Host Carl Lewis and golf punter Wade Pretorius preview the Hero World Challenge & SA Open Championship with Wade providing his best bets for both tournaments this weekend.
SA Open
Dating all the way back to 1893, the South African Open is the second oldest National Open in the world, with only the Open Championship, which was first staged back to 1860, dating back further.
The South African Open has been co-sanctioned between the Sunshine and DP World Tour since 1997.
Last year's edition was also scheduled to be a co-sanctioned event but due to COVID-19 travel restrictions in place in the UK from South Africa the majority of DP World Tour players withdrew and the event was revised as a sole-sanctioned Sunshine Tour event.
Dean Burmester's very decent recent form figures in his homeland, reading 4-2-1-43-4-2-18-2, include his two fourths in the last two editions of this event and he's been in reasonable form this year with an 11th placed finish in the Open Championship and a fourth in the Sanderson Farms Championship on the PGA Tour the highlights.
His prestigious length off the tee should be an asset this week but his very recent form is a bit disappointing, reading 37-32-MC-54, and I'm happy to swerve him.
Branden Grace, who won the first of the two editions staged in 2020, has been plying his trade on the LIV Tour of late and to some success too.
Grace won the LIV Golf Invitational Portland in July and after a quiet spell he finished inside the top-ten at the Nedbank Challenge last time out in what was his first appearance in his homeland since he won this title almost three years ago.
Charl Schwartzel also plays on the LIV Tour now he too has tasted success, winning the first event staged there - the LIV Golf Invitational London in June.
Schwartzel is still looking to win his national title for the first time but he hasn't played in the last couple of editions of the event either so taking the title can hardly be described as a burning desire.
World Hero Challenge
The PGA TOUR pops back into the frame to squeeze in one more event before the new year.
This week's field is capped at just 20 golfers who are guaranteed four rounds of action and at least a couple OWGR points for their effort. Last year's winner, Viktor Hovland, scooped up 48 OWGR points last year while last-place finisher, Jordan Spieth, grabbed 2.4 points for his showing.
The Course
The host venue this week is Albany, an Ernie Els design that was established in 2010.
Albany is unique as a desert-links style setup that almost looks like a video game creation.
The scorecard shows a par 72 that stretches out past 7,400 yards.
The course is unique in the hole-by-hole layout as there are five par 3s and five par 5s. It's a good balance as the abundance of par 3s puts an emphasis on smart and steady iron play while the par 5s often reward the elite drivers. On top of that, a pair of driveable par 4s also put a premium on controlling your metals/woods.
Off the tee, golfers will see generous landing areas but plenty of sand and other trouble (bushes) waiting to gobble up errant tee balls. Water is in play on five holes.
For turf, this coastal course features wall-to-wall bermudagrass that can be very tricky at times, particularly around the greens.
Looking at the scoring environment, the weather dictates how low they can go at Albany. Bubba Watson won the 2015 edition at 25-under but the other five Albany champs have finished at 18-under or 20-under. That's probably tougher than you might expect for a resort course with five par 5s but that goes to show how the plethora of par 3s and a few tough par 4s help offer a good scoring balance.
