The third week of the young Challenge Tour season is upon us, and looking back feels much as it did last week. Daniel van Tonder won the MyGolfLife Open, just as he did the SDC Open. He’s already gone a very long way towards regaining his DPWT card for 2026, and is playing the best golf of his life. Again, we saw a great performance from the young and talented Liam Nolan who sits second on the Road to Majorca rankings, one spot ahead of Danny List, who you may remember from Ryan talking about him on X during DPWT Q-school. When I asked Ryan who he thought had the best swing he saw there, it was Danny. He already has a card for the main tour (though with a low category and thus limited opportunities) but he’s one to watch if he gets into any of the upcoming African events on the DPWT – the Kenyan Open in a fortnight looking promising, for instance. For all he represents Australia he knows African golf intimately.
There’s nothing at all to say about the three selections I made other than to be staggered by their collective failure to make, or even threaten, the cut. The real surprise was Freddy Schott who is consistent and came in playing good golf. It was a much more South African leaderboard than I expected and I got it badly wrong, but we’re coming back to a more familiar course and can pick again with confidence.
The Tournament
This is a well-established event – there’s been a Cape Town Open since 2012, and it has been co-sanctioned between the Sunshine and Challenge Tours since 2020. Whilst a second course has been used for splitting the pre-cut field on a couple of occasions, this is also an event that’s always at Royal Cape Golf Club. This is Africa’s oldest golf course, something that you’ll be hearing about time without number. It’s another highly scenic week in the shadow of Table Mountain. The event, though, has the potential to be pretty challenging.
It's a flat course, and although we’re back at sea level length is not essential as this plays to only 6,821 yards as a par 72. Like a lot of South African events, the organizers frequently play some holes off shorter tees on some days so it may not even be that long. However, it is highly exposed to the Cape Doctor, the summer breeze that hits this part of the world. It is going to be a dry week but it is going to be very windy indeed. Unusually, I think it is worth posting the wind forecast. Early indications are that we can expect serious gusts on Thursday and Sunday, and there may be an AM/PM advantage in the first couple of rounds, and there’s the potential for serious upheaval on the final day.
Wind is the primary protection for this course which on paper is slightly outdated for modern equipment and powerful professionals, and some of the holes (the drivable 312 yard par four 12th, and the par five 5th and 11th) are indeed huge birdie opportunities. However, the aggregate scores (winners are typically between 270 and 275 (-18 to -13) show that the tight fairways and small, well-protected greens do provide a challenge and it is a course which suits a few players particularly well and seems to reward experience and nous. The veteran Mikael Lindberg won last year (he was also third in 2021) and in JC Ritchie and Ben Follett-Smith we have two repeat winners. So I’m looking for course experience, expertise in the wind, an accurate tee-to-green game and solid scrambling.
The Field
As might be expected, the favourite is Daniel van Tonder, seeking a third successive win and the earliest possible battlefield promotion. He was seventh here in 2020 and that’s by a margin his highest finish on a course that doesn’t seem to suit – he missed the cut last year – and although he’s feared given the quality of golf he’s playing, I’m not willing to back him at a single-figured price. Second in the market is David Law, the veteran Scot playing strong golf currently but he’s a course debutant and I think too wayward from tee to green to enjoy this challenge. Similar concerns apply to last week’s selection Freddy Schott who is far more about power than accuracy. Adri Arnaus and Max Steinlechner are other course debutants who are easily passed over.
Ben Follett-Smith, winner in 2019 and 2023 (his only two wins on the Challenge Tour) was a harder omission at an attractive price and he was the last name removed from the list, but as he’s got older he’s chased power off the tee and I fear won’t be effective here. His facility in the wind is to his advantage. Mathis Besard was another tough omission as there’s reasons to think this will suit him effectively but the weather is a question and he’s yet to play the course. With Andreas Halvorsen a late omission only Follett-Smith really caused me headaches in reducing my team to three.
Selections
The first and easiest pick was JC Ritchie, who I thought would be closer to van Tonder in the market and who walked onto my team given the importance I’m placing on course form. As well winning in 2021 and retaining his title a year on, from 2018 onwards he finished 3rd, 36th and 19th, and on his return to the event he was 4th last year. He simply loves this track. Fifth in the Mediclinic at Heron Banks and ninth in the SDC Open show that he’s on form despite a missed cut last week. I am slightly concerned that he’s on the wrong side of the draw (he’s got an afternoon tee time on Thursday) but I am not convinced that the bias will play out, and certainly at the price I’m happy to take that risk.
At a much bigger price, but following a similar logic, Robin Sciot-Siegrist was fourth here last year, one of the best performances in a disappointing season returned to the Challenge Tour. The Frenchman took won his first, and thus far only, professional victory on the Challenge Tour way back in 2017 on a windswept Galgorm course in Northern Ireland (he was fourth there last year) to which he can add numerous high finishes in Le Vaudreuil, a very exposed course in Brittany, North-western France. His poor record thus far this season can be disregarded as the courses won’t have suited, and this elevated price is a bit of a gift as a result.
Finally, I’m picking Gerhard Pepler for the second time, as he comes here fresh off a much-improved 13th place last week and still at a long price. He made his tournament debut last season, finishing 18th having been tied for the lead at halfway. His sole win on the Sunshine Tour came at White River, a windswept and short (par 71, 6,625 yard) course, whilst his fifth at the PGA Championship in November came at St Francis Links, also on the cape coast, short and exposed. For all he’s a powerful young player he’s been successful on this tight short courses and is clearly well-used to challenging conditions.
JC Ritchie, 20/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Sporting Index
Robin Sciot-Siegrist, 66/1, 1pt e/w, ¼ odds 5 places, Bet365
Gerhard Pepler, 125/1, 1pt e/w, ¼ odds 5 places, Bet365
Comments