Ockie Strydom believes St Francis Links “owes him one” as he goes in search of a third DP World Tour title of the season at the inaugural SDC Championship.
The South African is among a strong home contingent in a field assembled from around the world as the co-sanctioned DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour event makes its first visit to the venue in the Eastern Cape.
Strydom claimed his breakthrough DP World Tour title at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in his homeland in December and followed that with a second win in six starts at the Singapore Classic last month.
🏆 Alfred Dunhill Championship
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 14, 2023
🏆 Singapore Classic@OckieStrydom is seeking a third win of the season this week in South Africa.#SDCChampionship pic.twitter.com/Dkl0rzOxLM
He arrives for the first of two back-to-back co-sanctioned events in South Africa ranked fifth in the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex and top of the Luno Order of Merit on the Sunshine Tour.
The 38-year-old finished second at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course in St Francis Bay at a Sunshine Tour event last October and is aiming to go one better this time around.
“I’ve done well on this course in the past,” Strydom said. “I feel like this course owes me one and hopefully that’s this week.
“There are a lot of good players here, but we’ve all got the same job – to keep it low and under the wind.”
With the weather forecast predicting gusts of up to 65km/h for Thursday’s first round, here are what some of this week's stars also had to say about the 7,192 par-72 course, ranked fourth in South Africa.
Richie Ramsay
“The landscape around here is beautiful and I’m really impressed with the course. It’s a gorgeous piece of property. You can see that if you’ve played this course before you will have an advantage. I’ve always loved coming down here to this part of the world and I’ve been on holiday with my family here before.”
Casey Jarvis
“I think it is one of the best courses in the country. I played a Sunshine Tour event here a couple of months ago and did pretty well. It’s a really good golf course, very challenging, especially when the wind is up. It’s not really like a links course, but it is quite soft around the greens.”
Brandon Stone
“I’ve been watching the wind forecast, and especially the predictions for Thursday. You can definitely see the course has been built for a breeze and it’s no secret that this part of the country has wind that will flatten flagsticks. The wind will certainly change how this course plays. But I have to commend the greenkeeping staff here because it’s in fantastic condition considering they’ve been in a long drought in this region.”
Sami Välimäki
“It has been a good start to the season. I have finished a couple of times second, couldn’t win the tournament but a good start. I have had three weeks off so let’s see how the game is. It is nice to be here; good food and a good place to be so I like it here."
