Jayden Schaper can keep up a remarkable winning spree for two of the best young players in South Africa by capturing this week's Joburg Open.
Golf betting tips: Joburg Open
4pts win Jayden Schaper at 12/1 (bet365, Sky Bet, Paddy Power)
1.5pts e.w. Alex Fitzpatrick at 40/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
1pt e.w. Johannes Veerman at 50/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7)
1pt e.w. Jacques Kruyswijk at 55/1 (bet365, Betfred 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Romain Langasque at 60/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
1pt e.w. Dylan Frittelli at 80/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7)
Since Kristoffer Reitan dominated the Nedbank Challenge, four DP World Tour events have taken place in Africa, and they've been split between rising stars JAYDEN SCHAPER and Casey Jarvis, now second and third on the Race to Dubai and within touching distance of the PGA Tour.
It's felt like the changing of the guard in South African golf and as of today, the two players who will join Charl Schwartzel at Augusta next month are Aldrich Potgieter (21) and Jarvis (22). Schaper, unfortunate that the events he won didn't come with major invites as part of the prize, has three events left if he's to climb inside the world's top 50 and make it four.
No doubt that will be on his mind heading to the Joburg Open and as we're about half an hour from home in a tournament he's played well in several times already, Schaper must hold an excellent chance. He's been persistently close to the lead here at Houghton on all three starts, returns now a two-time champion, and was only a good putting week away from testing Jarvis in the SA Open.
And while there's clearly a concern about joining in this party much too late, I do feel Schaper is the man to beat at a course he knows intimately. It's one that suits his neat-and-tidy game and whereas Jarvis might find the well runs dry on his seventh start in a row, Schaper's decision to skip the Kenya Open, so clearly an advantage for last week's contenders, can now pay dividends.
I've absolutely no doubt that these two have been benefiting from each other's success, particularly Jarvis having seen what Schaper did before Christmas. In return, Schaper will be desperate to make sure there's not a sour taste left at the end of all this, which there would be were he to fail to make the Masters.
That motivation plus home advantage makes the world number 57 impossible to resist and having been part unfortunate, part stupid when it comes to weighing up when to back these two of late, hopefully a form of compensation arrives on Sunday. Victory here would all but secure a Masters spot and PGA Tour membership for later in the year and like Jarvis last week, he can rise to the challenge.
It's perhaps worth noting that these were my two main selections for the 2025 Joburg Open at odds of 20/1 and 50s. Given what they've achieved since, and the mental strain Jarvis has been under the past fortnight, revised prices of 12/1 and 16s leave Schaper as the clear value choice even if he is just about favourite. Here we go again.
Similar test to sign off in South Africa
One of the striking features of the South African Open was that a very similar cast assembled to the one which had played out the finish in Kenya. All of the top four on Sunday had been in the mix the week before, including the back-to-back champion and Hennie Du Plessis, who went 3-2, so those hoping for a big turnaround at the top of the Joburg leaderboard might be clutching at straws.
Indeed, Francesco Laporta said Stellenbosch reminded him of playing in Johannesburg so perhaps it'll prove a straightforwardly good guide to Houghton, where Calum Hill won in dramatic fashion last year. To bring us back to the first leg of this three-week stay in Africa, Hill and several of those he saw off had previously built up excellent records at Karen which, to my eye, provides a very good form guide to this.
Houghton is at altitude so it doesn't play quite as long at Stellenbosch. It is though a par-70 with just two par-fives, partly why a lid has been kept on scoring, although longer hitters can attempt to drive the opening green. Towards the end, the difficult 15th is where things went array for DYLAN FRITTELLI last year, while the closing 18th has a bowl-like green which gathered an errant approach from Hill to help him win.
We were on Frittelli, who traded at odds-on, and at a similar price I want to give him another go at a course which is just a short drive from where he grew up.
It took Frittelli a while to deal with the expectation which comes with playing in a tournament so close to home but he's cracked it since returning with the confidence of a DP World Tour winner, with finishes of 16-42-12-12-4 since then.
The penultimate one is particularly striking as he'd endured an abysmal, card-losing PGA Tour season yet could still rock up here and flirt with the lead, and that level of comfort and relative class was underlined by a closing 63 for fourth place, beaten a shot, last March.
The swing of three-time @DPWorldTour winner, 🇿🇦 Dylan Frittelli. 🏌️♂️#FortressInvitational pic.twitter.com/y5AJqqdsEP
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) October 16, 2025
Frittelli had the tournament within his grasp when fatting a wedge into water on 15 but hopefully he'll feel he has a bit of a score to settle, and while there was no Patrick Reed to worry about then, I do think he returns with his own game in slightly better shape.
Frittelli had gone 10-50-MC-MC-63 and arrives here on the back of a sequence of 10-64-MC-20-54 so at worst it's comparable golf and I do like the fact that his approach play improved in the SA Open last week. That part of his game had been missing for a little while and we needed to see a revival.
Around the green he's excellent and that seems more important here than it is at most courses, a point emphasised by Hill's win, and with the putter generally behaving we may only need him to avoid the big miss off the tee. That shot is seldom too far away with Frittelli but courses like this one offer some scope to ride your luck from time to time, while the rain in the forecast probably helps him too.
