Beware the Houghton rough, says pro

Bill McLean

Houghton pro Hein Papenfus on Tuesday warned the international field of 156 playing in this week's R5-million Alfred Dunhill championship: "Don't stray off the fairways."

Heavy rains have pounded the course over the past month and the rough has flourished.

"The course is going to be as tough as it has ever been when the tournament tees off," said Papenfus.

"We've now had four days without any rain at all, which has been very welcome because the greens are now speeding up nicely," he said. "But the rough has grown tremendously and players who miss the fairways are going to battle. It's going to be a really good test this week."

Most of the players - half from the European tour and half from the local Vodacom tour - were out on Tuesday having practice rounds for the tournament, the opening event of the 2000 European tour. Both this event and next week's South African Open at Randpark are co-sanctioned by the European and Vodacom tours.

Big names this week include veteran aces Ian Woosnam of Wales and Germany's Bernhard Langer. The field includes eight winners from last year's European tour - England's David Howell and Warren Bennett, David Park of Wales, Dean Robertson of Scotland, Sweden's Jarmo Sandelin, Frenchman Jean-Francois Remesy and South Africa's Retief Goosen. They will be joined by SA Open champion David Frost.

Goosen, who took the French Open title and was runner-up five times in 1999, on Tuesday echoed the advice of Papenfus about the need to stay on the fairway. "This is no place for wild hitting," he said after his first look at the course.

Goosen, who has just come off a four-week break, said his swing seemed to be in good shape and he was confident of having another good year.

"I have been improving steadily over the past few years and I don't see why I shouldn't keep improving this year."

Though he admits he is more optimistic about next week at Randpark - where he won the SA Open crown in 1995 - Goosen also hopes to be in contention at Houghton. He was forced to withdraw from the event after one round last year when it was discovered he had an impact fracture to his left arm as a result of a skiing accident.

"I feel good now and it would be nice to play well in front of the fans at home," he said.

Local hero Ernie Els, the winner at Houghton last year, has made an early start to his US tour campaign and will be sorely missed on the Vodacom tour, but Zimbabwe's Nick Price should give it a boost when he arrives next week for the SA Open.

All the other local stars will be in action, however, with European tour cardholders like Hennie Otto and Andrew McLardy hoping to get their 2000 campaigns off to a good start.

Also expected to figure prominently are former local amateur stars Jean Hugo and Trevor Immelman, who both turned pro last year.

Hugo had his maiden win as a pro by taking the Zimbabwe Open title a month ago, while Immelman is confident of a good 2000 after a somewhat disappointing rookie year so far.

"I was perhaps wrong in taking the hard way by going straight into European events, but it has been very good experience," he said.

"Then I got ill and spent Christmas in hospital with meningitis, but I have fully recovered. I'm feeling good about my game and I reckon I can put up a much better show this year. I'll play all the tournaments here, then I'll head back to Europe to play the Challenge tour. I'm also hoping to get invitations to some events on the main tour."

Meanwhile, Louis Martin, chief executive of the Vodacom tour, still has hopes of getting another event for the current circuit, at present comprising only five events.

"On the credit side, we are playing for R1 million more than last year, but we need more events, and I have a couple of meetings scheduled for later this week.

"There is still a chance that we can stage the PGA, which would be held immediately after the Wild Coast tournament."

- The pro-am will be played today with the tournament running from tomorrow to Sunday. - Sapa