The Race to Dubai moves onto Johannesburg this week for the Joburg Open, the fourth and final leg of the South African swing.
Now in its fourth year, the event is played over two courses, the West course and the tougher, longer, East course. The field is certainly stronger than last week's in Durban but it's still not scintillating. It's also a fair bit bigger, with over 200 players starting off on Thursday morning.
I intended to make Andrew McLardy a selection, given that he's finished second in the event twice already and that he should be full of confidence, having just qualified for the US Tour, but I was hoping for quite a bit bigger than he's trading at now.
I can't envisage favourite, Charl Schwartzel, going back-to-back, and I certainly don't want to take just 10.5 at Betfair about him doing so. Neither do I want to back last year's winner Anders Hansen. Third in his last two starts, the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Open, he's been knocking on the door. The trouble is, he runs straight back down the path if the door threatens to open, and I can't have him at just 15.5.
So with few players inspiring me I've kept the bulk of my powder dry for now and made just the one pre-event selection.
Richard Sterne won this event two years ago and was successful twice in his homeland last year. Anyone who backed him last week will know he can be an infuriating character - in prime position after eagling the first in round three, he stuttered badly before making birdies at will late on Sunday when it was all too late. I know he can frustrate at times, but his win ratio in these co-sanctioned events is more than fair and so is the price of 16.0.
Selection:
Richard Sterne @ 16.0 @ betfair
I may have struggled for selections in South Africa but there were no such worries when going through the runners in this week's US PGA Tour event, the Sony Open. In contrast to the Joburg Open, it's a very strong field and my shortlist soon grew far too long.
It's an event that offers up plenty of course form, having been staged at Waialae Country Club since 1965. Players need to handle windy conditions, Bermuda greens and hit plenty of greens in regulation.
My first selection is last year's winner, Zach Johnson, who I successfully dug out 12 months ago at 32.0. At more than 10 points shorter and coming off a less than convincing pipe-opener last week, I was going to reluctantly let Zach go un-backed, but when I saw he'd been given a favourable early tee-time for Thursday's first round I couldn't leave him out.
He successfully defended the Texas Open last year, and also won the AT & T Classic at Sugarloaf twice, in '04 and '07, so he won't be afraid to go back-to-back here. He's a little short in price but owes me nothing.
Plenty of players have some very strong credentials, and the likes of Steve Stricker, Stephen Ames, Charles Howell III, David Toms, KJ Choi, and last week's flying finisher Rory Sabatini, all drifted across my radar, but I've shown some restraint; not much, but some...
Brian Gay's my second pick; I missed the really big prices, dithering about on Monday, very tired following the late finish of the SBS Championship. Fifth last year, the track clearly fits his eye. I was originally put off by his poor GIR stats last week but he's not long off the tee and Kapalua's a long track so he would have been going in with long irons a lot of the time, so it's perhaps excusable.
David Toms broke Chad Campbell here three years ago in what developed into a straight fight. The talented Texan is tough to get across the line, but I felt 65.0 was at least 10 points too big.
Next up is the player I think represents the best value this week, George McNeil. I backed him in this last year at 80.0 and he didn't disgrace, finishing seventh. He comes here following two play-off defeats in his last three starts. I know it's a strong field but he simply has to be backed at 75.0.
Finally, I've got for one from leftfield in W C Liang, who finished 45th here in his only appearance back in 2008. He finished 2009 very well and although his putting is horrendous, he may just get involved at a very big price.
Selections:
Zach Johnson @ 21.0
Brian Gay @ 46.0
Chad Campbell @ 65.0
George McNeil @ 75.0
W C Liang @ 260.0
All odds at Betfair