Tuesday 26 February 2013

Tshwane Open - 2013

This weeks European Tour event returns to South Africa where a new event, The Tshwane Open is being held in co-junction with the Sunshine Tour. Tshwane is a fairly new city and is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng Province,and includes the city of Pretoria. As this is a new event we have obviously have no course form to go on and therefore we will concentrate on the type of course on offer and try identify who best fits ideally for it and who is coming here with some decent form.

The course its self was designed by Ernie Els on a piece of land that was lived on by his own grandftaher. The Copperleaf Course will host the sixth and final European Tour - Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned event this year. It is just a tad over 7,700 yards but will have very generous fairways which will suit the bigger hitters and whilst the weather forecast is good and sunny it is also expected to be hot. Let's hope so, following the weather affected tournaments we have experienced already this year on both sides of the Atlantic.

So who do I think will prevail this week? It is difficult to assess again this week and was tempted to look at some big price players given this being a new event, but I couldn't get away from the fact that locals tend to compete in these events and I've settled on backing three South Africans. First up is Thomas Aiken. I said a couple of weeks ago that Thomas doesn't win often enough but he may just feel that the course, the weather, and the anticipation in South Africa for this event to be a success, that it all points to him as being a positive week. 18/1 with  Bet365  is just about right for a player that has had a lot of success in Sth Africa and he heads my staking plan this week.

My second selection will be Tjaart Van der Walt. Again!. He played very well at the Africa Open and finished tied 5th. He can keep that momentum going and he most certainly will be hoping to go well as he is a native of Pretoria- very local to this neck of the woods. Average driving distance this season is 280 yds, that will help this week. A generous 45/1 with Boylesports this week cannot be ignored.

My third and final pick this week is Jbe Kruger who didn't deliver last time out but he will not let that phase him. The big hitter might just be suited by this course and does tend to play well in South Africa normally so I do expect him to regain some form this week and challenge once again.

TIP 1: 2 pts WIN Thomas Aiken @ 18/1  Bet365

TIP 2: 1 pt e/w Tjaart Van der Walt @ 45/1 Boylesports

TIP 3: 1 pt e/w Jbe Kruger @  Bet365

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