Shaun Norris leads SA charge at Ras al Khaimah Championship

Johannesburg - Shaun Norris will lead the charge of 11 South Africans in the field at the Ras al Khaimah Championship, at Al Hamra Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), starting on Thursday.

At 73rd in the world rankings, Norris is the top-ranked SA player in the field. The 39-year-old will be making his first start on the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) of the 2022 season, after playing last week on the Sunshine Tour’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Final at Sun City.

Norris, though, missed the cut at Sun City by four after rounds of 75 and 73 left him on four-over. In the higher quality field this week, Norris will be hoping to making a much-faster start as one of the marquee players on the Japan Golf Tour. Norris is ‘big in Japan’ as a six-time winner on that circuit, but is yet to break through on the DP World Tour.

Daniel van Tonder is the second-ranked SA player in the field at 77th in the world. It will be the third week in a row that the SA Open champion is teeing it up on the DP World Tour, with a tie for 68th two weeks ago at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and a share of 43rd last week at the Dubai Desert Classic.

The 30-year-old Van Tonder won the SA Open in December at Sun City, which was also the biggest victory of his career from a world rankings points perspective. Already a winner on the DP World Tour with his victory in the Kenya Savannah Classic just under a year ago, Van Tonder will be aiming to continue his trend of improved play over the last couple of weeks.

Norris and Van Tonder will be the only SA representatives currently in the top-100 in the world rankings teeing it up this week in the UAE, as the next highest ranked player will be Oliver Bekker.

Bekker, 157th in the world, will be making his second start of 2022 after missing the cut at the Abu Dhabi Championship last month. The 37-year-old Bekker is close to his career-high world ranking of 151st he achieved in mid-January, and will be looking to cash in on his improving form which included a second place at the SA Open Championship behind Van Tonder.

Another SA player who is quietly rounding into form is Brandon Stone. The three-time DP World Tour event winner has slipped to 172nd in the world rankings, but has finished 72nd and 26th over the last two weeks. If Stone can keep up his steady improvement, there’s nothing to suggest he can’t produce the kind of final round like the 10-under 60 he fired to win the Scottish Open in July 2018.

Over the pond, five SA players will be in action at the US PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am starting on Thursday. Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Dean Burmester, Dylan Frittelli, Charl Schwartzel and Dawie van der Walt will all fly the SA flag.

SA player tee times at Ras al Khaimah Championship (SA time):

5.40am - Oliver Bekker (1st tee)

6.10am - Richard Sterne (1st tee)

6.20am - Brandon Stone (10th tee)

6.40am - Shaun Norris (1st tee)

6.50am - Darren Fichardt (10th tee)

9.40am - Zander Lombard (1st tee)

10am - Thriston Lawrence (1st tee)

10am - Danie van Tonder (10th tee)

10.30am - George Coetzee (10th tee)

10.40am - Jacques Kruyswijk (10th tee)

11.10am - Justin Walters (10th tee)