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I strongly suspect that Jonsson Workwear are purveyors of what you might call real workwear. Wear that people wear when they need to do some work at work. Not workwear of the Carhartt or Stan Ray kind. Workwear of the wear-it-to-work kind. Sleeves that can be rolled up; robust trousers which are to washing machines as hobnobs are to tea.
Whoever they are, we thank them for taking over sponsorship of the Steyn City Championship, which remains at Steyn City but is no longer self-backed. If only the people at JW had managed to convince Sky Sports to pop along again. Perhaps they should've promised them some, how do they say it now, fresh garb?
Last year's event was televised and I remember being a little surprised with the way it unfolded at the time. Looking back, I shouldn't have been. New venues are always a challenge, but in retrospect what should we have expected to happen at a 7,700-yard course which had nearly been flooded in the weeks prior? The power-dominated leaderboard made absolute sense and more fool those of us who didn't see it coming.
The question now, one that's key to unlocking this renamed tournament, is to what extent we put that down to conditions and to what extent we put it down to the course. Because if we lean towards the former, well there's been barely a drop of rain in Gauteng lately – Steyn City and its share of hazards is bound to play firmer. If we lean towards the latter, then suddenly the list of viable candidates looks satisfyingly narrow.
Be in no doubt that last year's event really was tilted heavily in one direction. Shaun Norris won because of an act of generosity from Dean Burmester and a world-class putting display, but Burmester, one of the biggest drivers around, blew it with a late double-bogey. In round one, James Hart du Preez, pound-for-pound perhaps the longest-hitting tour pro, threatened to break 60. He was later joined in the top 10 by Matti Schmid, Tapio Pulkkanen, Wilco Nienaber and Jacques Kruyswijk.
Norris was 18-under after two-rounds and three of those behind him played 16 par-fives in 14-under. Four 68s barely scraped into the top-10 at a par 72 designed by Jack Nicklaus and created for holidaymakers, its fairways especially wide. My belief therefore is that whether firm or soft, this resort-style course is never likely to pose too many problems for DP World Tour visitors. It might not be fly and plug, but it's highly unlikely that this huge advantage enjoyed by the most powerful players is meaningfully diminished.
It seems I'm not alone in this school of thought, because a sizeable power advantage is the only way to explain why Niklas Moller is so short in the market. The very definition of an eye-catcher last week, somehow making the cut by playing the final 16 holes of his second round in 10-under, the Dane has been on my radar for this more suitable course for a long time, and it's frustrating that he's going to have to be left out.
Ultimately, while this freakishly long hitter did play well for 21st at this course a year ago and has been dropping hints for several months, in terms of end product he is yet to register a top-five at DP World Tour level, and didn't win on the Challenge Tour. I'm not usually one for getting hung up on trophies but Moller's propensity to throw in a big number and the fact he's never really contended for something like this both make 28/1 look very short.
Instead, I'll take the similar profile of WILCO NIENABER, quoted at almost twice the odds because he, unlike Moller, couldn't salvage things last Friday.
That ultimately explains the difference in prices – if you flip their finishing positions under the very different conditions of the SDC Championship, I think you swap their positions in this market – yet whereas Nienaber is far less proven in the winds of St Francis Links, he is far more proven at this level.
A game runner-up to JB Hansen in Joburg, he's also been fourth in the low-scoring English Championship (Nicklaus design) together with two ties for sixth in Spain and a few more notable efforts besides, all despite never yet holding full status. A winner at Challenge Tour level here in South Africa plus 14th on a PGA Tour invite two summers ago, his best form is undoubtedly superior to that of Moller.
So is his course form, Nienaber following a missed cut nearby with 10th place in the Steyn City Championship last year. Typical of one of the longest drivers in the sport, he led the field in par-five scoring, and even among the mistakes last week we saw his devastating scoring prowess with eight birdies and an eagle cross his two rounds.
It's asking too much for any young player to be the heir to Rory McIlroy's throne, but this one hails from the same Holywood Golf Club and is similarly precocious, the main difference in his case being in the lack of what you might call puppy fat.
McKibbin has had support from McIlroy but will go on to create his own path and, so far, it's one that suggests a first win could well come in South Africa. As well as contending twice there on the Challenge Tour, his best performances outside of Ireland, McKibbin has played four DP World Tour events in the country and finished inside the top 20 in each of them.
Another with power at his fingertips, van Tonder was 16th here last year having bossed the par-fives. His form back then was similar to what we've seen lately, and I like the fact he signed off the SDC Championship with a best-of-the-day 66 on Sunday.
Third in Johannesburg to begin this season, he's likely to remain a big threat on home soil under the right conditions and I think he has them here. Van Tonder won twice for us in 2021, first when able to attack a bunch of short par-fours at Karen in Nairobi, then at Sun City which is similarly long and also demands quality driving.
Though it could so easily have been better still, following Green under low-scoring conditions on resort courses which allow him to thrash his driver with impunity was a lucrative exercise in 2022, as he finished runner-up in the Czech and Portugal Masters.
I suspect both courses offer very good form pointers here, with Burmester having been seventh and 14th in two Portugal starts, and Jacques Kruyswijk twice seventh at Albatross in Prague. Tapio Pulkkanen was also placed for us in both these events and, another big hitter, he was fifth here last year, just behind Burmester and ahead of Kruyswijk.
The latter produced plenty of good golf last week and is respected, but Bachem is an awesome talent with a game similar to that of Schmid, and it wouldn't surprise me at all were he to emulate his countryman and contend on his first start at Steyn City.
We've seen him in the mix early on in Kenya and again at St Francis Links, sticking around for the most part with the exception of a poor Sunday in Nairobi, and having also started well in India and Thailand he's been a regular leaderboard presence over the past four events.
One of his best Challenge Tour finishes came when third in the Limpopo Championship and he later flew out of the traps on day one of the Joburg Open, so like Nienaber and Moller before him, this prodigious driver is just searching for the missing ingredient which will enable him to put four rounds together.
Conradie's price is easily explained by the fact he's missed seven cuts in his last eight starts, but 12th place in the recent SDC Open at Challenge Tour level gives us something to work with, and he did respond to a disastrous first round (far from the only one) with a two-under 70 last Friday.
That was just about enough to suggest he'll bring some form of optimism with him to Steyn City, where last year he finished 33rd having arrived on the back of seven missed cuts. Again, the most recent of them, a week earlier, had seen him rally on day two having played his way out of the tournament on day one.
Not only does Steyn City look a good fit for him on paper, his biggest asset being how far he hits the ball (a comment which also applies to du Preez), but it's just a short drive across town from his home club, where in 2021 he won his first Sunshine Tour title in front of friends and family.
He was third when defending that title so the prospect of another boost for playing so close to home looks somewhat realistic, and I like the fact that most of his good form has come on similarly long courses, including Sun City, Blair Atholl, and the Nicklaus-designed Serengeti.
If Steyn City does favour the big-hitters as much as it did last year, then we might just see one or two inconsistent but powerful types hit the frame. That happened courtesy of du Preez and having reached 12-under midway through the third round, for a while Conradie threatened to join him inside the top 10.
At silly prices and to minimum stakes, I'll chance him producing a similar display in the hope he can find the improvements needed to get into the money.
Posted at 1740 GMT on 20/03/23
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