Steve Palmer's Joburg Open predictions & free golf betting tips

Golf tips, best bets and player analysis for the Joburg Open at Houghton GC on the DP World Tour.

Where to watch

Live on Sky Sports Main Event and Golf from 10am on Thursday

Best bets

Jayden Schaper
3pts each-way 45-1 bet365, Betfred
Oliver Hundeboll
1pt each-way 110-1 bet365
Casey Jarvis
0.5pt each-way 300-1 Betfred
Martin Vorster
0.5pt each-way 200-1 Betfred

Christiaan Bezuidenhout tops the betting for the Joburg Open, but 7-1 is not a particularly enticing price given he is competing at the redesigned Houghton for the first time.

The Presidents Cup star is a class act and deserves great respect, but he missed some short putts in a sloppy final-round performance in the Nedbank Challenge last time out, and delving deeper down the market is the preferred strategy.

Steve Palmer's top tip

Jayden Schaper 45-1

The Joburg Open is a fantastic opportunity for Jayden Schaper to leap from the Sunshine Tour to the DP World Tour and take his career to the next level.

Schaper has always been bursting with potential. A tidy, accurate player with a tight, efficient swing, he was the best junior and amateur in South Africa before becoming a professional. Near the end of his amateur days, he starred in the South African Open at the start of 2020, finishing sixth at 18 years of age.

Not since the days of a young Ernie Els had a South African amateur made such an early impact - Schaper looked to be shaping into a world-beater.

Regular leaderboard appearances on the Sunshine Tour followed and he was 18th in the Joburg Open at the end of 2020, before going extremely close to his big breakthrough in the Alfred Dunhill Championship. A final-round 75 in the Dunhill meant a runner-up finish.

The second half of last year was solid for Schaper, as has been the second half of this year, and his form figures from his last six Sunshine Tour events are 9-6-2-4-17-10.

Schaper is one of few players in this field with positive course experience - he finished tenth in the 2020 Sunshine Tour Qualifying School at Houghton to secure his card.

Next best bet

Oliver Hundeboll 110-1

Danish golf is in a good place with the Hojgaard brothers leading the way, and Oliver Hundeboll is another promising youngster from Denmark. Danes have a proud record of success in the Joburg Open - Anders Hansen and JB Hansen are on the honours board - and Morten Orum Madsen won the South African Open in 2013.

Hundeboll appears talented enough to follow in the footsteps of his compatriots. He won on the Nordic Golf League in 2019, then on the Challenge Tour in March. The Challenge Tour success came in South Africa - in the Mangaung Open - and he followed up with fourth place in the same country in the Limpopo Championship.

The form was sustained with a playoff loss in a Challenge Tour event in Italy in July, then Hundeboll got the chance to tee up on the DP World Tour in the Hero Open later that month, carding four rounds in the 60s for fifth place.

The 23-year-old was 18th in the Challenge Tour Grand Final last time out. Hundeboll already has a DP World Tour card in his pocket for this season, so can attack this event without any fear.

Other selections

Casey Jarvis 300-1

Martin Vorster 200-1

A pair of rising stars are well worth adding to the shortlist at big prices. Casey Jarvis won 18 tournaments when he was an amateur - and five of them were in professional events. He won everything in South African golf at amateur level, including back-to-back South African Amateur titles in 2021 and this year, turning pro in August.

TaylorMade signed Jarvis up immediately - they can see his huge potential - and the 19-year-old quickly settled into Sunshine Tour life. Last time out he finished runner-up in the South African PGA Championship.

Martin Vorster is a little older than Jarvis, turning 21 in January, and this dynamic duo could easily turn into the Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen of their generation. Vorster threatened to earn a Korn Ferry Tour card with a bold effort at the Korn Ferry Tour Q School last year, but this autumn he has settled nicely on the Sunshine Tour.

Fourth place in the SunBet Challenge at the end of September was followed by sixth spot in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Finals, then fifth last time out in the South African PGA Championship. Jarvis and Vorster appear to have found their feet at the perfect time to be a factor in the Joburg Open.

Players to note

George Coetzee
The carefree Pretorian loves teeing up in his homeland and is difficult to dismiss. He won the South African PGA at the start of this month.

Thriston Lawrence
The defending champion was 225-1 for last year's event, but is only 14-1 for his defence, and he could have done with a breather after a long DP World Tour season.

Houghton course guide

Course Houghton Golf Club, Johannesburg, South Africa
Prize money €1m (€156,825 to the winner)
Length 7,153 yards
Par 72 - four par-fives; ten par-fours; four par-threes
Field 156 The cut Top 65 and ties qualify for round three
Highest-ranked players taking part (world ranking in brackets) Christiaan Bezuidenhout (74), Thriston Lawrence (90), Oliver Bekker (113), Shaun Norris (125), Hennie Du Plessis (179)
Course records (old course) - 72 holes 259 David Frost (1994 South African PGA) 18 holes 62 James Kingston (2004 Alfred Dunhill Championship)

Course winners taking part Marcel Siem, Tristen Strydom

When to bet By 4.30am on Thursday

When to watch Live on Sky Sports Main Event and Golf from 10am on Thursday

Time difference South Africa is two hours ahead of the UK and Ireland

Last week - DP World Tour Championship 1 J Rahm (5-1), T2 T Hatton (18-1), A Noren (30-1), 4 R McIlroy (100-30), T5 M Fitzpatrick (9-1), T Fleetwood (16-1), T7 R Hojgaard (33-1), A Meronk (90-1)

Course type Parkland

Course overview AM Copeland designed this classic track, which was opened in 1926, and it staged the South African Open eight times between 1951 and 1992. The South African PGA Championship was played there from 1993 through 1999. And from 2000 through 2004, Houghton was the venue for the Alfred Dunhill Championship on the European Tour. The course was then sold, though, and completely changed by Jack Nicklaus and his team, opening in 2009. The only significant course form since the redesign is the Sunshine Tour Qualifying School in 2019 and 2020. This is the first time it has staged the Joburg Open. This is a short track, given it is played at altitude in the Highveld. Heavy bunkering, water hazards and undulating greens are the defence

Story of last year Thriston Lawrence, a 225-1 outsider, won his maiden DP World Tour title by four shots in a weather-shortened 36-hole event at Randpark GC

Weather forecast Sunny and warm for the first two days, temperatures cooling slightly at the weekend, with gentle breezes throughout

Type of player suited to the challenge As with most Nicklaus designs, accurate iron-play is essential to greens heavily guarded by bunkers

Key attribute Accuracy

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