South Africa has been a go-to destination for the DP World (formerly European) Tour in the months when it’s too cold to host competitive golf in mainland Europe.
In recent years it has staged several events before the Christmas break but this time the usual schedule was thrown into chaos when South Africa saw the first outbreaks of the newly-discovered Omicron variant.
The plan was for South Africa to stage the Joburg Open, South African Open, and Alfred Dunhill Championship across November and December.
But Joburg was reduced to 36 holes, the SA Open was played as a local Sunshine Tour event and the Alfred Dunhill Championship got canceled.
However, a peak at the schedule meant South African golf fans could still get to see DP World Tour action if the pandemic settled down and here we are: this week’s MyGolfLife Open followed by the Steyn City Championship, starting March 17.
The MyGolfLife Open is a new event played on a new course: Pecanwood G&CC.
That usually gives punters a headache but we have two obvious clues to take on board this week.
First, Pecanwood is a Jack Nicklaus design that allows us to bring in correlating course form.
Second, although it looks long at nearly 7,700 yards from the tips, the course is not far north from Johannesburg and that means it’s high up so the ball will fly further in the thin air.
As for the grass, the fairways are Kikuyu and the putting surfaces are Bent.
Water is in play on seven holes of a fairly flat layout that features generous fairways.
Back Coetzee for the win
George Coetzee is always one of the local contingent worth looking at in any event played in South Africa.
The 35-year-old certainly stands out in this modest field due to being a five-time European Tour winner and three of those came in co-sanctioned events on his home SA turf.
A quick geography lesson: while we’re not far from Joburg this week, the location is even nearer to Pretoria where Coetzee was born and bred.
Indeed he once contested a Sunshine Tour event at Pecanwood, finishing tied 12th back in 2007. It seems likely he will have played it in social situations too and he’s used to the altitude.
While he’s been off the radar a little in the last couple of years, I like the progressive nature of Coetzee’s current form.
He was tied 47th in the Dubai Desert Classic in January and last month improved to tied 27th in the Ras al Khaimah Championship and followed that with tied ninth at the Ras al Khaimah Classic.
As for form on other Nicklaus designs, Coetzee was runner-up and tied 10th in two starts in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
That helps add to his credentials but perhaps the main one is just how well he plays at home.
Coetzee has two wins from his last seven starts on South African soil and, if stretching further back, four in his last 20. That run includes two-second places.
Always an excellent putter, let’s back Coetzee for the win at +3300 with Caesars Sportsbook.
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