Bekker up for Sun City challenge
OLIVER Bekker has a soft spot for the Gary Player Country Club course at Sun City, where the 54-hole R750 000 Sun City Challenge takes place this week.
He played his second tournament as a professional on it during the 2008 Dimension Data Pro-Am and finished in a share of 13th.
And he comes to the course this week as defending champion after his one-stroke victory over Shaun Norris in last year’s event.
“I really enjoy this course,” he said. “After that result in the Di Data, I’ve loved the course from the beginning.
“I think it’s a really rewarding golf course if you play well, and if you don’t play well, it’s going to punish you. I think that’s fair.”
Bekker was chatting with Doug Wood ahead of last year’s event, and he was down in the dumps with a year that seemed to be going nowhere.
“I said I didn’t know how long I was still going to be playing, if I keep playing like I am,” Bekker recalled. “At the end of the week, I ended up winning again.”
It was his first title in 3½ years, and it started a renaissance in his golfing fortunes.
“Now I’m back here again, three wins later and looking forward to having another good week,” he said.
Bekker sits atop the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit after five tournaments, two of which he has won, come third in another two, and in his least impressive performances, still managed to come 30th.
He finds himself up against a number of players who have returned to South Africa as the European Tour’s regular schedule is interrupted by the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and next week’s PGA Championship.
Among those are the likes of Dean Burmester, who won the Tshwane Open this year, and last year’s Joburg Open winner, Haydn Porteous.
Last week’s Sunshine Tour winner from Highland Gate, Doug McGuigan, is also in the field, and he also has good memories of Gary Player Country Club, with a win there in 2009.
So Bekker has his work cut out for him, but, with the start he has had to the 2017-18 year, he’s in a good space.