He’s lying 18th on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy, and Nikhil Rama’s last four tournaments show that he will almost certainly be a contender again this week when he tees it up at Royal Cape Golf Club.
Rama has two of his four top-10 finishes this season over the last three weeks, and a 12th-place finish during that period too. He wrapped up 2024 with a pair of 28th-place finished in the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned Alfred Dunhill Championship and the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, so he clearly feels comfortable in the elevated company of that tour.
In the Cell C Cape Town Open in association with Honor which tees off on Thursday at the oldest golf club in South Africa, he will be looking to finally get the win his form over the last year has shown he so easily can.
He missed the cut in last year’s tournament, but that came just weeks after he earned his biggest payday as a professional when he came sixth in the Joburg Open.
And his recent form makes him a very likely candidate for a breakthrough this week in the Sunshine Tour and HotelPlanner Tour co-sanctioned tournament: He opened and closed last week’s event at Pecanwood with a pair of eight-under 64s, illustrating his ability to go low when he hits his straps. He finished there in a share of fourth, and, but for a third round of just one-under 71, he could well have challenged Daniel van Tonder.
Van Tonder, of course, is on a tear, and it seems crazy to think that it won’t be at all surprising to see him in contention again at Royal Cape, and even winning a third-successive tournament. That feat would open up DP World Tour doors for him immediately.
And, any discussion of contenders in Cape Town would be incomplete without reference to JC Ritchie: He has won the tournament twice and come third once, as well as finishing in a share of fourth last year. While his recent form has been patchy, clearly there is something about the tournament and the course that pushes his buttons.
