Louis a doubt due to illness

A sudden bout of illness on Wednesday made bookmakers’ favourite Louis Oosthuizen a late withdrawal from the ProAm and must mean he is a doubt for the Nedbank Golf Challenge that starts at Sun City today.

But never fear, Erik van Rooyen is another South African looking to mount a strong challenge for the title in the prestigious Rolex Series event on the European Tour.

Oosthuizen is South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer at No 23 in the world and the Nedbank Golf Challenge is a title he craves, but yesterday it was revealed he had a kidney stone and it was unknown just how ill the Major-winner is.

Van Rooyen, however, has enjoyed a top-class season and is clearly in form as he takes on the daunting Gary Player Country Club course.

“The year has gone fantastically well, I’ve reached many of my goals and I have a realistic chance of winning the Race to Dubai. My game is obviously in great shape, it was just a pity about one tee shot in the playoff but that’s the nature of the game. But I’m still in a good place and my game is right where it needs to be.

“So things are only looking up and I played really well last week. I am a little tired, the body is a little sore, but this is the Nedbank Golf Challenge, a fun event, so you kind of forget about it.

“Ball-striking is going to be at a premium because these are probably some of the smallest greens we play on all year,” Van Rooyen said yesterday.

While this year’s Nedbank Golf Challenge is serving as an opportunity for Van Rooyen to introduce himself to the wider South African public as one of the new wave of local stars, it also provides a chance for one of Europe’s future stars, 25-year-old Matthew Fitzpatrick, to win the Race to Dubai and put himself at the top of the tour.

Van Rooyen claimed his first European Tour title in August, the 150th win on the tour by a South African, when he beat Fitzpatrick by one stroke in the Scandinavian Invitation. But Fitzpatrick, fourth in the order of merit, has come to Sun City refreshed and eager to make one final big push for the year.