Golf

St Francis Links to test DP World Tour field

As a significant DP World Tour occasion comes to the seaside village of St Francis Bay for the primary time with this week’s SDC Championship, the primary matters of dialogue amongst the gamers are the spectacular high quality of the St Francis Links course, and Thursday’s wind forecast.

The Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour have introduced a world golf match to this Jack Nicklaus Signature Course for the primary time in its historical past, and a course ranked fourth in South Africa has actually caught the eye of this field. And so too the wind forecast for Thursday’s first spherical, which is predicting gusts of up to 65km/h.

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“I think it’s one of the best golf courses in the country,” younger South African Casey Jarvis stated throughout Tuesday’s pro-am. He is aware of this course effectively, having completed second within the 2022 South African PGA Championship which was performed right here.

“It’s just a really good golf course, and a challenging one in the wind. It’s quite soft around the greens so doesn’t play like a true links, but the overall layout is just really really good.”

Scotland’s Richie Ramsay was equally impressed along with his first take a look at this golf course.

“The landscape around here is beautiful and I’m really impressed with the course. It’s a gorgeous piece of property. You can see that if you’ve played this course before you will have an advantage. I’ve always loved coming down here to this part of the world and I’ve been on holiday with my family here before.”

Ockie Strydom claimed a life-changing maiden victory on the DP World Tour when he received the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek. Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images

Strydom going once more

Ockie Strydom, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour this season, additionally has fond recollections of this golf course the place he completed second in a Sunshine Tour occasion final 12 months.

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“I’ve done well on this course in the past. I feel like this course owes me one and hopefully that’s this week. There are a lot of good players here, but we’ve all got the same job – to keep it low and under the wind.”

The wind can actually flip this golf course into a correct test this week, and a lot of the field are already bracing themselves for the problem it is going to convey on Thursday.

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“I’ve been watching the wind forecast, and especially the predictions for Thursday. You can definitely see the course has been built for a breeze and it’s no secret that this part of the country has wind that will flatten flagsticks. The wind will certainly change how this course plays. But I have to commend the greenkeeping staff here because it’s in fantastic condition considering they’ve been in a long drought in this region,” stated Brandon Stone.

“This is a great golf course, but it all depends on the conditions. I’m hoping for a bit of wind to test us all,” added Shaun Norris.

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