Recap - SDC Championship
Another week on the DPWT and another tournament where our guys were all over the top of the leaderboard. It is hard to talk too much about the tournament given that it was not on TV so I didn’t get to watch any of it, but I think we are seeing the results of a good process paying dividends as we continue to have guys in the mix.
It felt all week that McKibbin should have been more in the mix and it turns out he was on the lead at -9 but then went +4 over his final 3 holes and never really sniffed the top of the leaderboard after that. Sullivan gave us some hope, but ultimately never got there.
Ultimately, we find ourselves with a tiny profit and I am always okay with bringing in a winning week. Obviously, we didn’t find the outright winner, but we cashed one Top 10 ticket and came close on another (which we cash if he doesn’t double bogey late). We had a very healthy profit in the Top 20 market, which would have been even better if Ockie didn’t go +3 over his final 5 holes to cash a juicy +550.
Jonsson Workwear Open
The course:
The DPWT stays in South Africa, but this time heads to Johannesburg for the Johnsson Workwear Open. This week the golfers will be taking on the Charles Hugh Allison-designed course at Glendower Golf Club, which plays to a par 72 across ~7,600 yards. While that yardage number will certainly stand out it should be noted that the course plays far shorter than the listed yardage as this course is up at altitude.
I have to be honest - I did not know a ton about this course before this week but based on what I was able to find it seems like there is a decent bit of water with kikuyu fairways and rough, and bentgrass once you get to the greens. From my understanding, this is more of a parkland-style course with tight tree lines and fairways and it has hosted the South African Open eight times, including one won by Andy Sullivan in 2015.
Similar to last week, this tournament is a co-sanctioned event between the DPWT and the Sunshine Tour. Also similar to last week, this is a pretty new tournament with this only being the 3rd edition of the tournament, with the first edition being a challenge and sunshine event (held at a different location) and last year being sunshine and DP. This is the 3rd different course they have used for this tournament, and it seems like this one will be by far the sternest test this tournament has seen.
Prior results:
2023 - Nick Bachem (100-1) shot -24 to beat Hennie Du Plessis and Zander Lombard by 4 strokes
2022 - JC Ritchie shot -26 to beat Christopher Mivis by 6 strokes, at Durban
Late year’s first-round leaders were Martin Vorster and Derren Fichardt, who each shot 64 in the first round, on their way to T32 (-13) and 70th (-6) finishes, respectively. The eventual champ, Nick Bachem, was 1 stroke back at 65 after the first round. Last year’s cut was -5, but again I am not sure how helpful these numbers will be.
The bets:
When you look at the names in the prior results it is hard not to notice the preponderance of South Africans on this course, or any tournament held down in this area.
I hope to continue the decent success we have been having on the DPWT with this card, but we do have to keep in mind that we have two events on the PGA Tour with the Arnold Palmer Invitational (link to picks ) and the Puerto Rico Open (link to picks), so I am going with 5.5u of risk in Jo-burg:
Outright:
0.75u Zander Lombard1 20-1
0.42u Hennie Du Plessis 35-1
0.3u Andy Sullivan 50-1
0.23u Thomas Aiken 65-1
0.19u Jason Scrivner 80-1
0.1u Francesco Laporta 150-1
Top 10 (0.25u each):
Zander Lombard +200
Andy Sullivan +350
Thomas Aiken +500
Top 20
1u Zander Lombard -110
0.5u Hennie Du Plessis +110
0.5u Andy Sullivan +130
0.25u Thomas Aiken +180
0.25u Richie Ramsay +250
0.25u Jason Scrivner +250
As always, I am using BetOnline and Bovada to pull these odds.
Good luck with all your action!
Yes, I am going back to the well with Zander and am ready to get kicked in the junk again.