It’s been a tough old season for Ryan van Velzen on the DP World Tour, and he’ll be hoping a return to familiar South African territory this week during all the Ryder Cup hoopla will help him rediscover some of the form he is clearly missing.

Van Velzen will play in the Sunshine Tour’s Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Devonvale Golf and Wine Estate outside Stellenbosch, and, if Louis Albertse’s win at Umhlali last week is anything to go by, he may just find something to reverse downward trend of his game.

He’s made just one cut in 13 starts on the DP World Tour since the Joburg Open, and, having played his way on to the European circuit by winning the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in the 2023-24 season, that’s not the kind of outcome he was hoping for. His best performance – and the only cut he made – was a share of 19th in the Nexo Championship in August.

His second victory on the Sunshine Tour came in January last year, when he won the Mediclinic Invitational, and he would dearly love to convert the comforts of playing at home into a win.

Of course, he faces the usual challenges of players who are looking to make the step up that he has, and who are grinding it out on the local tour. The likes of Samuel Simpson, Herman Loubser and Michael Hollick have won already this season, as have international players who favour the Sunshine Tour as a vehicle for growth in their careers like Austin Bautista and Luis Carrera.

And, just to make the competition at Devonvale an even tougher proposition, someone like Jacques Kruyswijk, who has been extremely successful on the DP World Tour this season, will be keeping his hand in this Ryder Cup week by playing in the Winelands.

But, if it’s any encouragement to Van Velzen, besides the example of Albertse finding form again, there is the example of Haydn Porteous playing his way back into the winner’s circle in the last Vodacom Origins event at Gowrie Farm.

So inspiration is all around, and Van Velzen just has to drink that in if he is to turn things around.