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Hansen defends Joburg title

Author: John Harris
Date: 15/01/2010
Golf betting

Golf's European Tour continues to dodge the big freeze by staying in South Africa for the opening weeks of its 2010 schedule.

The focus has shifted from the Eastern Cape and last week's Africa Open to the Joburg Open on the country's famous Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Clubs.

Last week there was a home winner in the shape of Charl Schwartzel with seven of the next ten top-placed finishers on the leaderboard also coming from the host nation.

Therefore it is hard to look beyond a South Africa winner this week - although the defending champion, Anders Hansen, does hail from Denmark.

Hansen began his impressive 2009 season with a one-shot victory over Andrew McLardy 12 months ago and he went on to record a string of top-20 finishes on route to 24th place in the Race to Dubai standings.

Will Anders Hansen successfully defend his Joburg Open title? - Latest Golf Betting

"I like being here, my coach is from here and I'm always treated very well here so I feel very much at home," he said.

"The courses we play are always great too. Of course, my goal is to win this week. The goal is always to succeed."

The 39-year-old is the online betting favourite to retain the trophy, but another strong home contingent cannot be ignored.

Winner in 2008, Richard Sterne, is in the field and showed flashes of returning to his best form when finishing in a tie for 13th last week.

South Africans Thomas Aiken and Trevor Fisher Jnr, who finished second and third respectively at East London, are also in the field.

But perhaps the best home hope could be James Kingston, who was eighth last weekend but has proved he can compete with the best when he edged out Hansen in a play-off to win last season's lucrative Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne.

Meanwhile, last year's European Tour rookie of the year, Chris Wood, will also be in action for the first time in 2010 and is highly fancied by the sportsbooks.

The 22-year-old made 13 of 17 cuts and recorded four top-ten finishes during his first season in the paid ranks and hinted at his star quality by coming close to winning the Open Championship last summer.

Big things are expected of Wood and he will be looking to hit the ground running in a bid to force his way into the European reckoning during what is a Ryder Cup year.

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