Mavs Euro Tour Weekly Returns 2012- Joburg Open and ET update

Congratulations to last week’s winner King Louis winning the African Open back to back. Now this week sees Charl Schwartzel looking to go one better and make it 3 wins in a row.

Not much to mention about an event without much history:

1. Played over 2 courses this event should be seen to be believed, having been there and played the 2 courses they simply are superb.

2.The average fairway width over the 2 course just 20yards, so premium will be on accuracy and when you consider both courses are over 7000 yards only the best drivers and good iron players should come out on top here

3.Apart from Charl going for 3 straight maybe worth a punt of Richard Sterne as he is a previous winner of this event over these courses

4.Barry Lane who is in the field this week has led by example and got some of the younger tour stars involved in taking the game out into the local community to teach children.

ET Update:
Again so new into the new year there is not much to mention but heres the snippets

Luke Donald has confirmed he will be returning to Wentworth to defend his PGA crown, something the tour are going to flaunt as they will have the world no1 at their flagship event the scene of where he took over the mantle from former incumbent Lee Westwood.

Open Championship international qualifying is already underway with Aussies Nicholas Cullen and Ashley Hall coming through a play-off to join fellow Australian Aaron Townsend in sealing a place at The Open following a wind swept qualifying event in Melbourne.

Challenge Tour:

Not much happening really as the tour is still someway off its season opening event so players all getting ready for a big season.

The one thing of note really so far is the announcement that Finland is returning as a destination for the CT this year.

Ones to watch are as championed on here previously Matt Haines who returns to CT action after not being able to retain his full ET card in his debut season last year. The other guy is one I said to look out for at Q school Jordan Gibb only a poor 5th round relegated him to a CT Card instead of a full exemption. Last mention of the CT is Ben Barham wishing him well in his first full season back, narrowly missing his full ET playing rights after having a prolonged absence due to cancer; good to have him back fully fit .

Special Mention

Peter Uihlein is looking to earn his full ET card in 7 invites secured for him by Chubby Chandler, likely to see him appear on the CT as well as prep to these events. ET press are saying the move for him to play ET instead of PGA is that Mr Titleist Wally Uihlein (Peters father) was impressed with how team chubb handled McIlroys ascent in the game and the fact that they nearly managed the Chubby Slam in 2011. Word is Wally wants Peter to be the crown in team Chubbs taking McIlroys mantle and then see him move onto bigger things

Cheers Mav

Nice one Mav - I took a look at the odds on Richard Sterne after his name was mentioned a few times on the Africa Open thread and picks for this week's fantasy event

Seems like he's around 20/1 which seems very short for someone with his world ranking.

The odds are perhaps distorted as a previous winner or maybe the bookies are reading golf chat!

Seems very low odds must be down to his previous win or maybe he has other good form apart from the victory in this event, would need to look into it further for that though. But then the good week he had last week allied to his win here previously would be reason alone to put him in thelower echelons of the odds.

Maverick wrote:Open Championship international qualifying is already underway with Aussies Nicholas Cullen and Ashley Hall coming through a play-off to join fellow Australian Aaron Townsend in sealing a place at The Open following a wind swept qualifying event in Melbourne.

Insightful items as usual Mav. First things first: so the 3 fellows mentioned above have actually already qualified for The Open and are officially entered? If so, that's a nice date to pin on their calendars with plenty of time to prepare.

Indeed that's confirmed qualifiers venice so with that date for Lytham St Annes in their diaries it'll help them concentrate on the year ahead and preparing for the big one

Never heard of any of them.

I understand that International Final Qualifying events were introduced in 2004 and are held on five continents to give more golfers direct entry into the British Open.

Am I alone in thinking that the British public would rather see more young British golfers have the opportunity to compete in the British Open rather than golfers from IFQ events?

BC:

That's exactly right and I'd guess the thought behind it was to show how truly global the appeal of the Open is, would have been nicer to see more places for more british entrants though it supposed to be Open to anyone that can qualify.

Early tie for the lead in SA, Tommy Fleetwood up there with the Goose, reports Henni Otto struggling with back pain

Mav, I seem to recall the main reason for the R&A spreading their qualifiers across the globe was to present as far as possible a level playing field, cost-wise. If you live on the other side of the world, it's a very expensive business coming to the UK only to end up not qualifying for the main event.

Of course, there is nothing to stop brits trying out for these spots as well. Indeed, I think some UK players try their hand at the South African qualifier, don't they?

