Joburg Open: Bezuidenhout a very worthy favourite at Houghton

• Houghton back on the schedule after nearly 20 years

• Home favourite, Bezuidenhout, likely to thrive

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Tournament History

Just days after Jon Rahm won the final event of the 2021/22 DP World Tour season, the DP World Tour Championship, and Rory McIlroy claimed the Race to Dubai crown, the new season kicks off with not one, but two events!

Matt Cooper has looked at the Australian PGA Championship, which has a decent line-up, headlined by the Open Champion, Cam Smith, and I'm going to concentrate on the first of three events to be staged before Christmas that are co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour in South Africa - the Joburg Open.

Ariel Canete won the first edition of the Joburg Open in 2007 and it was an ever-present on the DP World Tour up until 2017, when there were two editions - one in February and one in December.

It was lost from the schedule for a couple of years before J.B Hansen won in 2020, and last year's event, which also kicked off the new DP World Tour season, was a bit of a farce.

To allow international players to travel back home in time because of COVID-19 travel restrictions in place in the UK from South Africa, the event was originally shortened to 54 holes but rain and the threat of lightning curtailed the event further to just 36 holes.

Triston Lawrence lifted the trophy after a pair of six-under-par 65s around the Firethorn Course at Randpark but the tournament's on the move this year, taking in a venue not seen for almost two decades - Houghton Golf Club.

Venue

Houghton Golf Club, Lower Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Course Details

Par 72 7,279 yards

Houghton is a traditional tree-lined undulating parkland course with fairly generous fairways and bentgrass greens.

Water is frequently in play, but the course doesn't play anywhere near as long as it's yardage suggests as it sits at over 5000 feet above sea level and the ball travels around 10% further.

Houghton has a rich history, hosting the South African Open eight times, as well as the South African PGA Championship at the end of the last century, when known as the Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship.

The likes of Nick Price, Tony Johnstone and Ernie Els all won the PGA Championship at Houghton before Alfred Dunhill ended its association with the event to begin its own tournament- the Alfred Dunhill Championship in 2000.

The first five editions of the Alfred Dunhill Championship were all staged here before the tournament moved to it's now permanent home at Leopard Creek.

There was also a low-grade Big Easy Tour event staged at Houghton in July - won by Ricky Hendler

For more on the course, please see the course layout on Houghton's website here.

Weather Forecast

TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, beginning at 10:00 on Thursday

Last Five Event Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2021 - Triston Lawrence -12 (36 holes) 230.0229/1
2020 - JB Hansen -19 60.059/1
2018 - 2019 - No tournament
2017 (Dec') - Shubhankar Sharma -23 150.0149/1
2017 (Feb') - Darren Fichardt -15 160.0159/1
2016 - Haydn Porteous -18 190.0189/1

What Will it Take to Win the Joburg Open?

It's old form now but for what it's worth, here are the stats (where available) for the top-three and ties for the five editions of the Alfred Dunhill Championship staged at Houghton.

2004 Dunhill Championship at Houghton
1st Marcel Siem -22 DD - 1 DA - 61 GIR - 5 SC -9 PA - 7
2nd Gregory Havret -22 DD - 18 DA - 6 GIR - 39 SC - 8 PA - 1
2nd Raphael Jacquelin -22 DD - 12 DA - 27 GIR - 1 SC - 18 PA - 5

2003 Dunhill Championship at Houghton
1st Mark Foster -15 DD - 17 DA - 21 GIR - 14 SC -n/a PA - n/a
2nd Anders Hansen -15 DD - 43 DA - 9 GIR - 5 SC -n/a PA - n/a
2nd Trevor Immelman -15 DD - 14 DA - 9 GIR - 30 SC -n/a PA - n/a
2nd Paul Lawrie -15 DD - 15 DA -58 GIR - 14 SC -n/a PA - n/a
2nd Doug McGuigan -15 No stats available
2nd Bradford Vaughn -15 No stats available

