Johannesburg - South African golfing fans will have to wait until January to get a look at Rory McIlroy when he tees it up at the SA Open, but the nine other players in the current top 10 in the Race to Dubai standings will all feature at this week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City.
Only McIlroy is missing of the top 10 players as the 72-man field go in search of the $1.16 million (R16m) first prize ahead of next week’s tour final in Dubai.
Current leader and Open Championship winner Henrik Stenson will lead the way with third-placed Danny Willett, the current Masters champion, just behind. Both men are former winners of the Nedbank Challenge.
But while Stenson’s form has been steady, Willett’s has not. He’s battled for consistency in recent times following his Masters triumph and has slipped in both the world rankings and the Race to Dubai standings. He threatened to pull out of this week’s event at Sun City following a disappointing final round in Turkey, but on Monday afternoon his name was still on the list of those entered to play.
Young stars Tyrrell Hatton, Alex Noren - already a three-time winner on tour this year - Rafa Cabrera Bello, Chris Wood, Thorbjorn Olesen, the winner in Turkey this last weekend, South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace, and former winner and two-time Major champion Martin Kaymer complete the top 10 players in action this weekend.
It’s the best of the best from the European Tour who’ll be teeing it up at the Gary Player Country Club in a new-look tournament that is now part of the final series in the tour’s Race to Dubai.
It’s no longer an invitation event, but the best players on tour in the points standings who’ll be in action, plus a few invitees.
Among the other big-name stars golfing fans can look forward to seeing are Andy Sullivan, Thongchai Jaidee, Thomas Pieters, Andrew “Beef” Johnston, Padraig Harrington, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Victor Dubuisson.
Besides the two South Africans in the top 10 in the standings, the other locals in the field include Charl Schwartzel, Richard Sterne, Brandon Stone, George Coetzee, Jaco van Zyl and Retief Goosen, who’ll be playing on a sponsor’s invite.
Stenson, who won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 2008 and was in the running until late last year before Australian Marc Leishman went on to win by six shots, said he was excited about returning to the Pilansberg resort.
“It is one of those tournaments which grabs the attention at the end of the year, and now that it is part of the Race to Dubai’s Final Series it has taken another step up in terms of importance.
“Sun City is such a great resort as well that it’s a week I really enjoy at the end of the season,” said Stenson.
“I won the BMW International Open in Germany in June which gave me a lot of confidence and then the rest is history I suppose.
“The Major was the one thing really missing from my career, so to win The Open was fantastic.
“It’s very cool to be introduced on the first tee everywhere you go as The Open champion, and I think I will get an amazing reception at Sun City because the crowds there are always brilliant.”
The action starts Thursday.
The Star