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2021 Joburg Open Betting Picks & Selections

The welcome to the DP World Tour may not be the fanfare that organisers were hoping for, but viewers are in for a visual treat over the next three weeks, as the Sunshine Tour co-sanction three events that give true meaning to the phrase ‘natural beauty’.
Away from the actual play, Randpark, the Gary Player, and Leopard Creek give commentator Tony Johnstone a chance to gush over the delights of his homeland, a true listening pleasure for those lucky to receive it.
These previews are not intended to be the formal structure of many, so straight into it.
The Joburg Open itself has taken in various sites, including using Firethorn’s sister course Bushwillow, but this year will use just the hardest track on the course. At altitude, the official 7500-plus yards course plays nowhere near that length and whilst Firethorn will be the more forgiving of the three courses; it will place as much emphasis on the short game as it does the bombing prowess.
Previous winners of this event, in all its guises, include the likes of home stalwarts Charl Schwartzel, Brandon Grace and George Coetzee whilst when the course held the South Africa Open, as it did in 2018 and 2020, add the names Retief Goosen (beat Ernie Els), Louis Oosthuizen and Grace once again. Experience of the Kikuyu fairways and bentgrass greens does help, and whilst the course has had its changes (2017), I’m expecting a similar score of around 19-under and a quality winner with proven past form.
As always in these events, there is a fair amount of deadwood and whilst many are capable of sneaking into a top-10 place, the winner is likely to be based well under the three-figure price range.
Full respect to the short-priced favourite, Dean Burmester. There is no arguing that he deserves to be a single figure price in this field. He is the only entrant in the world top-100, is a recent winner at home and finished sixth to Collin Morikawa in Dubai just five days ago. There is nothing new there, and at 10-1 (+10000), he is well worth a saver to the main bets.
Jayden Schaper Win/Top 5 +4000/+800
At 16 years of age, the junior superstar completed the Grand Slam of South African ‘Nomad’ titles – at under-13, 15 and 17 level whilst also going back-to-back at under-19 – and it’s been only a matter of time before he makes the top league.
Indeed, so quick was Schaper’s rise that within a few months of completing the five-timer, he won the Junior Players at Sawgrass and ended the 2019 season with a 26th at Galgorm Castle on the full European Tour and a place just outside the top-40 in the prestigious Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek.
Despite the interruption to the 2020 season, he returned in August to record three top-10 and four top-20 finishes in a run of nine events before catching the eye of the golfing world when finishing runner-up to Christiaan Bezuidenhout at Leopard Creek. Back then, Schaper took a lead into the back-9 before playing three balls off the 10th tee and finishing with a 75, disappointing but hugely encouraging and a sign there were big things ahead.
2021 didn’t start in great fashion, but since August, the future star has recorded two top-five finishes, a trio of top-10s and a 12th place in just eight starts and, given the way he improves at a course, can be expected to leave last year’s 18th place behind.
Let’s sum it up with the facts.
On the Sunshine Tour, over the past three months, the 19-year-old ranks first for driving distance, fourth for total driving, 28th for greens, sixth for scrambling, ninth for putting average, fifth for par-fours and 12th for par-fives.
It won’t be if, it will be when.
Marcus Helligkilde Win/Top 5 +4000/ +800
Another youngster and one, aged 25 that is coming to the fore three years after starting out on his professional career on the Nordic Tour having won a couple of European amateur titles.
A trio of wins and numerous top-10 finishes in his native area was sandwiched with an initial learning period on the Challenge Tour, but it’s in the past nine months or so that he has shown the form that gives him every chance in this grade.
An early runner-up in Sweden preceded an eye-catching top-25 in Denmark on the main tour, a final-round 64 launching him from outside of the top-50, but it was the wire-to-wire win in Finland in August that gave him the confidence and belief. Back then, he stated, ”the biggest factor was my mental game and how I managed myself around the course.”
That mental fortitude was in evidence when fighting through the entire weekend at the BN-L Trophy in the Netherlands (lost in a playoff) before receiving an invitational to the Dutch Open on the main tour where he held second place from the second round until just lacking experience through the latter stages of Sunday. 17th tee-to-green and fifth around-the-green on the European Tour, around a tricky track, is never going to read badly.
Continuing to grow his game, Helligkilde had five remaining events on the feeder Challenge Tour, the second place in Spain surrounded by two wins, including the Challenge Tour Grand Finale, when he comfortably held off quality opposition to win the tournament and the overall title.
As a convoluted piece of evidence, take a look at his win at the Swiss Challenge. Whilst admittedly at a different track, previous runners-up in that event include Bryce Easton (seventh in the Joburg Open 2020), Romain Langasque (runner-up at Firethorn in the 2018 SA Open) and Brandon Stone (huge form in his home country and two top-seven finishes here).
This fella has a game plan lacking in so many and is ready to win once more.
One to put in your 10-to-follow lists whatever happens this week.
Bryce Easton Win/Top 5/Top 10 +7000/+1200/+550
Possibly one for your prop bets in the top-10/20 market given his win record of three in 260 starts (and none since 2018) but there are signs he has the game to be better than that, and he brings a course record of 7/mc/3/mc suggesting if he was to show top form, here may be the place.
I doubt there is any improvement in the 34-year-old but given his form here and on the European Tour this year, he is worth a small punt.
Top-25 in Portugal probably puts him close to the top page this week, but that looks average compared with his eighth at the London Club in July and most recent seventh in Mallorca when he led at halfway with a stunning display of putting.
Easton’s short game continues to impress, and with many in this field seriously lacking in short game skills, a repeat of any of these better efforts should see him go closer than the market expects.
Jaco Ahlers – Win/First Round Leader +6600/+5000
The first-round leader market is a chancy one but have a couple of shekels on the 39-year-old who can celebrate his (and mine) recent birthday with a lead after day one and be a genuine contender for the overall title.
Despite getting it done on eight occasions from 253 starts, Ahlers is often heralded as a ‘thinker’ when in front, especially in this slightly higher class, however in the last three seasons, the Sunshine Tour stalwart has picked up four runner-up finishes (three this year) and 18 further top-10s, suggesting he is a prop bet cash machine at the prices.
This season, best effort numbers read well but look further, and we see a flying second place behind George Coetzee and a most recent tied-fifth behind Burmy, the hot favourite this week. Level with Schaper on that occasion, he rates fifth on overall ranking over the past three months (according to tour-tips.com), comprising top-25 in total driving, 23rd in ball-striking, 14th in total putting and fifth in par-five performance, an asset given a boost when considering the top-three on last year’s leaderboard ranked first or second in that regard.
Ahlers just may be in the right type of form to continue his current number one ranking for first-round scoring average, and with his last ten opening 18-holes giving clues – four top-10’s and four further top-20 first-round finishes – here’s hoping a relatively early tee time on Thursday brings rewards.
Enjoy.
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
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How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
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Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.