Joburg Open 2020: Form guide for this week's event at Randpark's Firethorn layout

Just when it seemed that the European Tour was about to ease down for the year, four new tournaments have been added to its autumn schedule.

Starting this week in Johannesburg, three of these events will be staged in South Africa while the other one takes place in the United Arab Emirates, as a precursor to the end of season spectacular in Dubai.

These late additions to the calendar will have delighted many of the Tour's mid-ranked players who are unlikely to qualify for December's DP World Tour Championship, and so assumed that their competitive year would end in Cyprus.

Prize money for South Africa's triple offering will be similar to the purses provided for this summer's UK Swing, as well as many of the other hastily arranged new events.

This week's Joburg Open will be co-sanctioned with Southern Africa's Sunshine Tour and played over Randpark's Firethorn course.

Back from Augusta

Christiaan Bezuidenhout is the only golfer teeing-up on Thursday to have competed in last week's Masters Tournament when he tied-for-38th alongside Tiger Woods, Tony Finau and joint-first round leader Paul Casey.

The 26-year-old South African will be playing his first tournament on home soil since February when he won the Dimension Data Pro-Am, part of the Sunshine Tour.

Among the other home-based golfers taking part is Daniel van Tonder who has won four times on the Sunshine Tour during the past two and a half months.

Others include Louis De Jager, Dean Burmester and the experienced Darren Fichardt who finished second at Randpark as long ago as 2000 when the club hosted the national open.

Check out the latest betting ahead of this week's Joburg Open

Over a long career, the 45-year-old has won 18 events on the Sunshine Tour, and five times on its European counterpart.

Burmester, a former world No 86 but now at 204, tied-fifth on his most recent outing at the Italian Open.

And if you think South Africans are most likely to prosper this weekend, then Jaco Ahlers and JC Ritchie may be worth investigating too.

Overseas challenge

As for non-home pros taking part, Marcus Armitage and Gavin Green have enjoyed some decent form at Randpark in recent years.

Armitage, a 33-year-old Englishman, has posted a brace of Top-5s over Firethorn, and in his last four outings on the European Tour has finished inside the top-12 on each occasion.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Green has enjoyed top-20 finishes on his two previous trips to Randpark. Both Armitage and Green have yet to win at this level.

Venue background

Randpark Golf Club is situated in the north-west suburbs of the country's most populated city.

Opening its doors in the early 1940s, Randpark Golf Club is a lush, parkland venue with Kikuyu grass fairways, and putting surfaces that are sown with hard-wearing ostrich grass.

Firethorn, one of Randpark's two 18-hole courses, was designed by London-born pro Sid Brews, who finished second in The Open Championship of 1934.

Brews lived much of his life in South Africa, winning the country's national open eight times and he was commissioned to create Firethorn during the mid-1960s.

The course has undergone a number of modifications in more recent decades.

Most Top-20 finishes in European Tour events staged in South Africa during the past five years:
Total
9: Dean Burmester
7: Zander Lombard
7: Richard Sterne
7: Brandon Stone
7: Jaco Van Zyl
5: Jacques Blaauw
5: Darren Fichardt
5: Trevor Fisher
5: Justin Walters
4: David Drysdale
4: Keith Horne
4: Scott Jamieson
4: Joost Luiten
4: Haydn Porteous

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Course form table: European Tour events staged at Randpark in 2017-18-20 were played over two layouts (Firethorn (54 holes) & Bushwillow (18 holes).)