MyGolfLife Open Betting Tips: Five Tips for the new DP World Tour course

Last week on the DP World Tour we witnessed a commanding performance from China’s Ashun Wu, who came from four back going into Sunday’s final round of the Kenya Open and cruised to a comfortable four shot victory, giving us our 2nd winner in the last three DP World Tour events. He rarely put a foot wrong and when it looked like he might’ve gotten himself into a little trouble, his fabulous short-game came to the rescue.

We stay in Africa this week, now heading down to South Africa for the MyGolfLife Open at the Jack Nicklaus designed Pecanwood Golf and Country Club. The first of two new events co-sanctioned with South Africa’s Sunshine Tour taking place over the next two weeks.

The Course

With a new course to the DP World Tour schedule, it can often be tricky to know what to expect but this looks like a typically big, open Jack Nicklaus design. Fairways are wide, greens big, with plenty of large, deep bunkering and water in-play on around six holes. 

It’s a long 7697 yard par 72. Two of the par 3s measure over 225 yards, with the ten par 4s possessing an average distance of 452 yards and a 636 yard par 5. There’s going to be an emphasis here on strong ball-striking, particularly with those mid-long irons and that’s going to be a clear form of attack for me this week.

The course did host two events on the Big Easy Tour last year, the feeder tour to the Sunshine Tour. The two events were both won with a score of -15 over 54 holes, suggesting birdies are going to be plentiful this week. Though it is hard to be certain, as we’re not sure exactly how the course was setup for those events. 

Further clues could be found at a couple of other Jack Nicklaus designs to grace the DP World Tour. The most recent of those are: London Golf Club’s Heritage Course, which hosted last year’s Cazoo Classic and Mount Juliet Estate, host of last year’s Irish Open. Going back a little further we find Golf Club Gut Larchenhof, which hosted the BMW International Open in 2012/14/16/18 and could possibly provide more clues.

The Weather

The forecast doesn’t suggest that the weather will cause too many problems. It’s set to be warm and dry throughout the week, with little in the way of wind. Which could strengthen the likeliness of low scoring here. 

The Field

We have a good DP World Tour field teeing it up this week. With Richard Bland the top ranked player at #56 in the world. He’s joined by Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, a dominant force at this kind of level and a further seven players from inside the world’s top 100. 

In addition we have a strong contingent of South African players, the most interesting of whom is undoubtedly JC Ritchie. Who has just reeled off two victories on the bounce in the Sunshine Tour/Challenge Tour co-sanctioned events that have taken place recently.

I’m going to kick off right at the top of the betting with 2nd favourite, Bernd Wiesberger. The big Austrian is a cut above at this level, with eight DP World Tour titles to his name and would’ve been my idea of the favourite in this field.

He’s no doubt denied favouritism because of a poor performance last time out in the Ras Al Khaimah Championship. Though this forgets just how well he started the season in the events preceding RAK. First finishing 12th in the Abu Dhabi Championship and then 24th next time out in the Dubai Desert Classic, both in top class fields.

In both of those performances he hit the ball superbly, with the putter causing the problem. This very much the same story as last season, where he excelled tee-to-green all year, ranking 1st on tour. Particularly producing quality with his irons, where he ranked 3rd for the year. Though struggled on the greens. 

He has form at the aforementioned Golf Club Gut Larchenhof in the BMW International Open, finishing 7th there in 2016. Also possessing a runner-up finish at another Nicklaus design in South Africa, Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate, finishing 2nd in the South African Open there in 2011. With a 21st place finish in the Cazoo Classic at London Golf Club in 2021 a solid enough performance.

Wiesberger is the class of the field and started the season in good shape. He’s an excellent ball-striker and if he finds something on the greens this week, I feel he will take all the beating in the type of field in which he’s made a habit of winning.

I put Laurie Canter up last time out in the Ras Al Khaimah Classic, where he finished a solid 25th. As a superb ball-striker, possessing plenty of power off the tee, I felt he was worth another shot this week on a course of which its wide open expanses should be to his liking. 

Canter started the year with rusty looking performances in the two strong field events that we kicked off the year with. Missing the cut in the Abu Dhabi Championship and then finishing 73rd in the Dubai Desert Classic.

He improved considerably on that next time out, in another strong field, finishing 38th in the Saudi International on the Asian Tour and followed it with that 25th place finish last time out at Ras Al Khaimah. 

After looking completely off the boil in Abu Dhabi, Canter was back to his top class driving next time out and continued to drive it well at RAK, whilst also finding a little something with his irons. This much more like it for a player who’s made a name for himself in the last couple of years as being one of the best ball-strikers on tour. He’s ranked 1st off-the-tee in the last two seasons and a solid 61st in approach in 2020 was stepped up last year, where he ranked 25th at the end of the DP World Tour season. 

