Genworth Stats Pack - Preview Report

Charl Schwartzel arrives to compete in the South African Open Championship hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni as the star attraction and hot favourite this week, having secured his first victory of the year recently at a One Asia Tour event in China. Looking at his Genworth Season Statistics, after getting off to an absolute flyer, the 29 year old South African has evened out into solid performances throughout the year (without really firing on all cylinders), but he has still managed to top the season ending 2013 Stroke Average rankings with a superb 69.63. Being a long term supporter of this event and arriving with finishes of 8th / 29th / 7th / WIN / 29th from his last five global starts, the 8 time European Tour winner will surely be the one to beat this week.

Ross Fisher arrives to compete this week in fantastic form, with finishes of 8th / 2nd / 34th / 10th / 26th from his last five starts. Since his return to the European Tour for the second half of the season, the long hitting English golfer (who celebrates his 33rd birthday this Friday during the tournament) has produced some incredible consistency from tee to green, finishing 3rd and 5th respectively on the 2013 season ending Stroke Average and Greens in Regulation rankings. Below are Ross Fisher’s Genworth Statistics from his last five European Tour starts.

Hennie Otto won this tournament in 2011 when held at Serengeti Golf Club, and he arrives to compete this week off the back of two top three finishes in recent Sunshine Tour events (one being on this very course just a month ago). Looking at his Genworth Statistics from his last four European Tour starts, we can see the consistency in the 37 year old South African’s golf that has seen him rise into contention for those Sunshine Tour events. Repeating figures such as 74.8% for Greens in Regulation and 2.90 for Par 3 Scoring from the table below could well see the 2 time European Tour winner contending come Sunday afternoon.

Darren Fichardt arrives to compete this week with finishes of 24th / 61st / 15th / 21st over The Final Series. Looking at his Genworth Statistics from those four events, the 38 year old South African performed consistently in most areas of the game (including ranking 3rd for Driving Accuracy in Dubai last week), but he couldn’t quite produce the brilliance that recorded the back to back one-two finishes at East London and Copperleaf earlier in the year (when he ranked 1st for Putts per Round at both tournaments). A return to familiar home soil this week could well see the four time European Tour winner rise up once again.

Alejandro Cañizares arrives to compete this week with finishes of 44th / 18th / 14th over The Final Series. Looking at his Genworth Statistics for those three events, much the same as Fichardt, the 30 year old Spanish golfer performed consistently in most departments of the game, including ranking 7th for Scrambles and 13th for Putts per Round in Dubai last week (although he may feel a little disappointed after falling back on the final day). Overall, if energy levels are ok we may well see Alejandro up there again this week.

Craig Lee arrives to compete this week with finishes of 28th / 17th / 36th / 44th from his last four starts (three of them from The Final Series and one from Perth just prior to that). Looking at his Genworth Statistics for those four events, we detect a very odd scoring trend, with some excellent scoring on the Par 4’s producing rankings of 13th (3.98), 1st (3.88), 25th (3.91) and 25th (3.98), but much poorer scoring on the Par 5’s producing rankings of 65th (5.00), 44th (4.81), 24th (4.55) and 56th (5.19). This usually suggests a course management problem which can often be something as simple as trying to hit the ball too hard off the tee on the Par 5’s. Hopefully the trend will improve for the 36 year old Scottish golfer this week, on a course where players are likely to take advantage of the Par 5’s.

Justin Walters arrives to compete this week in superb form with finishes of 26th / 2nd / 18th / 10th from his last four European Tour starts. Looking at his Genworth Statistics for those four events, the 33 year old South African produced some solid tee to green play and three very strong putting performances, ranking 5th in Scotland (with 29.0 Putts per Round), 2nd in Portugal (with 26.3 Putts per Round) and 11th in Turkey (with 28.8 Putts per Round). After such a great ending to a long tough season, Justin will surely be hoping to carry forward that great form and start the 2014 season with a flyer.

Garth Mulroy arrives to compete this week with finishes of 6th / 46th / 17th / 18th / 56th from his last five starts. Looking at his Genworth Statistics for those five events, the 35 year old South African has produced a mixed bag of figures, from the superb 92.6% for Greens in Regulation in Scotland (ranking 1st) and 33 single putts in Portugal (ranking 8th), to the 53.6% for Driving Accuracy in Dubai (ranking way down in 52nd out of 56). To provide a little background information, Garth shot onto the European Tour as a bit of a late bloomer in 2011, following a victory at Leopard Creek, but from there he hasn’t looked back - with finishes of 71st in 2012 and 60th in 2013 on the season ending Race to Dubai.