast. Words and form stats by Andy Swales...

Costa Adeje Part Two. For the fourth time in less than 10 months, the European Tour stages back-to-back events at the same course.

With Covid continuing to decimate schedules at short notice, the European Tour has had to remain on high alert at all times, sometimes making changes to the calendar at the 11th hour.

This week's tournament was originally planned for France, but had to be switched during early spring.

Therefore last week's Tenerife Open becomes this week's Canary Islands Championship, with the golfers staying put at Costa Adeje.

This week's event will be the third straight tournament in the Canary Islands, with one feature of the previous two competitions being low scoring.

In Gran Canaria, as many as 51 players broke 270 for 72 holes, while last week's total at Costa Adeje was 17.

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Both courses were shorter than the Tour normal, and if conditions remain the same this coming week, then the pros should be able to shoot lower, having learnt a few tricks from Costa Adeje Part One.

Costa Adeje is also unusual in that it has five par-5s and six par-3s, and that means only seven par-4s.

The fairways are fairly inviting for those wanting to blast it long from the tee, and together with lack of overall length and fewer-than-normal par-4s, no wonder there are plenty of birdie opportunities available.

And Costa Adeje follows in the footsteps of Celtic Manor in Wales, Aphrodite Hills in Cyprus, and Karen Country Club in Kenya, in hosting back to back Tour events since last August.

At Celtic Manor, seven players registered top-15 finishes in both events, compared to five at Aphrodite Hills and six in Nairobi.

And of these 18 instances, only six performed better during week one, the rest improved as they became acclimatised to the venue.

On the tee

This week's field is largely identical to last week's one, with just two members of the world's top 100 taking part.

Once again, quality is thin on the ground but so far during 2021, the European Tour has witnessed some strong performances by golfers from South Africa.

The opening two events of the Canary Islands Swing were won by South Africans, and both Garrick Higgo and Dean Burmester tee-up again on Thursday.

The 21-year-old Higgo is going places fast and over the past three weeks has gone: 4th-1st-8th.

During the past 23 months, the Johannesburg-born pro has chalked up five victories in various parts of the globe, and is now 66th in the World Ranking, having stood 473rd in February of last year.

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South Africans have won the last four non-American based European Tour events.

One of these victories belonged to Justin Harding who tied-12th on Sunday and should contend again this coming weekend.

European challenge

The highest-ranked European in the field is 22-year-old Finn, Sami Valimaki, who posted a tie-for-22nd on Sunday which was his first outing since late February.

Working on the theory that there's a strong chance that this week's winner will be a player who posted a top-15 finish at Costa Adeje on Sunday, then Spaniard Adri Arnaus fits the bill.

Still without a European Tour triumph - following four podium finishes - Arnaus tied-eighth at the weekend, ending a run of four straight mediocre performances.

Two others to consider are big-hitting Zimbabwe-born American Sean Crocker and experienced Aussie Scott Hend.

Hend posted a top-10 in the first Costa Adeje event, his highest finish in more than two years.

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves

Andy Swales

Andy has worked in sports journalism for the past 39 years, and three decades as a freelancer.

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