Leopard Creek is the scene of the start of the 2020 European Tour campaign as we dive into the new season with no break whatsoever. It seems strange to me. Across the Atalantic they have a few weeks here and there once the season ends and surely the European Tour would be better served to give the players some family time, especially with numerous gap filling weeks with silly events in the middle of the following year. A relatively top heavy field heads to South Africa and Charl Schwartzel makes a return following a long spell on the sidelines. He is a four time winner here and would normally be priced a lot bigger following such a long spell off. Regardless bookmakers tread relatively carefully when it comes to Charl around here who has went off as short as 7/2.

It is interesting to note that last year there were numerous decent performances from those who had just come from the Challenge Tour Grand Final. My pick of those to come here from Mallorca is Connor Syme. The Scot performed admirably on the second tier this year with a win in Turkey and five other top tens. This resulted in finishing 14th in the rankings and gaining his playing rights on the big stage this season. It is his activity here though at Leopard Creek that really catches the eye. He won the Leopard Trophy with Scotland in 2014 and 2015 winning 6.5pts out of a possible 8 across the two years. In 2016 he finished 7th here in the Amateur Strokeplay before going a fair bit better finishing runner up in the same event in 2017. His scores here have been mighty impressive and even though he'd need to improve on them to be in with a chance of winning here, his experience over the last 12 months suggests he is ready to make a challenge on a course he is very familiar.

2pts each-way C.Syme 100/1 (1/5 7 places)

Connor Syme - 2pts e/w @ 100/1

With three wins in the last two years Calum Hill has become a hot prospect and that habit of winning may just prove fruitful as he embarks on his first season on the big tour. He started 69-66 in the Mayakoba a few weeks back which is a sign of what is possibly to come for this talented Scot. He may need time to bed in but with wins under his belt recently on the Challenge Tour he may just kick on a shade quicker than expected. His performance in Mexico is certainly a sign he is ahead of schedule and there are a handful in front of him in the market I would argue that he is already better than despite only starting out. Plenty above him are struggling so he is worth siding with.

1pt each-way C.Hill 40/1 (1/5 6 places)

Callum Hill - 1pt e/w @ 40/1

Finally I'll take a chance with Dean Burmester. With every chance of winning the Portugal Masters his challenge was derailed by a final round 73 which made him tumble to 14th. Previous to that three top 40 finishes in the Dunhill Links, Open de Espana and Italian Open are certainly no negatives. He matched Stenson over 4 round in Sweden to finish 3rd also a few months back. Overall his performances are pretty solid and given he has had fair success in South Africa down the years this may just be an opportunity to capitalise on this solid run. He has posted a fair few missed cuts here but two top 20s in 2015 and 2016 show he can score if his game is in the right place.

1pt each-way D.Burmester 35/1 (1/5 7 places)

Dean Burmester - 1pt e/w @ 35/1