This is always a strange time of the year for the European Tour. Given that it was only last month we were watching the culmination of ‘The Race to Dubai’, it’s bizarre to think that just ten days later, the starter’s pistol was being fired on a brand new race – I mean, that’s barely enough time for the cheques from the DP World Tour Championship to clear.
But, regardless, this run of four or five tournaments before the tour shuts down for Christmas is important for a lot of players. Because a good run of finishes on this opening swing can leave you nicely placed heading into the new year. Getting some R2D (Race to Dubai) points on the board early? Setting yourself up to be decently high on the rankings before the real grind of the season kicks in come January? That can make all the difference come crunch time next October.
And in this week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, the penultimate event of 2025, this is one of the final opportunities those same players have to make hay while the sun shines – and given that they’ll be teeing it up in Johannesburg, chances are there’ll be plenty of sun.
The very fact that the Tour is rolling into Johannesburg this week, though, is worth noting. Because, since 2004, the traditional site for the Alfred Dunhill Championship has always been the fantasy-course-like surroundings of Leopard Creek Country Club. And whilst this week’s setting may pose less in the way of opportunities for spotting wildlife in-between shots, it more than makes up for it with certified Tour pedigree.
Spanning an entire decade from its inception in 2007, Royal Johannesburg was the original, long-standing home of the Joburg Open. Since it closed in 2017 for a revamp earmarked with updating it for the modern game, however, this former mainstay has remained out of the Tour’s rotation, with the Joburg Open, instead, splitting its time between Randpark and Houghton.
When you look at the test that Royal Johannesburg presents, though, this week could well be the perfect audition for the former king of the Joburg Open to reclaim his throne.
Narrow, meandering fairways that encourage old-school shot-shaping. Kikuyu rough to swallow errant tee-shots that flirt too closely with the treeline. Bentgrass greens with the capacity to get lightning quick if allowed. New, strategically placed bunkering to make the bigger hitters think twice before pulling the driver. Treacherous water hazards just waiting to ruin the slimmest of leads or halt a last-ditch Sunday charge. Royal Johannesburg, exactly as advertised, is your quintessential contemporary parkland course; one wherein, on the whole, a surgical-like approach should see you fare better than simply trying to overpower it.
Case in point, if we look at the list of winners who triumphed at Royal Johannesburg during its days as the annual host for the Joburg Open, you’ll see names like Charl Schwartzel (two-time winner), Branden Grace, Haydn Porteous, Andy Sullivan, Darren Fichardt, George Coetzee, and Richard Sterne (another two-time winner). Now, yes, you can point to the fact that Schwartzel, Grace, and Coetzee were by no means slouches in the distance department when in their primes, and that’s absolutely true. But what I’m mainly looking at is that, like Fichardt, Sterne, Porteous, and Sullivan, that trio of South Africans were coupling that length with decent accuracy off the tee, solid GIR%, and excellent scoring stats (i.e. Putts per GIR/Stroke Average/Average Putts Per Round).
So, right now, as the morning starters grow close to finishing their opening rounds – with Porteous and Grace, notably, drawing on their previous wins at Royal Johannesburg to sit near the top of the leaderboard – I’d be looking at Jayden Schaper to make a good run this afternoon.
Long tipped as one of the young South Africans to watch, the 24-year-old Schaper has been steadily finding his feet over the past few seasons on Tour. And though not yet having made it into the winner’s circle, Schaper’s twenty-sixth-place finish in last season’s ‘Race to Dubai’ is indicative of his growing consistency. Therefore, if he can string his accuracy off the tee (20th in 2025) and precision with the irons (15th in 2025) with a hot putter (12th in Stroke Average in 2025)? This week could well see Jayden go one better than his T-2 finish last week in Sun City by finally getting his crowning moment at Royal Johannesburg.
A win that would say, “I have arrived.”
