Joburg Open Betting Tips, Predictions, Odds

Register for FREE to read this article.

Already have an account?

You have article views left.
Register for FREE to read more articles.

Already have an account?

12th, 15th and 18th were the best positions from our tips last week at the DP World Tour finale in Dubai.

Jon Rahm was victorious by 2 strokes over Tyrell Hatton, Jon showed some unreal form a the back end of 2022 and capped it off nicely wih this big victory.

That wraps up the DP World Tour 2021/2022 season for the players, from a preview and tipping prespective, the DP season was a tough old season to tip. But we have come out the end of it with a few winners and many places, being well in profit all in all.

Final figures of our progress will be released in the last preview of 2022 in 3 weeks, but at this present time it is looking very healthy and we are comfortably sitting in three figures of profit for the year.

Joburg Open Betting Odds

odds

Even though the DP World Tour season only finished last week in Duabi, the 2022/2023 season kicks straight back off this week with its annual trip back to South Africa. The Tour is also hosting the Fortinet Austrailian PGA this week at Royal Melbourne GC, so it has 2 events happening on the same week for the first time for a while! I have chosen to stick with this DP World/Sunshine Tour Co-sanctioned event however.

The Joburg Open has has an annual slot on the DP World Tour for years, upto 2017 the Tour stopped off for it every year, they then had a 2 year break 2017-19. JB Hansen won the come back event in 2020 at the Firethorn Course at Randpark Golf Club.

The event was somewhat laughed of last year in 2021. COVID-19 restrictions back in the United Kingdom were tightening by the hour, that meant that a bunch of UK golfers all withdrew after their Thursday rounds just to ensure they could get back into the country.

Due to this, the event organisers restricted the event to 3 rounds of golf, but with ever looming thunder and lightening, the event was restricted even further down to 36 holes. Meaning that Thriston Lawrence was handed his first DP World Tour win, quite handy for the South African as he went on to have a rather successful 2021/22 season with the amount of invitations he recieved of the back of that win.

The event this week is held at Houghton Golf Course in Johannesburg, South Africa. The course has not been seen professionally for 18 years since the 2004 edition of the Alfred Dunhill Championship. Previously to the 2002/03 and 04 editions of the ADC, Houghton GC hosted the South African PGA Championships for a few years in the 90s for those who like a bit of history.

Houghton GC

Par 72, 7280 yards approx.
AM Copland original design, 1926. Further updates by Peter Matkovich and Jack Nicklaus more recently.
4 x Par 3s - ranging from 156-225 yards - 3/4 under 200 yards
10 x Par 4s - ranging from 365-471 yards - 8 under 450 yards
4 x Par 5s - ranging from 511-579 yards - just 1 over 550 yards
Course is situated over 5100ft above sea level, online calculations suggest ball will travel roughly 11% further in these conditions.
Traditional South African Parkland venue
Large fairways, large bentgrass greens
Several bunkers, bodies of water in play

I love seeing new courses on Tour or courses like this one and the Hougton GC looks very player-friendly and one that will reward great play with numerous birdie chances.

The yardage and the hole layouts can be slightly taken with a pinch of salt as my data for them are from the 2004 edition of the Dunhill Championships when Marcel Siem was the victor, the German is still a prominent figure on the DP World Tour stage after he won back his playing card at the DP World Q School play-offs last week.

We can take a few things from the last priofessional outing Houghton has seen however and from the clubs up to date website with photos of all 18 holes and a description of them.

Although they are undulating and need finding in the right places, the fairways are wide in areas and are for sure accessible for the guys without much trouble. The fairways are tree lined with thick bushes/trees for the very errant tee shots, and the fairways all over the course are full of well positioned bunkers/water features that both Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus had a helping hand in on the re-design.

Amongst the bunkers, there stands quite large but undulating Bentgrass greens which the guys will have to find not only in Regulation this week but in the right areas for sure if they are going to consistenelty make the 5/6 birdies a round they'll require to compete come Sunday.

Weather Forecast

Unlike the last time the players visited South Africa a couple of weeks back for the Nedbank Golf Challenge, the four days of golf seems to be uninterupted by any electrical activity - which is music to my ears as i try to pick the winner of this event.

Four days of Sunshine, with temperatures between 25-29 degrees celcius with wind gusts reaching 20mph all week will make it a classic South African test for the players this week.

Stats to Consider

I will be chancing some outsiders as I feel that anyone can get hot here on there day, especially those that are used to playing in Sunshine Tour conditions like this week.

The track is set up to test the best, but i really think that bombers will prevail this week. Hole layout/yardages look pretty simple this week with numerous of the holes playing very short, especially the Par 4 and 5s. An abundance of Par 4s well under 450 yards and all 4 Par 5s reachable in 2 for every player in the field. A birdie fest for sure for players who can maneuver the ball successfully in this wind.

Evidence of this can be seen all the way back to the 2004 Dunhill Champs, when Marcel Siem topped the driving distances rankings, as he went on to post a total of -22 and to beat Raphael Jaquelin and Gregory Havret in a playoff. The top 3 that week all finished top 20 for Driving Distance and top 10 for Putting Averages so that will be a great place to start.

Greens are wide so will be easy to hit in regulation, but a player who finds them all in the right places more often than not will be the order this week to maximise those Eagle/Birdie putts.

To summarise, the below stats are the ones i shall look for when looking at my line up for this week:

SG: OTT/Driving Distance
Greens in Regulation
Scrambling
Putting
Birdie Average