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Fish River defence beckons for Bezuidenhout

Port Alfred - The Sunshine Tour returns to the Eastern Cape this week for the Sun Fish River Challenge to be held at the Fish River Sun Country Club from September 6-8.

Last year's edition was a thrilling affair as young Christiaan Bezuidenhout claimed his maiden Sunshine Tour victory amid some expectations following his exploits in the South African Open Championship, where he came second to Brandon Stone, a few months earlier.

At Fish River, rounds of 69, 69 and 70 gifted him a two-stroke victory over Daniel van Tonder who finished second on six-under-par 210.

Bezuidenhout has two top-10 finishes this season - ninth at the 2017 Zimbabwe Open and eighth at Royal Swazi Open - after four starts but missed the cut in last week's Origins of Golf at Zimbali Country Club.

Having played over 10 events on the European Challenge Tour where his best finish is that share of 11th he obtained at the KPMG Trophy in Belgium, Bezuidenhout returns to familiar hunting ground hoping to do a double at Fish River.

Undoubtedly, after something of an indifferent showing in Europe, the 23-year old Bezuidenhout will feel he has some work to do in order to defend his title this week.

Among players to watch at this, the fourth event in a series of six tournaments is last week's winner Jared Harvey.

After finally sealing his maiden victory as a professional in the form of the VOG event at Zimbali last week, Harvey proved his worth as he won by a convincing four shots ahead of Louis de Jager.

And, not only because of that win is Harvey a contender for this week's title, he has also made 10 consecutive cuts this season and is on hot form right now.

Also not to be underestimated this season is Oliver Bekker who has won three titles already.

His resilience when things get tough and his fight-back spirit this season are reason enough for him to be considered among possible winners in Fish River.

Keenan Davidse - a member of the Gary Player Class of 2017/18 - who has missed only three cuts in his 10 starts this season.

The man from Stellenbosch is itching for his maiden win and as it did for Bezuidenhout, it might just come at Fish River for him too.

Davidse came fourth last week, 10th the week before at the Sun Wild Coast Challenge and second at VOG Arabella prior to that.

Other players to look out for are Ockie Strydom, veteran Vaughn Groenewald, Van Tonder, De Jager and the resurgent duo of Neil Schietekat and Jake Roos.

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