The countdown has begun and the stage has been set for Leopard Creek Country Club to welcome the finest professionals from the Sunshine Tour and European Tour for the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Championship from Thursday to Sunday.

The Alfred Dunhill Championship, co-sanctioned by both the Sunshine Tour and European Tour, will make for a thrilling finale to the South African golf year. It follows the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player, as the final tournament played on South African fairways in 2019. The prestigious tournament also tees off the European Tour’s new 2020 season.

Since 2000 the Alfred Dunhill Championship has occupied a premier place in world golf, with a list of past champions including major winners and former world number ones such as Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Charl Schwartzel and Ernie Els.

Schwartzel holds the record for the most Alfred Dunhill Championship titles, at four, while fellow South African Branden Grace remains the only player to have won both the Alfred Dunhill Championship and its partner tournament, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

American David Lipsky won the 2018 Alfred Dunhill Championship by two strokes on his debut in the tournament, thereby claiming his second European Tour title.

Tickets to the public will be available from the gate or from www.ticketpro.co.za before the event. Pensioners (over 65) and children under the age of 16 free entrance.

Public parking will be available on the Leopard Creek Estate. The entrance ticket automatically qualifies you to parking on the estate. Please follow directional signage to the parking areas.

Also read: Top professionals soon returning to Leopard Creek

Visitors should take note of the following:

Weather forecast:
Hot to extremely hot condition are expected for the duration of the championship, with the mercury peaking at 37 degrees Celcius. With the recent rain, the humidity has risen. Due to the extreme heat at this time of the year, dehydration is a big
risk therefore all precautions need to be taken to consume liquids
whilst on the golf course.

Sun block:
Please ensure you make take the necessary sun protection precautions.

Snakes:
Please note that there are a large variety of snakes on the property and that the necessary care and caution must be taken.
Medical assistance:
Medical assistance are on site for the duration of the tournament. Medical services are located in the tournament village.

Unauthorised selling of merchandise or products at the event:
Please note that the unauthorized selling of merchandise or other product on the Leopard Creek Estate during the tournament week is strictly prohibited.

Malaria:
Malaria is a concern in the Lowveld of Mpumalanga. Please consult a health-care professional for the latest advice on malaria prophylaxis as it changes regularly.

Protection:
To protect yourself, always use mosquito repellent (even during the day) wear light, long sleeved shirts, long pants and shoes and socks at night, and sleep under a net or in a mosquito-proof room. Mosquitos also do not like the cold so leave your air-conditioner on in your room. Even if you are taking oral malaria prophylactic, you can still get malaria if you are bitten by an infected anopheles mosquito, so a good repellent is your easiest and most effective precaution.

Important:
It is important to note that a person may still contract malaria even though all precautionary measures have been taken. If any flu-like symptoms namely, headache, fever, muscular and joint pains, sweating, shivering attacks, nausea, diarrhoea and fatigue occur after a visit to a malaria risk area (and for up to six months there-after) consult a doctor immediately and advise the doctor of your visit to the malaria area in order to ensure that malaria is diagnosed and treated in time. Malaria attacks can occur up to six months after leaving a malaria area.

Water on Course:
The Alfred Dunhill Championship has partnered with Bluewater to set the sustainability standard by being the first golf tournament in Africa to promote the reduction of single use plastic at golf tournaments. Please bring your own container from home or purchase a re-useable water bottle at the tournament village.

Recycling Programme:
The Alfred Dunhill Championship will sort and recycle all waste at/during the tournament. We request that all guests make use of the recycling bins on and off the course for any recyclable products.

Dress Code:
You are kindly requested to comply with the club’s dress code. Leopard Creek Country Club is proud of its standard and every effort is made to ensure that it is upheld. Management and employees have both the responsibility and authority to interpret inappropriate wear and to ensure that standards are maintained.

On Course:
Headwear: Traditional golf hats or peak caps. Caps to be worn with the peak forward.
Shirts: Traditional collared or crew neck golf shirts, and always tucked into trousers.
Trousers: Traditional long or short golf trousers with belt or clasp. Formal three-quarter length golf trousers may be worn. No jeans cut or cargo pants – i.e. outside pockets.
Socks: Short socks and anklets must be predominantly white.
Shoes: Only closed heel golf shoes with soft spikes are permitted.

Off course:
Headwear: Hats and caps may not be worn in the bar, dining room and lounges.
Shirts: Regular collared shirts or crew neck shirts or tailored shirts may be worn over trousers. Tailored waist length ladies golf shirts need to be tucked in. Sleeveless golf shirts may also be worn.
Trousers: Traditional long or short tailored trousers or unfaded and untorn jeans. Long trousers are required in the bar, dining room and lounge after 19:00.
Shoes: Casual shoes with closed heels may be worn without socks, sandals; flip flops and crocs are not permitted.

Liability:
Anyone who enters the golf course does so at his/her own risk and thereby indemnifies and holds harmless the club and/or management, sponsors, promoters, and contractors against all or any possible loss and costs, including damage to property, person or injury that may be incurred or sustained howsoever arising.

Public catering:
Public catering will be available during the tournament. A variety of meals, drinks and snacks will be available.

Also read: Els leads strong local field for Alfred Dunhill Championship

Numbers that matter:

15 different names have been crowned Alfred Dunhill Championship winners in the 19 tournaments to date.

2 players have won the tournament on more than one occasion. Spaniard Pablo Martin registered back-to-back triumphs in 2009 and 2010, while South African Charl Schwartzel has come out on top no less than four times, first winning in December 2004 and then taking the title in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

264 is the tournament record score which is held by Schwartzel himself. He also boasts the biggest margin of victory in the history of the tournament, winning by 12 shots in 2012.

4 Major winners have also won the Alfred Dunhill Championship. Schwartzel and Australian Adam Scott have both added The Masters to their successes at Leopard Creek. The 2002 Champion Justin Rose has gone on to amass several titles, including the 2013 US Open. The most decorated of all Alfred Dunhill Championship winners is local favourite Ernie Els. The Big Easy has four Majors to his name, winning both the US Open and Open Championship and two occasions.

6 South Africans have won the Alfred Dunhill Championship, with Richard Sterne, Garth Mulroy, Branden Grace and Brandon Stone joining fellow countrymen Schwartzel and Els in lifting the iconic Leopard trophy.

1 player has won both the Alfred Dunhill Championship and its sister event, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. That man is Branden Grace.

3 times has the Alfred Dunhill Championship been decided by a play-off, while a further five tournaments have been won by just a single stroke.

7,287 is the total distance in yards of the Leopard Creek Country Club course. By way of comparison, the Old Course at St Andrews, home of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, is almost exactly the same distance, at 7,305 yards.

3 holes-in-one were recorded in the 2012 tournament and all of them on the same par-three 12th hole. South African Keith Horne claimed two aces in successive days, using the same club – an eight iron. And in the final round that year, Magnus Carlsson pulled off the third hole-in-one.

100 Garth Mulroy’s triumph in the 2011 Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek made him the 100th South African to win in European Tour history.

14 is the number of months it took for South African sculptor Dylan Lewis to cast all 18 of the bronze leopards that adorn each tee at Leopard Creek.

Source: https://www.alfreddunhillchampionship.com/