Els chasing 6th South African Open
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2011 South African Open | Preview | 22 Nov 2011
The South African Open is played this week at the Serengeti Golf Club in Ekurhuleni in Gauteng in South Africa, the defending champion Ernie Els back from the Presidents Cup in Australia chasing his 6th South African Open title.
Els will be joined by fellow Presidents Cup team member Retief Goosen although one of the two most successful International Team members last week and the leading ranked South African, Charl Schwartzel, will be in China playing the World Cup of Golf with fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen.
The event is being played at this venue for the first occasion, the Jack Nicklaus designed layout only opened two years ago.
The South Africans are expected to dominate although neither Els nor Goosen has played well by their standards in 2011. Both are now outside the top 50 in the world although Els had a good finish to the Frys.com event in California six weeks ago when he finished 4th.
Els secured only one point in last week’s Presidents Cup and was easily defeated by Jim Furyk in Sunday’s singles match. Back on home soil he might be a much better chance.
Goosen has been plagued by injury for much of this year although he had a reasonable week compared to that of many of his teammates last week in Melbourne and might be buoyed by the experience. His defeat of Matt Kuchar on Sunday was impressive given he was 3 under for his match and held off a spirited fight-back by the American.
Simon Dyson has enjoyed a great year, winning twice and taking his game and standing to a new level. Dyson also finished 3rd at the BMW PGA Championship and 9th at the Open and if he can play up to that level then he stands a very good chance of making it three wins for the season.
George Coetzee has put together a lot of good finishes of late and often plays well at home. He finished 3rd last week at the Alfred Dunhill and his chances again look good.
New Zealander Mark Brown and Australians Daniel Gaunt and Wade Ormsby are the only Australasians in the field, all three chasing the sort of finish that will assure them of a place on the European Tour next season. All three defintely need something special.
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