South African Open: Form guide for this week's event in Sun City

Week three of the European Tour's journey across South Africa takes the players to Sun City for the national open.

When the original pre-Covid Tour schedule was announced late last year, Sun City had been due to stage the Nedbank Challenge in mid-November.

It would have been the second of three Final Series events on Tour, with a total prize fund of $7.5m.

But that was all scrapped in March, amid lockdowns around the world, and when golf re-surfaced in June the calendar looked very different.

Although this week's South African Open does not carry anywhere near the same level of prize money as the Nedbank, it remains a prestigious title for those born in the country.

The South African Open, which was first staged in 1903, is one of the oldest national championships in the world, with the nation's greatest ever golfer - Gary Player - winning the tournament 13 times.

And it was Player who designed this week's course at Sun City which is laid out inside an extinct volcanic crater.

Check out the latest betting for this week's South African Open

Opened in 1979, the course is located in the north-west of the country, around 100 miles from Pretoria, and a slightly longer distance from Johannesburg.

This parkland venue has Kikuyu grass fairways and Bentgrass putting surfaces, and was carved out of densely-wooded rolling countryside.

Monster length

At more than 7,800 yards in length, the course demands solid, accurate ball-striking, with both power and accuracy required in abundance.

Although the ball flies further than normal, due to the course being just over 1,000 feet above sea level, it still requires plenty of hefty swipes to get to grips with this venue.

Only one par-four is less than 440 yards, while all par-three holes are over 210. The shortest par-five is 547 yards.

From tee-to-green, it remains a course ready to penalise any errant shot thanks to its narrow fairways and small but fast putting surfaces.

The South African Open has been part of the European Tour schedule for 23 years, although this will be the first time the event has been hosted by Sun City.

The course has been a regular venue for two events on South Africa's Sunshine Tour.

Up until 2009, it hosted the Dimension Data Pro-Am, as well as staging the Sun City Challenge between 2007 and 2011, and again from 2016. Less than two months ago, the course also hosted the Investec Royal Swazi Open.

Bezuidenhout 'top seed'

Last week's winner at Leopard Creek, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, is the highest-ranked golfer taking part at Sun City.

Less than a third of those competing in the national open have played in the Nedbank Challenge, although most of the South African golfers on display this week will have experienced Sun City during Sunshine Tour events.

Among those to have registered good Sunshine Tour results at this course are JC Ritchie, Louis De Jager and Neil Schietekat.

The latter has finished first and second here, as well as tieing-for-11th in the recently co-sponsored Joburg Open.

Latest betting for this year's Race to Dubai title

Young Wilco Nienaber, the world No 186, may be able to utilise his big hitting to good effect and secure a maiden victory.

The 20-year-old prodigy finished second at Randpark two weeks ago, after leading through 54 holes.

Another big hitter is Brandon Stone while the accuracy of Garrick Higgo, 21, should prove helpful on a course where he won the Sun City Challenge in 2019.

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves

Course Form Table Shows Nedbank Challenge Results (2013-19) And Lists T-25 Finishes In Sunshine Tour Events (2016-20) At Sun City.