Stone, Sterne or Porteous: It’s anyone’s guess in Joburg
JOHANNESBURG: Not since Tiger Woods in his prime has there been an outright favourite going into a golf tournament. These days many players can win, and so to name a favourite for the R16.5-million Joburg Open beginning today on the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club’s East and West courses is a risky business.
Perhaps Brandon Stone comes nearest to being the man to watch this week since he tops the 2016-17 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit with R6 692 988, mainly as a result of his victories last year in the South African Open at Glendower last month and the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek in December.
Defending champion Haydn Porteous may well have a chance, and the same goes for Richard Sterne, winner here in 2008 and in 2013, the latter with a fabulous 27-under-par record total of 260. There is also a strong overseas contingent this week as this event is co-sanctioned with the European Tour, and young English stars Matthew Southgate and Jordan Smith are names that could pop up on the leaderboard.
But it’s wide open over the next four days with a bigger than normal line-up of 210 players because of the two courses. Four members of the Sunshine Tour’s “Millionaires Club”, for instance, could well be in contention. Dean Burmester, Justin Walters, Anthony Michael and Mark Williams are among the 15 players who have earned more than R1-million on the 2016-17 Sunshine Tour which ends next week at Pretoria Country Club in the Tshwane Open.
And to get in some practice yesterday these four players had a little “money game” – Burmester, who has earned in excess of R3-million, and Walters (R2.3m) against Michael (R1.7m) and Zimbabwe’s Mark Williams who has earned just over R1-million.
The four players teed off on the sodden West Course’s 374m par-4 10th hole under leaden skies but, thankfully for them, no rain following Tuesday’s deluge which forced the postponement until yesterday of the Joburg Open qualifying tournament at nearby Houghton for the non-exempt players.
Burmester hit the longest drive, which, in spite of hardly any run on the ball because of the soft turf, went a full 300 metres into the first cut of rough. “Dean really smokes his drives,” said Michael who hit one down the middle about 280m, as did Walters.
There was plenty of banter going on and, after Williams hooked his drive out of sight into the trees, he was asked what golf ball he was playing. “I’ll tell you when I find it,” he exclaimed with a playful grin.
Walters was the only player to birdie the hole after a sweet little wedge approach to 10 feet before rolling in the putt to put him and Burmester one up, and then repeated a wellknown phrase, “Beware the injured golfer”.
Often when a player is carrying a minor injury, he or she will play within themselves and actually play well.
Bizarrely, Walters ruptured a cartilage in his right elbow while brushing his teeth while in Malaysia for the Malaysian Open two weeks ago. “I mean, how weird was that and until yesterday I hadn’t played any golf. But the rehab has gone well and I’m not feeling any discomfort,” added the Country Club Johannesburg professional who boasts a second and third place finish in the Joburg Open in the last three years, so clearly, this is a happy hunting ground for him.
So Stone, Sterne, Porteous, one of the overseas players or one of the four “millionaires” mentioned? Take your pick. There’s no foregone conclusion this week.