He has a good Karen record (two top-10s in four, all before he became a winner) and on his last start in Johannesburg finished 14th in the 54-hole renewal of the Alfred Dunhill Championship which was won by Schaper. I'm hopeful he can again prove competitive on his own doorstep and the price looks excellent.
Fitz the bill... again
Further up the betting, cases for the best South African players in the field write themselves but I find myself drawn to ALEX FITZPATRICK again.
This is a winner-in-waiting who has had control over his golf ball for a long time now, gaining strokes from tee-to-green in nine of his last 10 measured starts, the exception under high winds, and continuing to strike his irons especially well.
Ninth for strokes-gained approach last week nevertheless represented another decent step forward for a player whose short-game is the envy of his own major-winning brother, and it really looks as though we're waiting for a blend of course and better putting to be in with a big shout on Sunday.
Yes, he was frustrating in Kenya a fortnight ago, in the way that any selection is when you're on, they start brightly, and then flatter to deceive. But a level-headed reflection on that return from a small break after a missed cut in Qatar is that it was very solid, unsurprisingly paving the way for a step forward in better company last week, when he closed with a round of 65 for 14th.
Fitzpatrick has far too many finishes in that region for comfort and top-20 backers might again be the ones smiling, but his form at Karen and Crans leads me to believe that he'll absolutely love it here. So, with his long-game firing and four top-25s in five starts representing a most encouraging start to the year, I feel compelled to go in again.
I should also warn readers that he's a great fit for the Indian Open in a fortnight. This will be the fourth time in nine starts I've sided with Fitzpatrick and we may have to make it five in 10 before giving up on the project. He's surely close to contending again, as he did behind Tommy Fleetwood in Delhi back in October.
Returning to the home contingent, JACQUES KRUYSWIJK might be the one who upstages some better-fancied rivals.
He finished strongly before losing a three-way play-off for this title last year, just after he'd captured his first DP World Tour title in the Kenya Open. That came at Muthaiga but he has an excellent record at Karen, where he was 18th as defending champion, and has likened conditions here in Johannesburg with those found in Nairobi.
Last week's missed cut was a backwards step but nothing to worry about especially as his tee-to-green numbers were strong, and we have three top-20s from his previous four starts as evidence to the overall state of his game.
One of those was in the Dubai Desert Classic, where Frittelli and Hill have previous, and before that he'd been 15th in a strong field for the Dubai Invitational, so having flown home to cap a solid title defence in Kenya he looks to be in the sort of form required to compete here.
Kruyswijk led the DP World Tour's around-the-green stats two seasons ago and that area remains a strength, something we saw with back-to-back hole-outs at Karen, and it's one that not only helped him to second place here last year but fourth in the previous renewal, when he'd been up and down on the Challenge Tour coming in.
A year earlier he finished 24th on his second start back from an injury lay-off, the first having resulted in a missed cut, so that's three excellent performances in as many visits to Houghton. I see no reason at all he can't extend that to four and perhaps go one better than last year.
Veer towards Sun City contenders
Those looking for an outsider could consider Sebastian Garcia, who has four top-20s in five starts at Karen, including last time out. The Spaniard found form to graduate from the HotelPlanner Tour and has contended in this kind of company before, so at three-figure prices made some appeal on the basis that form in Nairobi could be a really strong guide.
He's the pick of the longshots but I'm of the view that the list of potential winners of this isn't especially long so will add the final two players on my shortlist, JOHANNES VEERMAN and ROMAIN LANGASQUE.
Veerman has found form since the end of last season and his trademark approach play is really beginning to fire. He's been 14th in the Dubai Desert Classic, a potentially good pointer, and third in Qatar before returning with a solid 29th at Stellenbosch last week.
Softer and potentially a fraction easier conditions here will suit and I like the fact he's contended at Karen, where he has a couple of top-20s plus a best of 62. Already a winner in South Africa at Sun City, which also features small greens and where former Houghton champion Dan Bradbury has built up a strong record, Veerman can get back in the mix.
As for Langasque, I'll admit to having had some doubts with this one but his exemplary Karen record has been the kicker. He has four top-10s in five starts there and in limited tournaments across the two courses there's a lot of crossover, including debut top-10s at each for Jacob Skov Olesen plus a best of third for defending champion Hill.
Langasque has also found form of late, finishing ninth at that course two starts ago and backing it up with 24th at Stellenbosch, which looked set to be a few spots better until he made a mess of the finishing holes.
Also a contender at Rinkven (narrow, tree-lined course in Belgium featuring small greens) and Crans (altitude, small greens), plus second in the SA Open across town at Randpark and second at Sun City too, it makes sense that he's played well here in the past.
Langasque opened with a round of 65 on debut and spent the entire week inside the top 10, then last March closed with a similar round for 19th place. He wasn't in good form then and would struggle for most of the season, but after switching club manufacturers he seems to have found his game again.
"Not yet ready to be in contention, but I will soon," was his assessment after departing the Qatar Masters. The hope is that after closing with a round of 63 in Kenya then playing nicely in the SA Open, soon is now.
Posted at 18:00 GMT on 02/03/26
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