First four players for Golf Challenge

SUN CITY – The first four players who will part take in this year’s bigger and better Nedbank Golf Challenge have been announced last week.

South Africa’s Brandon Grace, Germany’s Martin Kaymer and 2012 winner, celebrated Australian golfer Peter Senior and Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant.

Branden Grace is the first South African player to confirm his place in the 2013 Nedbank Golf Challenge field. The young South African will make his debut in “Africa’s major” at the Gary Player Country Club from December 5 to 8.

Kaymer claimed a two-stroke victory in the 2012 showpiece at Sun City at the end of a memorable year in which he holed the key putt to secure the European victory over America in the Ryder Cup. Even though he beat South African Charl Schwartzel to the 2012 Nedbank Golf Challenge title, Kaymer remains a popular figure in South Africa.

The 53-year-old Senior is officially the oldest player to ever compete in the Nedbank Golf Challenge. The previous record was held by Tom Watson, who was 49 when he played in the 1998 tournament. The winner of 31 tournaments worldwide has qualified for “Africa’s Major” through the expanded criteria that includes a place in the 30-man field for the winner of the 2012 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.

Wiratchant qualifies through the expanded criteria that include a place in the 30-man field for the winner of the 2012 Asian Tour Order of Merit. The Thai golfer won three times on the Asian Tour in 2012 on his way to finishing top of the Order of Merit. Wiratchant tops the list of all-time Asian Tour victories with his 15 titles. He follows a proud tradition of some of Asia’s finest golfers to compete in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, including South Korea’s Kim Kyung-Tae and KJ Choi, Taiwan’s TC Chen and Japanese legend Isao Aoki.

“We are thrilled to have the first four players in the field. Over the last few years we’ve had a new generation of young South African stars starting to make their mark in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, including Trevor Immelman, Richard Sterne, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen and now Branden Grace,” said Alastair Roper, the Tournament Director for Sun International’s Nedbank Golf Challenge.

The revamped $6.5 million tournament will be a spectacular event this year allowing a bigger field to play to attract more spectators.