Kingston eyes Di Data win

He came second in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic last week, and second to James Kamte in the 2008 Dimension Data Pro-Am, so James Kingston is very keen for a victory over the three Fancourt courses this week.

The tournament is being played for the 16th time this year, and, with a prize fund of R3-million - and R200,000 for professionals who make the cut in the pro-am competition played Odyssey Backstryke 2-Ball Putter
in conjunction with the main event - a win for Kingston would clearly be lucrative.
The 2007 South African Open champion last won in South Africa last year in the Vodacom Business Origins of Golf event at Selborne in KwaZulu Natal, and on the European Tour in the 2009 Mercedes Benz Championship in Germany.
So no-one doubts he can win, but the second-place finish behind Alviro Quiros last week - which included a putt to get him into a playoff on the 18th which shaved the hole - will have told him his game's in pretty good shape ahead of the test over the 6,755-metre par-73 Links, 6,312-metre par-72 Outeniqua and 6,714-metre par-72 Montagu.
Each of the 160 professionals are paired with an amateur for the first three rounds, and play over each of the courses before a cut is made after the third round to the top 65 professionals and those tying on the score.
There is also a cut for the betterball teams, with the top 25 going through to the final Odyssey Backstryke 2-Ball Putter
which will be played on Sunday on the Montagu layout.
Kingston came 14th in last year's Dimension Data Pro-Am, and it was a horror run ahead of the turn on Montagu on the final day which put him out of contention.
He made a double-bogey six on the 389-metre fifth, a bogey five on the 427-metre par-four seventh and a bogey six on the 541-metre par-five ninth.
Those four dropped shots made sure he was not in any position to challenge eventual winner Darren Fichardt.
Fichardt held off a charging Louis Oosthuizen, who is making his first Odyssey Backstryke 2-Ball Putter
as a member of the US PGA Tour this week in California in the Northern Trust Open.
Kingston was also on the charge in Dubai, scoring better than anyone else in the final two rounds, but it was not enough to catch Quiros.