Grant Winter
Devcember will be a big month for South African golf, with the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City from December 3-6 followed in the fortnight after that by the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek and the SA Open at Pearl Valley - both part of the European Tour's 2010 Race to Dubai.
But as an appetising - and indeed heart-warming - warm-up to these three tournaments, the 10th edition of the charity-driven Gary Player Invitational will be staged this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) over the gloriously maintained turf that is The Links at Fancourt.
The main event features eight regular tour professionals, including current Masters champion Angel Cabrera and twice US Open champion Retief Goosen, who team up in betterball with eight senior tour campaigners - among them Mark McNulty, John Bland, Tony Johnstone, Vincent Tshabalala and of course the legendary Player himself - he turned 74 earlier this month - who in a fabulous career spanning nearly 60 years won nine regular Majors and nine more senior Majors.
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Taking part in a separate team event are high-profile business people and celebrities - this year's line-up of the latter including Barry Richards, Shaun Bartlett, Sir Clive Woodward and debutant Kevin Curren who has traded his booming serves at Wimbledon for booming drives on the golf course and is so adept with a club in hand that it's not unusual for him to be home in par for 18 holes.
So there's a serious side to the Invitational - Garth Mulroy and Bobby Lincoln won the 2008 betterball with a superb 18-under-par return for the 36 holes - but also a fun element, hence the presence on the tee, for instance, of Spanish super model Ines Sastre, top British entertainer DJ Spoony, BBC Sports presenter Sarah Stirk, Just Jinger rocker Ard Matthews and rising Ladies European Tour star Henni Zeul.
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