The Challenge Tour season begins with a month in South Africa and a life-changing opportunity for some of the Sunshine Tour players, for whom the path to the DP World Tour has never been smoother.
That isn't to say it'll be easy for any one of them, but we've had five South Africans earn membership through the Road to Mallorca over the past two years, the same number who graduated from 2014 to 2021, and it's become a big opportunity given the advantages of playing on home soil.
We begin this time with the SDC Open at Zebula, a bushveld course with pretty wide fairways and an emphasis on low scoring. When Clement Sordet won here a couple of years ago, genuine powerhouses Freddy Schott and Marco Penge were close behind, and Wilco Nienaber should be a big threat on his debut.
He's probably the right favourite ahead of Oliver Bekker with that in mind but this isn't the strongest renewal and you'd certainly have to respect Ryan van Velzen, runner-up in the SA Open, a winner last week, and clearly among the most promising youngsters in South Africa at the moment.
That Sunshine Tour event could be another advantage as it gave the locals a chance to shed some rust, an opportunity Bekker and van Velzen took whereas Nienaber and Thomas Aiken did not. With many of the Europeans not having played for a couple of months, they really do have the cards stacked against them.
One exception is Alex Levy, who went to Australia and then to South Africa following Qualifying School. Levy's form during that run was of a higher standard than many of these have shown, his best golf certainly is, and he might well be inspired by Matthieu Pavon's PGA Tour victory last weekend.
Close followers of the game may know he's the nephew of Ernie Els and he's certainly inherited his uncle's tempo, if not all of his talent.
That being said, Rebula was a top-class amateur who played college golf to a high level and won the Amateur Championship, so at 26 there's still plenty more in the locker and I would be surprised if he's not good enough to win a Sunshine Tour event at the very least.
This big-hitting lefty isn't consistent and struggled badly when earning Challenge Tour status last year, something he managed with victory in the Nelson Mandela Bay Championship.
While these events are fantastic for players like him, we shouldn't underestimate the scale of the task when all of a sudden you're flying around Europe, dealing with entirely different conditions, being away from family and so on, all while under financial pressure.
So did Q School, where he wasn't far from earning his card, and while bold predictions at Challenge Tour level are foolish, I won't be surprised if he's going off at much shorter prices come summer having confirmed that he has a good deal of ability.
Certainly, Lingberg was one of the best players on the circuit towards the end of his latest Challenge Tour campaign and at a course where Penge, Schott and Sordet were able to blast their way into the mix, I want to give him a chance to very small stakes.
Back to the French challenge and Martin Couvra is a fascinating prospect. The former number one amateur at home, he won on the Challenge Tour before turning professional and then acquitted himself pretty well, including when up in grade on the DP World Tour.
He says he's out to enjoy this week and see where that takes him and we'll also learn plenty from how he gets on, and now that quotes of 50/1 have gone I'd be more inclined to chance Clement Berardo if you do believe the Pavon angle.
Berardo was seventh through 54 holes here last year and generally looked back to his once-promising best. He gives it a rip and emulating Sordet, with whom he's played a lot of golf, isn't beyond the realms of possibility at 175/1 in places.
Speculation is the name of the game as we ease our way into the new season but while making an exception for Lindberg, who could be grossly underestimated, I do believe the locals will again hold sway with so much in their favour.
Posted at 1000 GMT on 31/01/24
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