Dylan Frittelli, George Coetzee and Dean Burmester head a 14-strong South African contingent at the Open de France as the wait to end the Saffa drought on the European Tour continues, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Frittelli starts the week as South Africa’s leading player in both the world and Race to Dubai rankings despite trying to play his way on to the PGA Tour. The former University of Texas star has made just six starts on the European Tour this year with one of those being the SA Open at Glendower and four starts in the US including the Masters and the US Open.
The two-time European Tour winner is currently 30th in the Race to Dubai with his world ranking having slipped to 62. Erik van Rooyen is 46th in the Race to Dubai in his maiden season on Europe’s elite tour. Van Rooyen has made the cut in each of his last two starts – the BMW PGA and the Italian Open – and has been putting in a tremendous amount of work on the range heading into this week.
His best finish of the season remains his second place at the Joburg Open where he was unable to chase down Shubhankar Sharma.
From a world rankings perspective, George Coetzee is SA’s second hope behind Frittelli with Dean Burmester, who made his Major debut at Shinnecock Hills, next. Both players could move back into the top 100 with a successful showing around Le Golf National this week.
That, however, will be no easy feat with the course set to test their accuracy and length with a premium on finding fairways and greens in regulation.
Burmester, T12 at the BMW PGA after going 73, 73 on Friday and Saturday, will be looking to build on his week at the US Open, where he did enough to make the cut on another ultra-demanding layout.
Beyond the course, the likes of Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Tommy Fleetwood, Alex Noren and Ian Poulter loom large with the $7-million purse attracting a strong field for the third Rolex Series event of the year.
While Coetzee did win the co-sanctioned Tshwane Open in March 2018 and Frittelli the Mauritius Open in November 2017 with Branden Grace winning the NGC in December, the wait for a win on European soil stretches back to September 2017 with Haydn Porteous at the Czech Masters.
Porteous has made five cuts out of his last six on the European Tour but a T39 finish is the best in that period – not the kind of form that would have one expecting a strong finish this week.
The form horse from a local standpoint is undoubtedly Justin Walters, who romped to a top 10 finish in Germany on the back of a final round 64 on Sunday. The 37-year-old starts this week with that top 10 and a top five at the Shot Clock Masters to his credit and continues to play himself into contention and more importantly, towards keeping his card for 2019.
The dark horse will be big-hitting rookie Jacques Kruyswijk, who has a number of top 20 finishes this season. Should Kruyswijk find form with his long-game, imperative to bogey avoidance this week, he could be one to surprise the stellar field, which gives audiences around the world a preview of the Ryder Cup venue later in the year.
He – like Zander Lombard, Thomas Aiken, Brandon Stone – missed the cut last week.
Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
