Scotland's Stephen Gallacher left most punters out of pocket when claiming only his second European tour victory in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic last week. He saw off the challenge of South Africa’s Richard Sterne with Felipe Aguilar and Thorbjorn Olesen tied for third. Lee Westwood shaped encouragingly just a shot further back, tied for fifth place with Marcus Fraser.
Gallacher is the nephew of former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher and his only previous victory came at St Andrews in the Dunhill Links Championship nine years ago. He was making his 404th start last week and has now set his sights on getting into the world’s top 50 in time to qualify for the US Masters at Augusta. Gallacher’s victory following that of Donaldson and Wood has left punters scratching their heads as they look for the winner of this week’s Joburg Open.
Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club hosts the event with players splitting their time between the East and West courses for the first two rounds before the tougher East course hosts the closing rounds. Bookmakers have put Charl Schwartzel up as a short-priced favourite to end the run of big outsiders. He is only 3-1 to win this week, having already won twice at the venue. He brings some impressive course stats including an average of less than 68 per round with a low of 61 shot on the West Course in 2010.
Charl finished 2012 with victories in Thailand and in South Africa by a combined total of 23 shots. Although he blotted his copybook by missing the cut here last year, he had the advantage of being able to practise here last week and is unlikely to face the bitter weather conditions of twelve months ago. Schwartzel won the US Masters at Augusta in 2011 after winning here and started the current campaign by destroying the field to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship by 12 shots.
Richard Sterne is also a past winner and must come into the reckoning after his excellent show last week. At 18-1 he will have plenty of each-way supporters. He did fade up the home straight in Dubai, dropping four shots when he should have been looking to apply some pressure to Gallacher. Branden Grace is firmly in the spotlight this season after his amazing run of success in 2012 but he seems to be handling the pressure well. Not surprisingly, the bookies are wary of his presence as defending champion and he is generally an 8-1 chance.
George Coetzee is another leading fancy having been denied a playoff at Qatar by Wood’s stunning finish. In that sort of form, he warrants plenty of respect this week and is another priced at around 8-1.
Steve Webster (33-1) and Robert Rock (35-1) were both prominent last week and could feature at big prices along with Ricardo Santos (50-1). There are plenty of other markets available on the Joburg Open Betting including top GB and Ireland player. Webster and Rock are 8-1 co-favourites with Danny Willett.
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Gallacher is the nephew of former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher and his only previous victory came at St Andrews in the Dunhill Links Championship nine years ago. He was making his 404th start last week and has now set his sights on getting into the world’s top 50 in time to qualify for the US Masters at Augusta. Gallacher’s victory following that of Donaldson and Wood has left punters scratching their heads as they look for the winner of this week’s Joburg Open.
Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club hosts the event with players splitting their time between the East and West courses for the first two rounds before the tougher East course hosts the closing rounds. Bookmakers have put Charl Schwartzel up as a short-priced favourite to end the run of big outsiders. He is only 3-1 to win this week, having already won twice at the venue. He brings some impressive course stats including an average of less than 68 per round with a low of 61 shot on the West Course in 2010.
Charl finished 2012 with victories in Thailand and in South Africa by a combined total of 23 shots. Although he blotted his copybook by missing the cut here last year, he had the advantage of being able to practise here last week and is unlikely to face the bitter weather conditions of twelve months ago. Schwartzel won the US Masters at Augusta in 2011 after winning here and started the current campaign by destroying the field to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship by 12 shots.
Richard Sterne is also a past winner and must come into the reckoning after his excellent show last week. At 18-1 he will have plenty of each-way supporters. He did fade up the home straight in Dubai, dropping four shots when he should have been looking to apply some pressure to Gallacher. Branden Grace is firmly in the spotlight this season after his amazing run of success in 2012 but he seems to be handling the pressure well. Not surprisingly, the bookies are wary of his presence as defending champion and he is generally an 8-1 chance.
George Coetzee is another leading fancy having been denied a playoff at Qatar by Wood’s stunning finish. In that sort of form, he warrants plenty of respect this week and is another priced at around 8-1.
Steve Webster (33-1) and Robert Rock (35-1) were both prominent last week and could feature at big prices along with Ricardo Santos (50-1). There are plenty of other markets available on the Joburg Open Betting including top GB and Ireland player. Webster and Rock are 8-1 co-favourites with Danny Willett.
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