South Africa is the penultimate destination for the players this season as they depart Europe for the final time ahead of the seventh Rolex Series event. With vital Race to Dubai Rankings points still up for grabs, the challenging Gary Player Country Club, located near the beautiful Pilanesberg National Park, hosts the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
Traditionally a demanding layout, finding fairways is tough at Sun City, with the Gary Player CC yielding the second-lowest driving accuracy on the European Tour last season, with just 49 per cent of tee shots finding the fairway at the 2016 Nedbank Golf Challenge. Boasting the longest set of par threes and par fours on tour at a respective average of 217 yards and 465 yards, there’s no doubting the course will test this week’s elite field. With all of that and more in mind, our stats guru has offered up the following three players who could make a difference to your Fantasy side.
Pick of the favourites: Ross Fisher
After back-to-back second place finishes, including in the fifth Rolex Series event of the year at the Italian Open, Ross Fisher is in some of the best form of his career. Fisher’s consecutive runner-up spots, both to Tyrrell Hatton, at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and in Monza, have catapulted the 36 year old into sixth place in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex. More good news for fans of the Englishman is that he brings that good form to a course he’s performed strongly at in the past, having finished second at Gary Player Country Club in his tournament debut here in 2014.
The Englishman has finished in the top 25 in both of his following appearances in Sun City and ranks second in Greens in Regulation here (71%). His par five scoring has also been very impressive, averaging 4.36 (28 under par), which sees him lead in most shots gained on the field on the par fives too, at +0.31 per par five. Arriving in South Africa refreshed after a week off could mean a sixth European Tour win for Fisher is in the offing.
Form Horse: Nicolas Colsaerts
As the pressure in recent weeks has gone up a level, so too have the performances of Nicolas Colsaerts. With four top 25s in his last five events, including second place at the Turkish Airlines Open last week, Colsaerts’ game is looking good right now, and the Belgian will be looking to convert those strong performances into a first victory in three years this week. ‘The Dude’, who opened with two rounds of 64 in Turkey last week, is 54 under par for his last five events and in the sort of form to seriously contend again.
Renowned for his long hitting, Colsaerts will find himself at home at this week’s 7,831-yard layout, and will be a real threat if he can continue his strong tee-to-green game this week. Ranked sixth in Driving Distance (305.3 yards) for the season and fifth in Greens in Regulation (72.6%), everything looks set up well for another strong Colsaerts showing this week.
Wildcard: Jeunghun Wang
While Jeunghun Wang won twice in his rookie year on the European Tour in 2016, undoubtedly one of his highlights from last season was his superb third round 64 at Gary Player CC. On a windy day in Sun City, the South Korean fired six birdies and an eagle to hold a three-shot lead after 54 holes, in a round that proved to be 10.4 shots better than the field average that day, and reaffirmed Wang’s arrival as a player to watch closely.
After victories at the Trophée Hassan II and AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open last year, the then 21 year old backed up those successes with another win this season at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in January to become the third youngest player to reach three wins on tour after Matteo Manassero (19 years and 206 days) and Seve Ballesteros (20 years and 77 days). While the following ten months might not have produced his best golf, Wang relishes testing his game on tough golf courses in difficult conditions, so will be looking forward to this week. Wang likes the greens in this part of the world too, with the 22 year old returning his second best career Putts per GIR stats here last year, at 1.64.
