Hennie

Otto

Fresh off a victory (on Nov. 27) at the final full-field event of the year on the Sunshine Tour -- the South African Open -- Otto finished in second place on the circuit’s Order of Merit to earn the exemption into the WGC in March. (The top two in earnings receive invitations.) He banked 2.8 million rand, which was 1.2 million more than George Coetzee in third place. Otto will be making his third appearance in the tournament but just his second at Doral, where he placed T63 in 2007.

The South African slept on a three-stroke lead over four in pursuit entering today’s finale. As it turned out, Otto’s closing score was lower than all of his nearest challengers; it gave him the breathing room he needed to swallow four bogeys on the day including three in the final six holes to finish at 14-under 274. Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger finished alone in second place. This is Otto’s second career victory on the European Tour (2008 Italian Open).

Otto also played in this season’s WGC-Cadillac at Doral, where he was alone in 50th. Since then, his only three top 10s came in successive tournaments, beginning with the Open de Andalucia, moving on to the Trophee Hassan II before concluding at the Maybank Malaysian Open. He enters the week 178th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

At 7-under 137 he’s just two shots behind leader Joakim Lagergren. The South African veteran, who opened with a 68 on Thursday, was making little progress after signing for 13 pars, a bogey at 4 and a birdie at 10 in his opening 15 holes. But he finished 3-3-3, starting that sequence with a circle at 16 and completing it with a walk-off eagle to turn a flat day into a positive one. Otto has twice finished in the top 20 in his last three starts at Golfclub München Eichenried so it’s a course he enjoys.

The South African is an ambassador of the Four Seasons GC and has finished runner-up in the Mauritius Masters, an annual event played on the track, so few in the field know the Ernie Els-designed layout like he does. And he put that expertise to full use on Friday, when the wind was again a factor, ruining many a card. Otto had his challenges, but withstood them all. Starting on the back nine he made bogey on 11 and double bogey-6 on 16, but he refused to wilt. An eagle-3 on the 560-yard par-five 18th hole reclaimed two shots and he found the third with a birdie on No. 2. He sits four back of the clubhouse lead at T7 after the mornings starters had completed their rounds.

Otto hasn’t played since missing the cut at the Alstom Open de France at the start of July and is down in 150th spot in the current Race To Dubai having cashed just three times in his last eight events. He didn’t contest the inaugural running of this tournament last year but, like many, heard good things about the event which attracted 80,000 spectators last year. Two starts ago the South African posted T20 in the BMW International Open in Germany so he could still make an impact in a relatively weak field.

The South African shot a second-round 62 last year on the way to victory at Circolo Golf Torino and posted 25-under to take the title at Castello di Tolcinasco in 2008. He also cracked the top 10 in 2010 and 2013 so is a true tournament specialist. This year he’ll be met by the challenge of Golf Club Milano, which hasn’t staged this event since 1990. Otto will hope the return to Italy gives him a spark as he’s missed three cuts out of four since posting T20 in June’s BMW International Open in Germany.

The South African has enjoyed some decent success in the event, finished third on debut in 2007, posting T6 in 2010 and adding another top 20 in 2013. Overall, he’s made six of eight cuts. His current form is unreliable though. He closed 2015 by shooting 72-85 in the Alfred Dunhill Championship while he carded 76-67-75-70 to end up T45 in last week’s BMW South African Open.

A two-time course winner on the Sunshine Tour, Otto has another three top ten finishes in nine starts at Pretoria CC and yet this is his first opportunity to display his fondness for the track on the European Tour after he missed this tournament last year. He did, however, play the two previous renewals at Copperleaf CC when he finished T5 and T10. Course form and event form are ticked, what about current form? That’s the missing ingredient for the 12-time Sunshine Tour winner. He was victorious in the Italian Open in the late summer of 2014, but there has not been a European Tour top ten since and he’s only 1-for-6.

The horn sounded at 3.50pm local time with the earliest of the afternoon starters still having three holes to play. Round two is set to resume at 6.45am on Saturday morning, with play in round three scheduled to begin at 10am. Otto peeled off seven birdies and an eagle in his opening 63 but, as we see so often, couldn’t find the same spark a day later. A bogey at 2 got him off on the wrong foot although he did hit back with birdies at 3 and 7. The South African followed that with six pars and a bogey at 13 in his next seven holes so was probably happy to get off the course and hope for better fortunes the following day. That said, he’ll resume just two shots behind clubhouse leader Felipe Aguilar.