Casey Jarvis looks a standout bet in the NTT Data Pro-Am, as the classy DP World Tour youngster returns home and drops down in grade.
Golf betting tips: NTT Data Pro-Am
3pts e.w. Casey Jarvis at 16/1 (bet365 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)
Hand on heart, having done the research I was going to skip the NTT Data Pro-Am, the star of four co-sanctioned events which begin the HotelPlanner Tour season in South Africa.
Part of the reason was that I thought CASEY JARVIS would take a bit of beating at a likely short price and I was amazed he opened 16/1, which was the trigger to begin typing. As more firms have priced up, those odds are freely available, and they're well worth taking.
Jarvis is young a golfer going places and on the DP World Tour he's been showing up lately, finishing third in Mauritius and ninth in Bahrain among his last four starts, before a putting blip saw him miss the cut in Qatar last week.
It should be noted that David Ravetto was hopeless in the same event before winning this title a couple of years ago and this is a massive drop in grade, with Patrick Reed and Jayden Schaper replaced by the likes of Wilco Nienaber and Ernie Els. I'd genuinely give the latter a squeak at 50/1, too.
Jarvis, who won back-to-back Sunshine Tour events in November before one bad round cost him a potential hat-trick, is the clear class act and I thought we'd be looking at single-figure prices, given that he was ninth in this as a teenager and has really started to blossom over the past few months.
He was no bigger than 33/1 for a DP World Tour event recently, actually went ahead and produced his single best DP World Tour performance in that very same event, and last Friday carded a four-under 68 which saw him miss the cut by a single shot. He's driving it well, his approach play remains excellent and, for the most part, his short-game has been good too.
I'm amazed he's in at the same sort of price as Nienaber. Yes, he's a two-time champion who lives at Fancourt, but he's not in the top 500 players in the world according to DataGolf. Jarvis is 195th, just behind Laurie Canter, just ahead of Martin Couvra.
There's no question he is a bet at 16/1 and we'll take the quarter the odds five places option with bet365. Do note though that some smaller firms and BoyleSports have six places, while Fitzdares bet the first seven.
Lewis and Burke best of the rest
Jarvis being a bigger price than expected is partly why a few others are shorter than I'd hoped for, including Fancourt member Martin Vorster, who was about the same odds last week in a field which did not feature such strength at the head of the betting.
Consider that Ryan van Velzen played well but has doubled in price from 20/1 to in excess of 40s, and it's hard to justify Vorster remaining around those odds. He played well enough here last year but is far too short to be backing.
Yurav Premlall is another young talent with an each-way chance and one notable factor with him is that he's got a good set of results in this event, yet has never taken full advantage of 18 holes at Outeniqua, the shortest and easiest of the three courses used.
Fix that and Premlall could go well, but 50/1 generally seems plenty short enough given the stronger European challenge, especially as he's been worse with every week so far this season.
That European challenge includes Pablo Ereno and Baard Skogen, two players I can see earning DP World Tour cards for 2027, the former a particularly strong candidate to do so but the latter also one to keep an eye on in the months ahead.
Either could go well but with Nienaber and Ravetto both huge hitters, and fellow former champion Alexander Knappe not far behind, I was more interested in Christiaan Burke and Tom Lewis.
Both have short-game issues but so does Nienaber and it hasn't stopped him bullying these courses, all three of which feature collections of short par-fives plus driveable par-fours.
Lewis started well last week on his comeback following a long break, while Burke returned to something closer to the form which saw him place for us at 200/1 in the Alfred Dunhill Championship just before Christmas. Again, this is a significant step down in grade.
We saw all of his qualities plus those issues he has around the greens during that performance and he could well be a factor at Fancourt, having been 32nd despite a very slow start a year ago and improved quite a bit since. I'm just not sure I want to be taking 40/1 or so about someone who really does have an issue chipping, one which is bound to cost him shots at some point, and who is seeking their first win.
Big-hitting duo Bjorn Akesson and Ronan Kleu made some appeal at three-figure prices but rather than speculate, I want to keep this nice and simple. The favourite ought to be considerably shorter than he is.
Posted at 17:00 GMT on 10/02/26
More golf content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
