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Steyn City Championship
This is the second event in a two-week stretch of South African tournaments. Pablo Larrazabal picked up the first trophy last week in the MyGolfLife Open at Pecanwood Golf and Country Club in a playoff over Adri Arnaus and Jordan Smith.
Much like last week's event, the Steyn City Championship is a new tournament that is co-sanctioned between the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour. The 144-man field will battle it out for a $1.5 million purse.
Profiling the Winner
This Jack Nicklaus track tips at a whopping 7,716 yards on the card and is one of the longest that players will see all year. It is a stock par-72 with a quartet of par-5s, including the 651-yard 6th hole. With each of the four par-3s tipping at over 200 yards as well, quality long iron play will be rewarded here.
The fairways are generous for the most part, but if you start to get really off line, water that lines a number of holes is ready to creep up and stick you with a quick double-bogey. SG: Off-the-Tee numbers will be a key to success given the length of the course.
There obviously won't be any course history to look at this week. Unfamiliar greens do typically favor the better ball strikers. There are 75 bunkers on the course to try to avoid and lots of elevation changes as well.
Category Picks
Premium Picks
Players included: Dean Burmester, Jordan Smith, Adri Arnaus, Pablo Larrazabal
Guru Verdict: This week's top category features all three players who were in the playoff last week at Pecanwood, as well as Burmester, who finished T18. Smith is the play here. He ranks third in GIR percentage and fourth in SG: Off-the-Tee. Smith also finished outside the top 25 just once in his last six starts.
Front-Runners
Players included: Julien Brun, Matthieu Pavon, George Coetzee, Ashun Wu
Guru Verdict: Pavon has been rolling for five months. He has seven straight finishes inside the top 30, including three top-6 finishes in that stretch. Pavon has been led by his ball striking, as he ranks top-30 on Tour in both SG: Off-the-tee and Approach.
Hometown Heroes
Players included: Brandon Stone, Justin Harding, Daniel van Tonder, Oliver Bekker, Shaun Norris, Thriston Lawrence
Guru Verdict: There are a lot of tempting options in this group of South Africans, but Bekker's recent form is too good to ignore. Over his last four starts, he finished top-11 four times. Bekker is a big hitter that ranks 11th on Tour in par-5 scoring. He has combined that with a hot putter as of late.
Homerun Hitters
Players included: Antoine Rozner, Wilco Nienaber, James Hart du Preez, Julien Guerrier, Louis de Jager, Hennie Du Plessis
Guru Verdict: Du Plessis is coming off a T6 finish at Pecanwood. It was his 14th straight made cut. The ball striking has led the way for the South African, who ranks 10th in SG: Tee-to-Green and 35th in GIR percentage.
English Lads
Players included: Marcus Armitage, Andy Sullivan, Laurie Canter, Daniel Gavins, James Morrison, Ross Fisher
Guru Verdict: Fisher is trending after going runner-up and T6 in his last two starts on the DP World Tour. He has been one of the best ball strikers for years now. This season Fisher is fifth in SG: Off-the-Tee and 21st in SG: Tee-to-Green. Armitage is not a bad option either, with four top-20s in his last five starts.
Contenders
Players included: Johannes Veerman, Joachim Hansen, Shubhankar Sharma, Masahiro Kawamura, Hurly Long, Romain Langasque, Fabrizio Zanotti
Guru Verdict: Langasque is coming off a top-10 finish last week at Pecanwood. That was his third top-20 in his last five starts. Langasque ranks 13th in GIR percentage and 34th in SG: Approach this season, which should bode well for a course that appears to require strong iron play.
Outsiders
Players included: Jason Scrivener, Francesco Laporta, Jazz Janewattananond, Santiago Tarrio, Grant Forrest, Connor Syme, Richard Sterne
Guru Verdict: None of these players profile that well as the a strong ball striker this season, but Janewattananond has the best form. The man from Thailand posted three top-20 finishes in his last four starts. Janewattananond is gaining strokes both on and around the greens this season and ranks top-30 in par-5 scoring.
Young Guns
Players included: JC Ritchie, Frederick LaCroix, Jacques Kruyswijk, Matti Schmid, Luke Brown, Zander Lombard, Sean Crocker
Guru Verdict: Ritchie has been tearing up the Challenge Tour as of late. In his last four starts on that tour he went T4-Win-Win-T14. The South African carried that into his DP World Tour start last week at Pecanwood, notching a top-25 finish. Ritchie is currently ranked fifth on Tour in SG: Tee-to-Green and offers quite a bit of upside.
The Selections
Premium Picks: Jordan Smith
Front-Runners: Matthieu Pavon
Hometown Heroes: Oliver Bekker
Home Run Hitters: Hennie Du Plessis
English Lads: Ross Fisher
Contenders: Romain Langasque
Outsiders: Jazz Janewattananond
Young Guns: JC Ritchie
