– This Thursday marks the start of the NTT Data Pro Am, the fourth tournament of the season on the HotelPlanner Tour and the last of the South African swing of the European golf second division. We have eight Spaniards in the lineup: Víctor Pastor, Albert Boneta, Lucas Vacarisas, Borja Virto, Quim Vidal, Sebas García, Santi Tarrio, and Adri Arnaus. Essentially, the complete Armada of the Challenge 2025.
– It is a unique tournament. It is played in an idyllic location, considered one of the best golf resorts in the world: Fancourt Golf Estates. It is held in a Pro Am format across three different courses: Outeniqua, Montagu, and The Links. The cut with the top 60 and ties will be established after the third round.
– The order of difficulty of the courses from most to least is The Links, Montagu, and Outeniqua. However, some clarifications are needed. Montagu and Outeniqua are similar, resort-style courses, generous. Outeniqua is somewhat easier because it is shorter. The Links is the most challenging course in the rotation, a true links with serious problems if you stray with the driver. However, it has a trick. If the wind doesn’t blow, you can also score very low on The Links, so obviously, the anemometer will be crucial this week. Initially, the wind is expected to be very similar for the first three days. It will blow, but it won’t be a gale. From this point of view, the forces are balanced.
– The wind turns the tournament into an absolute lottery. Let us explain. If there is a very high wind forecast for Thursday, the course is prepared for it, you know, tees moved forward, greens a bit slower, etc… But of course, that same preparation, whatever happens, must be maintained on the other days. If you’ve prepared it easy and the following days the wind doesn’t blow, the advantage is huge for those playing on Friday and Saturday. And vice versa. If you prepare it more challenging on the first day and suddenly the wind picks up on the second, there’s a shift that’s dead. It’s the most tense week for the European Tour referees who have to do the setup. However, we insist, the forecast now points to a very similar wind every day, so there shouldn’t be many differences initially.
– Among the Spaniards, Santi Tarrio and Víctor Pastor have a good track record on this course. The Galician was fourth in 2020, in the first edition of the tournament, and achieved a good top 20 in 2021. Meanwhile, Pastor finished third last year, despite signing a tough 78 during the week.
– Albert Boneta returns to the HotelPlanner Tour after his stint on the DP World Tour last week at the Qatar Masters. This year, the young Catalan has to be ready with his suitcase due to his situation on the European Circuit. He comes from the School and in many tournaments, he doesn’t know if he’ll get in until the last minute. “Well, it’s what it is. Many hours in airports, but it’s part of the job,” he tells Ten Golf maturely. Lots of YouTube and Netflix to pass the hours. You get used to everything, especially at 23 years old. In 14 days, it will be more than 35 hours between planes and airports. These are his trips: Pretoria-Doha, Doha-George, George-Nairobi. Quite a journey. As for the game, the Barcelona native is very calm. “I feel comfortable and I’m hitting the ball well. Qatar was a week to forget, and that’s it. There was a lot of wind, hard and fast greens, very different from what I was playing, and when you can’t get everything in order, you can have those bad rounds. But I’m calm because I’m playing well and looking forward to this week,” he notes.
– Beyond the Spaniards, the man to watch once again is Daniel Van Tonder. The South African is seeking a third victory that would allow him to move directly to the DP World Tour. Be careful because he hasn’t done badly in this tournament. In 2020 he was sixth, and last year he finished tenth.
