UP FOR THE CHALLENGE
Time for SA golfers to step up
THERE is one considerable obstacle standing in the way of a South African winning the Nedbank Golf Challenge (NGC) for the first time since 2007, believes tournament director Alastair Roper.
The tournament, which starts at Sun City on Thursday, has not seen a South African hoist the trophy since Trevor Immelman back then.
“I think we stand a pretty good chance,” said Roper, who will retire from his role at the end of this year’s event.
“I think Branden Grace is on top of his game. Charl Schwartzel is in good form, Louis Oosthuizen, when he wants to, can really turn it on. George Coetzee had a good first round in Turkey. Haydn Porteous will probably qualify as well; and we’ve got Brandon Stone.”
His money, however, is going to be spent elsewhere. Big hitting Swede Henrik Stenson is the player to beat for Roper. “He knows the course very well. I think last time out he used his driver just once the entire week.”
The gripping drought is likely to influence the scoring with the harder fairways offering greater distance off the tee.
It makes Stenson, this year’s British Open champion, an even more redoubtable opponent.
If Stenson is the player to beat, a Belgian is the player to watch. “I think a guy like Thomas Pieters will do well. He hit a drive of 407 yards at the Open at sea level. That translates to about 440 yards here.”
The tournament has had to reinvent itself over the last decade. No longer an elite event with a single-digit invitee list, the NGC is now literally open to the world. At least, it showcases the best Europe has to offer with one notable absentee, Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy.
It is a fully fledged global attraction with the Race to Dubai potentially decided on it’s inviting, yet hard to split fairways. McIlroy is again in contention in the Race to Dubai, as is current leader Stenson and Englishman Danny Willett. The latter, the 2014 winner at Sun City, has fluffed his lines in recent weeks, finishing 75th out of a 78-man field at the HSBC Champions last week and he appears off the pace in this weekend’s Turkish Airlines Open.
Stenson grabbed the Race to Dubai lead with a second-placed finish last week and while he is not competing in Turkey, he will certainly look to cement his place at the top at Sun City next week.
His familiarity with the Gary Player Country Club is a valuable ally. Not everything will be the same, however. The European Tour takes control of some of the housework like determining pin positions for instance. “In the past, we managed that. Now it sits with David Williams of the European Tour. He is coming out today [yesterday], but he has been to the event before. He understands the course and I don’t expect things to change too drastically. For instance, where the pin is placed on the 18th behind the bunker in the final round will remain the same.”
Rain is predicted before the start of the tournament, which will soften things a tad after a long dry spell. “If there is one shortcoming this year, it is the heat we’ve had. We’ve had to use a lot of fertiliser on the fairways and things looked superb, but then we had a 10-day spell where the temperature hit the 40s.
“If the status quo persists, we’ll have fairly dry fairways. The forecast is for rain next week, then things reverse a little and the greens will be easier.”
That, however, doesn’t mean the players will be taking liberties over the demanding layout.
Roper believes there will still be a fair contest between competitor and course. “We were talking about it on Friday night. We are expecting a winning score of between 12- and 16- under. I think that is fair. It will give the spectators something to watch in terms of birdies, but no one is going to make a mockery of the course either.”
It is a fully fledged global attraction with the Race to Dubai potentially decided on it’s inviting, yet hard to split fairways