Volvo Golf Champions: golf betting guide

Our tipster analyses the field and comes up with some top tips ahead of the European Tour's Volvo Golf Champions at Durban Country Club

Branden Grace

The first European Tour event of 2013, the Volvo Golf Champions, gets underway this week at Durban Country Club in South Africa.

The event - with a 33-strong field in 2013 - is only open to those who won a tournament in 2012 and golfers with more than 10 career European Tour victories.

As such, there are some big names in the field, including Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Louis Oosthuizen, Nicolas Colsaerts and Branden Grace, who defeated Els and Retief Goosen in a play-off last year.

The tournament is the third on the 2013 European Tour schedule, with Scott Jamieson and Charl Schwartzel triumphing in South Africa in December.

This year, it will take place at Durban Country Club, the only African course to be ranked in Golf Magazine's top 100 global courses ranking.

The course, at 6,732 yards, is short by tour standards, but players will need to be extremely accurate to cope with the narrow fairways and huge undulations.

Louis Oosthuizen is the 5/1 favourite with Ladbrokes this week, and whilst he has a great chance of victory, there are a whole host of other players to consider.

Branden Grace, at 14/1 with Ladbrokes, is one of those. The South African will have great memories from the event and is prolific on home soil, winning the Joburg Open and the Golf Champions back-to-back last year in his rookie European Tour season. Grace has an extremely solid all-round game and can be lethal on the greens when he finds some momentum.

Paul Casey, at 20/1 with Ladbrokes, is poised to return to the upper echelons of the world rankings this year. He suffered with injury and endured a dreadful run of form last season, but recorded four top-10 finishes at the end last year. He'll be determined to make up for lost time and I'm expecting him to make a fast start to the 2013 season. What's more, Casey is a past winner of the Volvo Golf Champions (2011) and his record in South Africa is very good. Richie Ramsay, at 40/1 with Ladbrokes, looks well priced this week. The Scot won his second European Tour title at the Omega European Masters last year en route to a 26th-place finish in the Race to Dubai Standings. He too has shown good form in South Africa - where he won his first European Tour title (2010 South African Open) - and his accuracy-centred game is ideally suited to Durban Country Club.

Volvo Golf Champions advised bets:

4pts each way on Branden Grace at 14/1 with Ladbrokes 3pts each way on Paul Casey at 20/1 with Ladbrokes 3pts each way on Richie Ramsay at 40/1 with Ladbrokes

Nick Bonfield
Features Editor

Nick Bonfield joined Golf Monthly in 2012 after graduating from Exeter University and earning an NCTJ-accredited journalism diploma from News Associates in Wimbledon. He is responsible for managing production of the magazine, sub-editing, writing, commissioning and coordinating all features across print and online. Most of his online work is opinion-based and typically centres around the Majors and significant events in the global golfing calendar. Nick has been an avid golf fan since the age of ten and became obsessed with the professional game after watching Mike Weir and Shaun Micheel win The Masters and PGA Championship respectively in 2003. In his time with Golf Monthly, he's interviewed the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Jose Maria Olazabal, Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Billy Horschel and has ghost-written columns for Westwood, Wayne Riley, Matthew Southgate, Chris Wood and Eddie Pepperell. Nick is a 12-handicap golfer and his favourite courses include Old Head, Sunningdale New, Penha Longha, Valderrama and Bearwood Lakes. If you have a feature pitch for Nick, please email nick.bonfield@futurenet.com with 'Pitch' in the subject line. Nick is currently playing: Driver: TaylorMade M1 Fairway wood: TaylorMade RBZ Stage 2 Hybrid: Ping Crossover Irons (4-9): Nike Vapor Speed Wedges: Cleveland CBX Full Face, 56˚, Titleist Vokey SM4, 60˚ Putter: testing in progress! Ball: TaylorMade TP5x