He possesses little form in the previously mentioned Nicklaus designs, but Canter does have form at other similarly open, generous driving courses. With 2nd place finishes in the Portugal Masters and 2020 Italian Open emphasising his suitability to these types of courses perfectly. As does a 5th place finish in the DP World Tour Championship in 2020.

We know where his weaknesses lie and there’s no doubt he has the ability to frustrate on and around-the-greens. Though with the way this course sets up I’m willing to chance him here and think he can finally pick up that first title that much of his play in the last couple of years has deserved.

Frenchman Matthieu Pavon very much fits the bill of the type of big hitting, strong ball-strikers I’m predominantly looking at this week. He’s picked up where he left off last year, finishing 2nd in his second to last start of 2021 in the Portugal Masters, starting 2022 with a run of form that reads 3rd-30th-6th.

The strength of his game lies in ball-striking and it’s that, along with a streaky but occasionally superb putter that has engineered this good run of form. This has been evident in this early part of the season, in which Pavon currently ranks 28th off-the-tee, where he’s also long and 30th in approach.

He’s another well at home on these open, wide courses. Like Canter, he’s also finished 2nd in Portugal, with that runner-up finish coming last year and that 3rd at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship three starts ago should also bode well, another course with wide, generous fairways. Even an 11th in the 2020 Saudi International could provide clues, a course where strong drivers have thrived, and he did that in a strong field there. 

It feels like Pavon has been around forever but at still only 29 years old he has plenty of time on his side. He’s definitely capable of putting one of these away at some point and I see no reason why this course and setup shouldn’t give him another good opportunity, as he looks to continue his excellent run of results.

We finish with a couple of three-figure priced Swedes, both who I feel are overpriced in this field. Starting with last year’s Dutch Open winner Kristoffer Broberg.

If it wasn’t for Richard Bland’s long awaited victory, there’s a chance we’d have spoken about Broberg’s return to the winner’s circle as the big story on the DP World Tour in 2021. As he picked up a first title in six years at the Dutch Open.

Why it’s taken him this long to pick up that 2nd DPWT title has been well documented, with him suffering continual niggling injuries over those half a dozen years - hip, knee, calf all being cited as reasons for his fitness issues. 

He showed he still retained that ability with a 16th place finish in Abu Dhabi in the first event of last year, though largely struggled after that before a remarkable victory in the Dutch Open. Where he dominated from round two onwards, with rounds of 64 & 61 putting him in a hugely commanding position, so commanding that a final round 72 still saw him win with three shots to spare.

Since then he’s maintained a solid level of form. He finished 9th on his next start in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and had another strong performance when 12th in the Portugal Masters on his second to last start of 2021.

His start to 2022 has been solid, continuing to make cuts, though without really threatening. He’s been hitting the ball well and producing particular quality with his irons, sitting 19th on tour in approach at this early point of the year. This very much a continuation of what he showed at the end of last year, for all he won in the Netherlands thanks to a lights out putting performance, solid ball-striking was the main reason for his continued good performances.

As a big hitter, he too excels himself on open courses with wide fairways. Indeed that description is very apt for Bernardus Golf, where he won that Dutch Open last year. 

It’s only ten starts ago since Broberg picked up that title. With him continuing to play solid golf, I think he looks a big price to go well again this week, on a course which should be to his liking.

Lastly I’ve decided Sebastian Soderberg is way overpriced here at 200/1. Just eight starts ago he was completing back-to-back 2nd place finishes when runner-up at the Mallorca Open, following on from a 2nd place finish at Valderrama and has played well on his last couple of starts this year. Finishing 25th in the Ras Al Khaimah Classic two starts ago and followed that with a solid 16th place finish in Thailand on the Asian Tour last week.

There’s also an added positive of his much improved approach play over recent starts on the DPWT, gaining strokes with his irons on his last three starts. Something that he last managed in 2019. He also drove it well at RAK two starts ago, both long and accurate off-the-tee.

There can be huge positives found in the second of those two 2nd place finishes at the back end of last year in Mallorca, as it was another course that was generous off-the-tee. In addition to this he has form in Portugal, finishing 7th there in 2017. These courses suiting a player who has previous for being a little wild with driver in hand.

I found further positives in the fact he has a generally strong record on the African continent, going well in South Africa on both starts there in 2017 finishing 26th in the SA Open and 11th in the Joburg Open. Whilst he’s also a past winner in Kenya. It’s a part of the world he’ll undoubtedly have a good feeling returning to.

Soderberg is a DP World Tour winner, picking up the Omega European Masters in 2019 and has threatened to add to that more than once over recent years. Looking like finding some form at the beginning of this year, that price looks massive and I’m more than happy to have him on side this week in South Africa.