Spot on Gael that was the main driving force behind it, it was felt that not enough international players were in the field to make it "truly Open" and the reeasons were that many trying to make their way in the game simply couldn't afford to come over here with the flights, accomodation prices, entrance fees etc and run the risk at the end of it simply not qualifying having spent all that money trying. So the decision was made to have international qualifying events so that the only real outgoings were those for the event itself.


Good to see Jamie Elson and Tommy Fleetwood going well early doors! Where did Joel Sjoholm pull that round from, he did ok last year but we hardly saw his name up the leaderboards

Top 14 so far all playing the West course - so one of my picks (Robert Rock) at -3 after 6 looking to make a good start on the East course

BlueCoverman wrote:Never heard of any of them.

I understand that International Final Qualifying events were introduced in 2004 and are held on five continents to give more golfers direct entry into the British Open.

Am I alone in thinking that the British public would rather see more young British golfers have the opportunity to compete in the British Open rather than golfers from IFQ events?

If and when someone comes up with a tournament called the British Open, I'm sure British golfers will have most chances to qualify.

The Open Championship is exactly that, Open to the world.

Yes I didn't phrase that very well SJ...but I think you know what I meant

I think the R&A would take exactly that stance, though BCM. It happens to be played here but it really isn't our national championship. If and when the Scots get their independence, I'm sure it'll still be played in both England and Scotland (and who knows, maybe NI too? But let's not open that particular can of worms!)

Yes you are right and I appreciate that SJ, guess I would just prefer to see more openings for our home grown talent

BlueCoverman wrote:Yes you are right and I appreciate that SJ, guess I would just prefer to see more openings for our home grown talent

You're absolutely right about that. I miss the old English Open, British Masters and B&H. They were huge events, mostly covered by the BBC, and when I was getting into the game they were great to watch. Apparently HMRC are to blame for their demise!

smithersjones wrote:

BlueCoverman wrote:Yes you are right and I appreciate that SJ, guess I would just prefer to see more openings for our home grown talent

You're absolutely right about that. I miss the old English Open, British Masters and B&H. They were huge events, mostly covered by the BBC, and when I was getting into the game they were great to watch. Apparently HMRC are to blame for their demise!

Excuse the ignorance but what is or what was the B&H?

Benson & Hedges International. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benson_%26_Hedges_International_Open

I believe it was that tournament, when it was played at Fulford, where Langer played his famous 'tree iron'.

Wasn't the B+H also played at The Oxfordshire?

Suspended play but an excellent round by Damien McGrane. Checked on his career results and for being a journeyman with only one tour win in 2008 at the China Open, he has been very consistent year in and out in terms of cuts made and position on the Order of Merit board. However, he is headed towards the twilight so he'd better take advantage of his good start this week.

Year / Events played / Cuts made / Order of Merit
2003 26 21 140
2004 24 16 101
2005 31 19 59
2006 32 19 56
2007 31 19 73
2008 30 20 30
2009 32 22 60
2010 31 23 41
2011 23 16 93

But checking out what's in his golf bag reveals everything under the sun. (MLA Putters, Mizuno, Cleveland, Ping, TaylorMade, True Temper, Aldila, Fujikura, DI Tech Shaft, Graphalloy, Titleist, Footjoy, Agile Golf, Appian, Green Victory Grips, Adidas) Probably reflects what the other pro's also carry in this era but it gets fairly confusing to say the least.

Davie wrote:Wasn't the B+H also played at The Oxfordshire?

Yes, I think that it was played there for a few years in the late 1990's

smithersjones wrote:Benson & Hedges International. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benson_%26_Hedges_International_Open

I believe it was that tournament, when it was played at Fulford, where Langer played his famous 'tree iron'.

Ah... the good old days when the tobacco companies had a purpose in life. The list of sport events and professional athletes that survived only due to tobacco and alcohol... one has to marvel at that.

Bad day for some of my fantasy picks by the look of it

Richard Sterne who looked to be getting back into it after a poor start yesterday came back in +3 today to throw away all his good work on the front nine and looks like he'll miss the cut. Same for Chris Wood

And Nick Fasth looks like he'll have to pull his finger out also!

Good to see Rocky doing well. Unfortunately Howeller's resurgance was short lived.

A good start for Lyle Rowe again this week.

More thunderstorms today - Round Two now completed, but Round 3 suspended until 12.30.

Charl has missed the cut.

URGHHHHHH
What is it with Scott Jamieson.
Up with the leaders, starts with an eagle then follows with 3 bogeys.

........folowed by a par and........... another eagle.
It's feast of famine with this guy.

.........out in 35 with one par, 4 shots behind.