Centurion - Christiaan Bezuidenhout will lead the charge of five South Africans in action at The Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club starting, in California, on Thursday.
The 27-year-old has played exclusively on the US PGA Tour in 2022, and seems to be rounding into form.
Since a sixth place finish at the SA Open in December, Bezuidenhout has produced finishes of 17th, 40th, 46th and 14th in his last four events. His tie for 14th at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am two weeks ago was particularly encouraging. Bezuidenhout carded rounds of 71 70 66 and 69 to finish on 11-under for the week.
For his efforts, Bezuidenhout is 82nd on the FedExCup rankings in the early stages of the season.
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As the second-ranked SA player at 56th in the world, Bezuidenhout will also be the highest-ranked player in the field with SA number one Louis Oosthuizen not teeing it up this week.
Dylan Frittelli is 112th on the FedExCup rankings this season, and will be aiming to improve his standing. The 31-year-old has struggled in 2022 so far, having missed three cuts in his four events on the PGA Tour. Frittelli also missed the weekend at last week’s Phoenix Open, but a tie for 24th at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am had showed some promising signs. In fact, Frittelli did not miss the cut by much at the Phoenix Open, after rounds of 71 and 73 left him three away from weekend play.
Watch this…
— Callaway Golf (@CallawayGolf) February 14, 2022
My god man…@Dylan_Frittelli #gorogue pic.twitter.com/bqLmFwo7z4
Erik van Rooyen, meanwhile, has quietly been churning out the results in 2022. Beginning with a 25th place finish at the Tournament of Champions on the US PGA Tour, he improved to 20th the next week at the Sony Open. The 31-year-old then made the trip ‘over the pond’ to compete on the DP World Tour (DPWT) where he managed a 12th place at the Abu Dhabi Championship. Van Rooyen then produced an impressive fourth place at the Dubai Desert Classic.
Returning to the US PGA Tour, with some renewed confidence, Van Rooyen could well continue his upward trend of results and be in contention this week.
Always capable of springing a surprise on American audiences is Branden Grace. Though the 33-year-old has little form to speak of in 2022, with a best finish of 33rd and a missed cut in his first three events - he is a prolific winner on the DPWT. He has nine wins on the DPWT, dating back to 2012 when he burst onto the international stage with four victories that season.
He's done it! 🏆
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 12, 2020
Branden Grace is the 2020 South African Open champion. @BrandenGrace #SAOpen pic.twitter.com/Xg5pxWkCTj
Grace is also a two-time winner on the US PGA Tour, and currently at 86th in the world rankings he will be looking to move closer to his career-best ranking of 10th he achieved in 2016.
Needing little introduction, is Charl Schwartzel. The 2011 Masters champion finds himself ranked 140th in the world, and has not produced any notable results in 2022 yet. The 37-year-old Schwartzel has a best finish of 39th in the two weeks he spent on the DPWT last month, and missed the cut on his return to the PGA Tour at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The former world number six Schwartzel has also not won on the PGA Tour since 2016, and will be looking to build his confidence.
SA player tee times (SA time):
Erik van Rooyen 10th tee, 5.13pm
Charl Schwartzel, 1st tee, 9.37pm
Branden Grace, 10th tee, 10.10pm