2002 Dunhill Championship at Houghton
1st Justin Rose -20 No stats available
2nd Retief Goosen -18 No stats available
2nd Mark Foster -18 No stats available
2nd Martin Martinez -18 No stats available

2001 Dunhill Championship at Houghton
1st Adam Scott -21 DD - 7 DA - 17 GIR - 5 SC -43 PA - 22
2nd Justin Rose -20 DD - 3 DA - 10 GIR - 12 SC - 9 PA - 19
3rd Nick Faldo -19 DD - 50 DA - 20 GIR - 13 SC - 2 PA - 1
3rd Dean Robertson -19 DD - 41 DA - 4 GIR - 8 SC - 9 PA - 6

2000 Dunhill Championship at Houghton
1st Anthony Wall -12 DD - 26 DA - 17 GIR - 4 SC -21 PA - 1
2nd Gary Orr -10 DD - 33 DA - 3 GIR - 2 SC - 30 PA - 33
3rd Phillip Price -10 DD - 53 DA - 38 GIR - 19 SC - 16 PA - 9

DD - Driving Distance
DA - Driving Accuracy
GIR - Greens In Regulation
SC - Scrambling
PA - Putting Accuracy

With the rough down, Marcel Siem was able to bully his way to victory off the tee, ranking first for distance and only 61st for accuracy and (where stats were available) all the winners ranked highly for Driving Distance.

There were no stats in 2002 but given he ranked third for DD in 2001 when finishing second, it's probably safe to assume that Justin Rose was getting it out there off the tee when he won here.

The worst any of the winners ranked for Greens In regulation is 14th and they all putted nicely.

Wentworth form could provide clues

South Africans tend to do really well in their homeland and they have a huge contingency in the line up this week but one thing that did strike me when looking back at the results here is how well the Europeans fared.

The five editions of the Alfred Dunhill here were won by four Europeans and an Aussie and it's immediately apparent that a collection of very high-class performers have performed well at the venue.

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, Justin Rose, 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.

In-Play Tactics

Justin Rose started slowly when winning here in 2002. He sat tied for 52nd and five off the lead after round one and Mark Foster trailed by the same margin in 2003 but all the other course winners have started smartly.

Siem was tied for the lead after round one in 2004, and having sat second after the opening day, both Els and Johnstone led all the way from halfway.

Market Leaders

Although trading at a single-figure price, Joburg resident, Christiaan Bezuidenhout is a great price at a venue that sure to suit.

In addition to winning the Andalucía Masters at tree-lined Valderrama, Bez has finished no worse than 44th in three visits to Augusta and he has Wentworth form figures reading 3-40-5.

He won the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Open back-to-back in his homeland two years ago and he finished fifth in the Nedbank Challenge last time out in South Africa. He's very much the man to beat and a very fair price at anything over 7/1.

The defending champion, Thriston Lawrence, commands respect given he's established himself nisely on the DP World Tour and that he's in fair form.

He went off the boil after winning the European Masters in August but he's followed a sixth at Valderrama with a 15th at the Nedbank and a respectable 41st in Dubai last week, although he failed to break 70 all week.

George Coetzee always raises his game in his homeland and the Pretorian took this title eight years ago.

He finished only 45th at the Nedbank last time out but his record at the Gary Player Country Clun is bizarrely poor and he may be better judged on his victory in the South African PGA Championship a week earlier.

Selections

I was more than happy to back the favourite, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, at 15/2 with the Sportsbook in their Enhanced Win Only market and I've had a small bet on Italy's Renato Paratore.

The 25-year-old finished the last season fairly well and both his DP World Tour titles came on a tree-lined tracks. I thought he was a fair price at 70.069/1.

Selections:
Christiaan Bezuidenhout @ 15/2 Enhanced Win Only (Sportsbook)
Renato Paratore @ 70.069/1

I'll be back later today with the Find Me a 100 Winner column but I won't be doing an In-Play Blog this week.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter