2024 Jonsson Workwear Open Preview, Picks & Analysis

The Jonsson Workwear Open brings the DP World Tour’s International Swing to a close. It began with the Dubai Invitational in January and has taken in eight tournaments, including the Dubai Desert Classic and Qatar Masters. We have seen the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjorn Olesen and Rikuya Hoshino getting their seasons off to flying starts.

This is a co-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour, and that means there will be a strong South African presence at Glendower Golf Club.

The defending champion is Nick Bachem, from Germany. Last year he won in only his 12th start on the DP World Tour, closing with a final round of 64 for a 24-under-par winning total.

Understandably, he was absolutely thrilled. "It's just amazing. I can't understand what's happening the last couple of days, it's just amazing and feels great," said the German player. "I just had the goal to enjoy today, it's just the beginning of my career so I just enjoyed it as much as possible and played great and got lucky that it was my day.

"I thought it was super-close and then I saw the leaderboard on 15, saw I was four shots ahead or whatever and then I was super-nervous. I just kept on going and it was a pretty nice finish."

South Africa's Hennie Du Plessis double-bogeyed the par-four 13th and closed with a 68 to finish tied for second place at 20-under alongside compatriot Zander Lombard, who made nine birdies and two bogeys for a 65.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Scotland's Ewen Ferguson shot a bogey-free 68 and tied for fourth at 19-under with South African Ockie Strydom.

Strydom is a hugely impressive player. An 11-time winner on the South African IGT Challenge Tour, Strydom was a runner-up 14 times on the Sunshine Tour before a breakthrough victory in 2019 at the Vodacom Origins Sishen.

He had five further runner-up finishes before his maiden success on the DP World Tour, winning the co-sanctioned Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek at the start of the 2023 season, carding a course record 63 during the third round. And he claimed his second Tour win in six starts at the inaugural Singapore Classic, carding a nine under par final round 63 to win by one stroke at Laguna National Golf Resort Club.

Lombard is a player who has had something of a yo-yo career. He turned professional in 2014 after an excellent amateur career that saw him represent South Africa twice in the Eisenhower Trophy, win several events in his homeland, and finish runner-up in the 2014 Amateur Championship.

Having lost his card, he regained his playing privileges by winning Qualifying School Final Stage in 2018 and has enjoyed success since then. After a poor start to 2018, Lombard tied for sixth place Irish Open, which secured him a place in the field for The Open, where he finished tied for 67th. In August, he won the Vodacom Origins on the Sunshine Tour on the way to winning the tour’s order of merit.

His best season to date was 2023, where he finished as a runner-up on three occasions and finished the season ranked 32nd on the Race to Dubai rankings. And he has already enjoyed a runner-up finish at the 2024 Bahrain Championship.

The closest he has come to winning on the DP World Tour came back in 2017, when he lost in a playoff to Alvaro Quiros at the Rocco Forte Open. Lombard is a superb ball striker and he must surely end his drought soon.

I remain utterly fascinated by Wilco Nienaber. Still only 22, he turned professional when he was 19 and left everybody stunned by the huge distances he hit the ball. This season he averages a mind-blowing 340 yards from the tee but he only hits one fairway in two, gets up and down from the sand less than 50% of the time and averages almost 30 putts per round - and those are statistics that will not win you golf tournaments.

He made his DP World Tour debut in November 2019 at the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, where he finished tied 24th. In February 2020, he came close to his first professional win, finishing runner-up in the Limpopo Championship on the Challenge Tour. Later that year he finished fourth at the Hero Open at the Forest of Arden, which remains his best finish.

In the second round of the Joburg Open in November 2020, Nienaber hit his drive on the 597-yard, par-five 4th hole an astonishing 439 yards. He eventually finished in second place, two shots behind Joachim B Hansen.  

In May 2021, he claimed his first professional victory at the Sunshine Tour’s Dimension Data Pro-Am, beating Henric Sturehed in a playoff. 

Tournament Winners:

This is the third playing. It was won in 2022 by JC Ritchie and last year by Germany’s Nick Bachem.

The Course:

Glendower opened in March 1937 and is a traditional course with a US Open-type feel. It is well-bunkered and sits next to a nature reserve. In the 1980s it was at the centre of a major redevelopment that saw all 18 greens being redesigned. It is a par 72 that measures 7,542 yards.

Form Guide:

Zander Lombard really should have won on the DP World Tour by now. He is a fine ball striker and is playing pretty decent golf. Ewen Ferguson has had a very busy schedule and there have been some very encouraging signs of late.

To Win:

Zander Lombard. Time for that elusive victory

Each Way:

Ockie Strydom. Impressive ball striker

Each Way:

JC Ritchie. Hits the ball prodigious distances

Five to Follow:

Zander Lombard. Wondrous short game

Ockie Strydom. Underrated South African

JC Ritchie. Has enjoyed success on Sunshine Tour

Ewen Ferguson. Playing a LOT of golf

Tom McKibbin. This could be a big year for the Northern Irishman