Johannesburg – US Open winner Justin Rose says he is happy to be back in South Africa, where he won his first professional golf tournament in 2002.
The world number five is at the Gary Player Country Club for the revamped 30-man field of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which starts on Thursday.
“South Africa’s very close to my heart, not only because I was born here, but also because I have a lot of family here,” Rose said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Playing in front of a South African crowd who love their sport is always good fun.”
Rose is making his fifth appearance in the golf challenge. His best result came in 2007 when he finished second behind Trevor Immelman.
He has been off for a couple of weeks, and not entirely sure how it will all come together at Sun City.
“I’ve had two weeks off back home and haven’t been able to practice, so I’m knocking off a bit of rust.
“We’ll see how this week goes and I’m just going to take it slow and steady, trying to play my way into a bit of form this week, but my game is never far away and I’ve been playing consistently for the whole year. I expect to put myself in the mix to some degree.” – Sapa