It’s time for “Africa’s Major” at Sun City
The popular Nedbank Golf Challenge, also known as "Africa's Major" among golf enthusiasts, will be held at Sun City this weekend.
Alex Noren’s 14-under-par 274 in last year’s Nedbank Golf Challenge handed the Swede his fourth European Tour title of that season but this week will be a different ball game as a determined nine-man South African contingent aims for nothing less than keeping ‘Africa’s Major’ within the borders come the weekend.
Noren was trailing by six shots at the Gary Player Country Club when he stood on the first tee for the final round on that eventful weekend. His thoughts didn’t include winning the title but a ‘good finish’ would satisfy him perfectly, but an eagle on 10 brought his round back to life and from then on there was no stopping him as he went on to claim a six-shot victory ahead of South Korea’s Wang Jeung-hun.
“I wasn’t really thinking about winning at all. I just wanted to get a good finish going into Dubai and have a good finish there. And then, all of a sudden, with the eagle on 10 and a big lob shot on 11 that was holed, I started to believe that I could do it,” Noren said ahead of this season’s event.
That victory meant another lost opportunity for a South African player to claim the title and ensure it stayed on home soil.
This week, however, presents yet another chance for a local to reign supreme and Tshwane Open champion, Dean Burmester is among those presented with this opportunity. While he has had mixed results in his last five starts on the European Tour, Burmester is feeling good ahead of this US$7.5 million event.
“I am feeling pretty good. I found the putter that I like. I have been struggling with the putter, that’s the only thing that’s been lacking. Last week in Turkey, I hit the ball really well,” he said.
Like any other South African player knows, winning this event will mean more than just another European Tour title in the bag but a fulfilment of a long-held dream.
“It doesn’t get bigger than this. Every little boy that plays golf in South Africa is watching the Nedbank and we watched Ernie and Retief and Trevor, and all the guys. Price, back in the day. And here we are. We’re quite a few South Africans in the field so hopefully, we can keep the trophy right here at home,” Burmester concluded.
In the effort to try and keep the trophy in South Africa, Burmester is joined in the field by multiple European Tour winners Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Dylan Frittelli who won his first European Tour in June this year, Branden Grace, Haydn Porteous, Richard Sterne, former member of the Tuks Golf Academy Brandon Stone and Pretoria’s own George Coetzee.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
