Who wants to bet on some November golf?
Some of the top players in the world will be teeing it up at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa this week. Gary Player Country Club will be the site of the penultimate event on the DP World Tour, which will conclude with next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Tommy Fleetwood to win Nedbank Golf Challenge
+700
Sixty-six golfers will be in the field, which consists of the leading 60 players in the Race to Dubai Rankings, five tournament invitees, and the winner of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit (African golf tour). Every golfer in the field has the chance to play their way into the season-ending DP World Tour Championship field next week.
Adrian Meronk is the top-ranked player in the field this week — and third overall behind Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm — in the Race to Dubai Rankings.
Tommy Fleetwood has won the last two Nedbank Golf Challenge events and is back this year looking for the hat trick.
The course will play a lengthy 7,855 yards, but warm temperatures around 35 C are expected and the air is thin in the high altitude in South Africa, so it should favour long and straight players. The course features four par-5s.
Outright odds
Four golfers from Europe’s Ryder Cup team — Justin Rose, Robert MacIntyre, Nicolai Højgaard, and Fleetwood — will be participating in the event, also known as Africa’s major.
PGA Tour stars Max Homa and Justin Thomas have also made the trip, rounding out an impressive field.
Here are the 15 golfers in the field with the shortest odds to win the event at bet365:
| Golfer | Outright Odds |
|---|---|
| Tommy Fleetwood | +700 |
| Max Homa | +800 |
| Justin Thomas | +1400 |
| Ryan Fox | +1400 |
| Justin Rose | +1600 |
| Adrian Meronk | +1800 |
| Aaron Rai | +2000 |
| Branden Grace | +2000 |
| Rasmus Højgaard | +2500 |
| Jordan Smith | +2500 |
| Nicolai Højgaard | +2500 |
| Thorbjorn Olesen | +2800 |
| Robert MacIntyre | +3000 |
| Alexander Bjork | +3500 |
| Yannik Paul | +3500 |
All odds courtesy of 
Three players to back
Tommy Fleetwood +700: Betting on the favourite isn’t sexy, but Fleetwood loves playing on this golf course. He’s looking for a third consecutive win and has never finished worse than 21st in six appearances at the event. He nearly won the Canadian Open, finished tied for fifth at the US Open, tied for 10th at The Open, tied for third at the FedEx St Jude, and tied for sixth at the Tour Championship this season. A solid insurance play would be to wager a couple of units on Fleetwood to finish in the top 10 at -110 odds.
Ryan Fox +1400: It’s been a great year for Fox, who won the BMW PGA Championship and finished second at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in the past few months. The New Zealander was also the runner-up at the Nedbank last year to Fleetwood. His caddie is South African and really knows his way around this golf course, so that should help him tremendously. Fox can bomb it down the fairway (averages around 310 yards off the tee) and that’s beneficial on this course.
Ryan Fox top-5 finish
+333
Jordan Smith +2500: Smith has had some excellent results at DP World Tour events this year, finishing tied for second at the Cazoo Open de France and placing in the top 10 in three other events. He excels at hitting greens, and that’s exactly the kind of strength required at this golf course. Only one champion in the event’s history has won with a ranking outside of the top 10 in greens hit. Smith ranks first on the DP World Tour, hitting 75.6% of greens in regulation over 76 rounds on tour this season.
