Christiaan Bezuidenhout tops market for weakened South African Open

The South African Open has been downgraded from DP World Tour status to a mere Sunshine Tour event, but a host of top-class, home-grown stars appear set to compete at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City.

The Covid variant which emerged in South Africa - and the subsequent travel restrictions - saw mass withdrawals from the SA Open and DP World pull their support for the event. International representation in the tournament is extremely thin - the market is dominated by South Africans - and Christiaan Bezuidenhout is 6-1 favourite with bet365.

Dean Burmester, Dylan Frittelli and Garrick Higgo are also listed in the field, along with last week's Joburg Open champion, Thriston Lawrence. Sky Sports are showing live coverage from 10am on Thursday.

Most of the golfing spotlight this week falls on the Hero World Challenge, where traditional tournament host Tiger Woods has managed to assemble another all-star cast.

Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa, who competed against each other in the DP World Tour Championship last time out, are jostling for Hero favouritism around the 15-2 mark. Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau and Jordan Spieth are also in attendance at Albany GC, Bahamas.

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