The second edition of the Limpopo Championship gets under way on Thursday at the Euphoria and Lifestyle Estate and Koro Creek in Modimolle, with 204 professionals set to battle it out over the two courses, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN.

The competition will be co-sanctioned by the European Challenge Tour this year and will have a prize pot of R3.5 million for the winner.

Here are Compleat Golfer‘s three players to watch:

JC Ritchie

The 25-year-old will head into the competition not only as the defending champion of the Limpopo Championship after its inauguration last year, but also on the back of his successful title defence with Jaco Prinsloo at the Guateng Team Championship at Dainfern last week. It will be some achievement if he can go back to back this week as well and given how well he played with Prinsloo, the chances and opportunity are there for him to deliver another solid performance.

He made high finishes at the SA Open and Eye of Africa PGA Championship competitions early this month and will certainly be hoping to use that as further momentum going into the start of play on Thursday.

Jaco Ahlers

Also a man carrying great form and consistency into this week’s contest in Limpopo. Ahlers is on an incredible high after securing qualification for the 149th Open Champion at Royal St George’s in England in July when he finished T4 at the SA Open earlier this month. He also managed sixth place at the Eye of Africa PGA Championship a week later, which moved him top of the Order of Merit list on the Sunshine Tour but just on the calculation of the number of events he played in.

Daniel van Tonder

The man from Boksburg keeps ticking away and has been very consistent on the Tour this season. As the early leader of the official Order of Merit List, he has slipped down to fourth after the SA Open, but Van Tonder could be a key figure in Limpopo this week. He has all the potential in the world to come out on top on Sunday and if he can get his putter working as it should, then that possibility can quickly become a reality given how good he is off the tees and from the fairways.