Nashua Nedtel South Africa Masters

[Ian]

OK another little known tournament but if they price them up I will study them
Look out for McNulty has won here 5 times but will only be 8 or 10-1.
Other player to note Justin Hobday likes the course, is a proven winner and was in good form pre-Xmas, 40-1 Firststake good value although I would wait for teetimes and weather forecast

 

[Ian]

Hobday has a good early teetime and is worthy of a small play

 

[Stanley]

Not too good with deadlines this week. Good to see we agree on Hobday Ian

My belated preview:

The South African Masters is boosted by the arrival of Retief Goosen and Mark McNulty from Melbourne and a number of other South Africans who regularly ply their trade on foreign Tours. But it is a Tour lacking depth and this is reflected in the odds for this event; both players are available at single figure odds. For McNulty it is certainly justified, he has won this event five times and has won on this course five times as well. The tight par-70 course where wind is normally a factor suits his accurate game, that's for sure! He comes off two good wins last week, but the odds are too short to side with him this week.

The same is also the case with Retief Goosen, and even more so. He was defeated in the first round last week, has never won this event and his power game will be ill-suited to the course. Instead we'll side with three of lesser returning players for this event: Darren Fichardt, Justin Hobday and James Kingston. Fichardt has combined regular golf on the Sunshine and Canadian Tours over the past two seasons and finished a respectable 21st in the Stenham Swazi Open here eleven months ago. One of a fairly small number of player who are good enough to win this event.

Hobday and Kingston have both been combining their Sunshine Tour schedules with time on the Davidoff Tour, and both have been performing very well there. Hobday finished 5th behind Vijay Singh in the Taiwan Open in September and was later 3rd in November at the Star Alliance Open, the position he finished on this course in both events staged here last year. With 27% of all his finishes being in the top-5 over the last two years, he looks tremendous value for an each-way bet.

The same can be said for Kingston who won twice on the Davidoff Tour last year and finished 9th on the Order of Merit. He played in the Stanham Swazi Open here last year and finished 10th, while his record of top-5 finishes over the last two years is just as impressive as Hobday's: 16% while spending much more time on the very competitive Davidoff Tour. Again, the each-way bet looks great value.


Outright plays:

Darren Fichardt to win e/w 25/1 @ William Hill
Justin Hobday to win e/w 40/1 @ William Hill
James Kingston e/w 50/1 @ William Hill

 

[Ian]

Nice opening round from Hobday 4 under par 66
Fichardt -3,Kingston +2
I would guess that they have had good weather in the morning

 

[Ian]

Have just backed McNulty in running at 14-1ew with Stan James(he is only 2 off lead) who also go 33's Terblanche who leads
Must be looking at wrong scores as McNulty is 4-1 with FS which is more accurate
(just had a phone call saying they had voided the bet, worth a try

[This message has been edited by Ian (edited 01-12-2001).]

 

[Ian]

Hobday got caught out by the strong afternnon winds to fire a disappointing 5 over 75 leaving him 7 shots adrift of a place finish
Shame they voided the McNulty bet he now leads by 2 - Stan perhaps we should have stuck with our original gut feeling depite the short price

 

[Stanley]

Final update: 0-3 and -3.00 units

Very disappointing week! All three were blown away by the high winds of the 2nd day, with Kingston missing the cut. The other two did not recover over the weekend with Fichardt finally finishing 30th and Hobday 55th. A little galling that the #1 in the Tour-Tips ratings, Mark McNulty, won the event, but over the season chasing better value prices will be more profitable than taking single-odds favorites.