Nienaber v Burmester: Battle of the big bombers
THIS week’s R17.5 million Joburg Open on Randpark’s Firethorn course could well turn out to be the battle of the big hitters in the form of rip-it-and-grip men Wilco Nienaber and Dean Burmester.
For spectators, finally allowed back in their numbers, watching these two is sure to be a treat.
The tournament marks the start of the 2022 European Tour and, looking back at last season, the 21-year-old Nienaber topped the driving distance statistics with an average “bomb” of 323.31 yards.
The 32-year-old Burmester wasn’t far behind.
He averaged 318.34 yards which put him in second place. These are average distances, of course, and it’s not uncommon for this longhitting pair to open their shoulders and approach the 400-yard mark with their bullet-like tee-shots.
Put another way, in popular parlance, when Nienaber and Burmester hit the golf ball, it stays hit.
Nienaber unleashed a 439yard monster drive on Firethorn’s par-five fourth hole on his way to finishing second in last year’s Joburg Open.
He also goes into this week’s tournament at the top of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit with just over R1 million in earnings, thanks mainly to his victory early in the season in the Dimension Data Pro-am.
Burmester, for his part, has been in superb form both at home and abroad in 2021.
On the European Tour he won the Tenerife Open and earned nearly €950 000 over the duration of the season, which translates to close to a hefty R17m.
At the tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai over the weekend he played exceptionally well, shooting four straight 69s to tie for sixth place on 276 alongside big names such as Rory Mcilroy and Ian Poulter, and behind winner Collin Morikawa.
On home soil, Burmester recently won the South African PGA Championship.
It remains to be seen who wins this week’s tournament, which has attracted a strong international line-up, but a guaranteed side-show will be watching the Nienaber and Burmester missiles.
The Joburg Open runs from Thursday to Sunday with 2 000 spectators permitted each day.