MyGolfLife Open Tips 2022

There are some talented sorts at the top of the betting market this week given that this is a low-tier, co-sanctioned affair; however, the top two aside, talented doesn’t necessarily translate to titles.

Dean Burmester with 10 career wins – 2 of which at this level – is the worthy favourite, despite letting a handy position slip last week with a Saturday round of 76. Bernd Wiesberger has 8 career wins, including 2 at Rolex Series level, and could easily win a title like this if he can bounce back from a weekend off at Ras Al Khaimah on his last start, however I’ll take the pair on with Justin Harding who’s around double the price of the favourite.

Between Harding and the leading pair in the market we have the likes of Adri Arnaus, Adrian Meronk and Thomas Detry who are all yet to get off the mark at the top tier, yet Harding has no such issues with Qatar Masters and Kenya Open titles to add to his 2 Asian Tour and 7 Sunshine Tour successes. The point I’m trying to make here is that he can and does win golf tournaments.

Last week’s tie for 42^nd needs to be taken into context as he was defending his Kenya Open title from the year before; prior to that 25^th in Abu Dhabi and 4^th at the Dubai Desert Classic – where he led into the final round – were both at Rolex Series level, 24^th in Saudi was against some of the world’s best, and 9^th in Ras al Khaimah saw the 36 year-old in 2^nd place heading into the weekend. He’s talked about a new level of serenity on the course and anything approaching his best here this week could be far too good for the majority of this field.

With 7 Sunshine Tour wins, Justin’s ability to perform in his homeland isn’t up for debate, however that’s yet to really translate into a contending performance in anything co-sanctioned, aside from a 7^th place finish at Leopard Creek before lockdown. 6^th in December at the SA Open after it became just a Sunshine Tour event is positive though, despite relinquishing a strong position heading into Sunday, and he’s proven with his Kenya win last year that he can handle altitude and Bentgrass greens just fine. The putter will be the key this week and it needs to warm up versus last week if he’s going to get to the winning total here; despite that, only 3 players made more birdies than him last week, and only 4 players made more red numbers at Ras al Khaimah on his start before that, to suggest that he’s very close. RESULT: T23

The inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship in 2012 will likely be remembered by golf punters as one of those farcical events that was lucky to be completed in the end due to incessant bad weather. 36 holes were just about completed in the end, with the par reduced on many holes and Scott Jamieson eventually proving triumphant by shooting 57 on the final day and winning in a play-off.

A win’s a win when it comes to the record books as plenty of 36-hole victors will attest to, however if the Glaswegian is ever going to add to that his tally – and over 72 holes for that matter – then South Africa would seem the most likely candidate in terms of a venue.

3^rd at the Alfred Dunhill Championship the week after his win and 2^nd at the winners-only Volvo Champions to kick off the following year backed up the earlier spark that Scott had shown when finishing 6^th at the 2011 Joburg Open. 6^th, 4^th and 3^rd since at Leopard Creek, 7^th at the 2018 Tshwane Open and perhaps most tangibly 2^nd at the 2017 Nedbank at the altitude of Sun City suggest that the 38 year-old is more than comfortable in this part of the world.

Jamieson can undoubtedly go low – he shot 60 at Vilamoura back in 2013, which is another scoreable venue, and more recently produced a 61 in Tenerife last year. 10^th at Rolex Series level to start the year in Abu Dhabi masks the fact the Scot led for the first 3 rounds before succumbing to the pressure of winning such a huge title, however 65 to open the Ras al Khaimah Championship as well as middle rounds of 66/65 the following week suggests that he’s still in decent enough nick. A 3^rd round 64 last week in Kenya preceded another Sunday implosion so perhaps I’m setting myself for more heartache with this bet, however let’s hope that isn’t the case. RESULT: T18

At 80^th in the OWGR, Shaun Norris rates as the 5^th highest-ranked player in this field, yet he resides around 15^th in the betting market despite having won twice on the Japan Tour last year and having racked up a DP World Tour top-10 finish in 2022 already.

Born and raised in nearby Johannesburg and now living in Pretoria, the 39 year-old has extensive experience of the conditions in the local area, plus he’s one of the handful of players here with competitive experience of Pecanwood GC, finishing in a tie for 21^st way back in 2007.

Although he’s tended to ply his trade outside of his homeland in recent years, Shaun is twice a winner on home soil on the Sunshine Tour and when he’s ventured back home in these co-sanctioned affairs he’s tended to perform well. 3^rd at the Joburg Open in 2017, 2020 and 2021 is good, relevant form for this at a similar level to this week’s affair and 2^nd at the 2016 Sun City Challenge also sticks out as good altitude-based form.

9^th at the Ras al Khaimah Championship a month ago saw him shoot 12-under on the par-5s, beaten only by eventual winner Nicolai Hojgaard, and that scoring power should set him in good stead here this week on the longer holes. 3 of his 6 career Japan Tour wins have come between 19- and 24-under par and his putter has been in generally strong form over the past few months. RESULT: T47

Until his rather fortuitous win at the Joburg Open in November, the name Thriston Lawrence wasn’t one that would have resonated with many golf punters. Fortuitous is fair in that the Omicron-ravaged event was reduced to 36 holes as players desperately looked for escape routes back home as the then unknown variant caused widespread panic, however there was nothing fortuitous about producing back-to-back rounds of 65 under those circumstances and perhaps there’s much more to come from the Nelspruit native.

Previous 54-hole victories on the MENA Tour, Big Easy Tour and Sunshine Tour at between 12- and 15-under suggest that this week’s target score isn’t out of reach over 72 holes, and 14-under for the Par 5s last week tied the best in the field and offers good encouragement ahead of this week’s test.

Aside from the obvious fact that he finished 2^nd last week and played very nicely from tee to green, his aforementioned win at the Joburg Open also followed a strong performance on his previous start, in that case 6^th on the Sunshine Tour where he closed with a 64, and a cursory look at his career results would suggest that he may be the kind of player who strings short patches of form together rather than the odd random bolt from the blue. RESULT: T9

Finally I’ll take a punt on the talented Thai Jazz Janewattananond who’s more than capable of breaking through at DP World Tour level, having already racked up 6 Asian Tour wins in the past 5 years.

The 26 year-old’s 2 most recent successes, the BNI Indonesian Masters and Thailand Masters, came in consecutive weeks at the end of 2019 and were both won with a 23-under total, suggesting that this week’s anticipated birdie-fest won’t be an issue for Jazz. No wins since that point can be partially explained by the fact that he’s been plying his trade at a higher level since, chancing his arm at PGA Tour level for a while before having a more concerted effort on the DP World Tour last year. A play-off defeat at the Kenya Savannah Classic was as close as he came last year, eventually losing out to Danie van Tonder on the 3^rd extra hole, however 9^th at the Dutch Open and 4^th at the Dubai Championship suggests there’s more chances for him to come.

38^th at the high-class Saudi International saw the Bangkok man close with a round of 65, beaten by just Bubba Watson and Marc Leishman, and he followed that up with a solid 20^th place finish at Ras al Khaimah the week after. 6^th and 11^th over the past fortnight on the Asian Tour have kept him sharp, with last year’s aforementioned effort in Kenya at altitude and on Bentgrass greens offering us some evidence that he could take to this course nicely. RESULT: T47