Preview - Nedbank Golf Challenge
The Nedbank Golf Challenge, which started out 35 years ago as an elite 10-man event and boasts a winner’s list resembling a who’s who of golf, has now made a complete metamorphosis.
There are no less than 13 different Major champions whose names are engraved on the famous glass golf ball trophy.
This year for the first time, 72 players, which includes 64 of the best available on the European Tour and eight invitees, will be on the tee at the pristine Gary Player Country Club course in the second-last tournament in the Race to Dubai.
The tournament, dubbed ‘Africa’s Major’, forms part of the European Tour’s Final Series for the first time.
Current Open champion Henrik Stenson, a previous winner at Sun City (2008), heads the current Race to Dubai standings, followed by Masters champion Danny Willett (Nedbank Challenge champion in 2014, Rory McIlroy and the Englishman Tyrell Hatton.
All of the top 10 contenders --- barring McIlroy -- will all be in the swing at Sun City this week.
Hatton, Willett and Stenson should draw some sizeable galleries on Thursday, having been drawn in the same three-ball (11h55 tee-off).
The entry list features nine South African contenders. All the local players canvassed in the build-up week stated how strongly they feel about putting a South African name back on the trophy.
Branden Grace is currently in 10th place on the standings and a decent finish would put him in a strong position to share the 5 million US Dollar bonus pool for a top 10 finish.
Trevor Immelman was the last South African to capture the title, when he pipped the Englishman Justin Rose to the 1.2 million US Dollar winners cheque by one stroke in 2007.
Grace will have Turkish Airlines champion Thorbjorn Olesen and Chris Wood for company in the opening round (11h35 tee-off).
The remaining South Africans in the field are Louis Oosthuizen, Retief Goosen, Charl Schwartzel, Richard Sterne, Brandon Stone, George Coetzee, Jaco van Zyl and Thomas Aiken.
(File Photo: Gallo Images)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre
This year for the first time, 72 players, which includes 64 of the best available on the European Tour and eight invitees, will be on the tee at the pristine Gary Player Country Club course in the second-last tournament in the Race to Dubai.
The tournament, dubbed ‘Africa’s Major’, forms part of the European Tour’s Final Series for the first time.
Current Open champion Henrik Stenson, a previous winner at Sun City (2008), heads the current Race to Dubai standings, followed by Masters champion Danny Willett (Nedbank Challenge champion in 2014, Rory McIlroy and the Englishman Tyrell Hatton.
All of the top 10 contenders --- barring McIlroy -- will all be in the swing at Sun City this week.
Hatton, Willett and Stenson should draw some sizeable galleries on Thursday, having been drawn in the same three-ball (11h55 tee-off).
The entry list features nine South African contenders. All the local players canvassed in the build-up week stated how strongly they feel about putting a South African name back on the trophy.
Branden Grace is currently in 10th place on the standings and a decent finish would put him in a strong position to share the 5 million US Dollar bonus pool for a top 10 finish.
Trevor Immelman was the last South African to capture the title, when he pipped the Englishman Justin Rose to the 1.2 million US Dollar winners cheque by one stroke in 2007.
Grace will have Turkish Airlines champion Thorbjorn Olesen and Chris Wood for company in the opening round (11h35 tee-off).
The remaining South Africans in the field are Louis Oosthuizen, Retief Goosen, Charl Schwartzel, Richard Sterne, Brandon Stone, George Coetzee, Jaco van Zyl and Thomas Aiken.
(File Photo: Gallo Images)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre