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Top field set for Nedbank Challenge

Brad Morgan

3 December 2008

The Nedbank Golf Challenge will attract big crowds to Sun City's Gary Player Country Club from 4 to 7 December as another classy field contests the 28th edition of "Africa's Major". The lineup includes two-time winner Sergio Garcia and Sweden's Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson, the recent winners of the World Cup of Golf.

Garcia has been in sensational form recently, which has lifted him to second in the world rankings, trailing only Tiger Woods. In fact, his results over the second half of the year are, in fact, "Woods-like".

The Spanish star already has a win on the European Tour's 2009 programme, having won the HSBC Champions title. Before that he won the Castello Masters, tied for second in the European Open and the US PGA Championship, and tied for fourth in the Volvo Masters. The last time he played in the USA, at the end of September, he finished second in The Tour Championship.

No one playing better

To put it plainly: no one in the world of golf is playing as well as Sergio Garcia is right now.

Nothing is certain in the world of golf either, so while Garcia might be the favourite for the title, he is no sure thing.

Defending champion Trevor Immelman leads a three-man South African challenge that also includes Rory Sabbatini and James Kingston.

Immelman won last year's event with a superb 16-under-par total of 272, but shortly afterwards was forced to withdraw from the SA Open when a lesion the size of a golf ball was discovered on his diaphragm. He was forced to undergo surgery and luckily it turned out to be benign.

US Masters win

He returned to action with a bang when he won the US Masters, his first major victory. It was an unexpected success considering his lack of playing time and the tag of Masters champion brought with it demands that Immelman admits he was ill-equipped to deal with. As a result his form has been patchy since then. However, towards the end of the season, he has shown signs of moving in the right direction.

Sabbatini has been a consistent performer on the US PGA Tour for a good number of years now, but 2008 has been a down year. He does, however, have four PGA Tour victories to his name, which proves he has the ability to beat the best.

He participated in the Nedbank Challenge for the first time in 2007, finishing in a battling fifth place on six-under-par after opening with a four-over 76.

SA Open champion

Kingston won the SA Open from which Immelman was forced to withdraw. He followed that up with a victory in the Vodacom Championship and went on to top the Sunshine Tour's Order of Merit. That earned him a place in the World Golf Championship and also an invitation to the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

On the tournament's website, he said: "Competing in the Nedbank Golf Challenge has been a childhood-dream. I was a boy when I first watched the players taking part at the Million Dollar event at Sun City. Some of the participants were champions like Severiano Ballesteros, Johnny Miller and David Frost. Frost was one of my childhood-heroes. He gave me my very first golf lesson as a kid."

World Cup winners

Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson lived up to their billing as pre-tournament favourites when they claimed the World Cup of Golf for Sweden at Mission Hills. They also showed big match temperament by producing their best when they needed it and when it mattered in the final round, firing a nine-under-par 63 to leapfrog third round leaders Spain and Australia. South Africa's team of Sabbatini and Richard Sterne tied for seventh, 12 shots off the pace.

Karlsson is second only to Garcia in the world rankings, holding down sixth place, which it two places higher than South Africa's number one, Ernie Els. His form, on paper, is second only to Garcia's among the Sun City field.

He became the first Swede to win the European Tour's Order of Merit in 2008, thanks to superb consistency. He recorded back-to-back wins in the Mercedes-Benz Championship and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, but even more than the victories his consistency stood out.

Karlsson was second in the Hong Kong Open and the Celtic Manor Wales Open; he finished third in the Italian Open, the Irish Open, and BMW PGA Championship and the Portugal Masters; and he shared fourth in the US Open.

Strong Sun City results

While Karlsson makes his first visit to Sun City, Henrik Stenson returns for the third time and, if previous results are anything to go by, he bears close watching; he finished runner-up in his very first visit and followed that up with a fourth place.

Stenson is ranked twelfth in the world, which has plenty to do with an excellent year in 2008 during which he recorded nine top-10 finishes on the European Tour. He also excelled in the majors, finishing third in the US Open and fourth in the US PGA.

He's a big fan of South Africa and the Gary Player Country Club course, declaring it one of his favourites; one usually likes things at which one is proficient. Stenson has proved that he is more than proficient over the tough course.

English challenge

There are three Englishmen in the field – Luke Donald, Johannesburg-born Justin Rose, and Lee Westwood.

Donald's form is uncertain after he sustained a wrist injury at the US Open which required surgery. However, he has proven himself a consistent performer in both the United States and Europe.

He returns to Sun City for the third time. On his first visit he finished in fifth place, but that statistic is misleading; he missed out on a playoff by a single shot as four players fought it out over extra holes before Jim Furyk won.

Last year, he finished on five-under-par 283, which was good for sixth place.

Epid duel

Justin Rose showed that he can handle the Gary Player Country Club last year as he and Trevor Immelman staged an epic duel for the title.

The world number 18, who won the European Tour's Order of Merit in 2007, has in the past excelled in South African tournaments, which suggests he will again be among the front-runners.

Rose has family in South Africa and they will be at Sun City to cheer him on.

Return to form

Lee Westwood contests the Nedbank Golf Challenge for the first time in four years. After a dip in form in recent times he has found his game once more and occupies tenth place in the world rankings.

He demonstrated during the course of 2008 his ability to perform on the toughest stages. As a member of the European Ryder Cup team, Westwood took his unbeaten run to 12 matches to equal the record of the legendary Arnold Palmer. He also finished eleventh in the Masters and third in the US Open.

In addition, he captured second place in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, the HSBC Champions, the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, and the British Masters; he was third in the Andalucian Open; fourth in the Volvo Masters; and fifth in the Qatar Masters and French Open. That kind of form inevitably leads to title successes.

It is worth noting that Westwood boasts the best stroke average in the history of the Nedbank Challenge. His mark of 69.20 is well clear of second placed Nick Price's 69.20.

PGA Tour success

American Kenny Perry will look back on 2008 with satisfaction, with US PGA Tour wins in The Memorial Tournament, the Buick Open and the John Deere Classic, and a Ryder Cup winner’s medal. The Nedbank Challenge title would certainly serve as an exclamation mark on an excellent year.

He previously played at Sun City in 2003 and 2005 and should have few problems adjusting to the southern African heat. He is quoted on the tournament's website as saying: "I'm not good when the temperature gets to single figures with 80 kph winds. I like hot weather. I am a hot weather guy."

Considering that only Tiger Woods, with four wins, bettered Perry's US win total in 2008, he brings a stiff challenge to the event.

Aiming to improve

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez appears in his third Nedbank Challenge. His first two visits were less than successful as he finished last and second last, but, hey, he's on the way up, isn't he?

Jiminez earned his invitation thanks to a strong 2008 season in which he finished fourth on the European Tour's Order of Merit. The top three included two other Sun City participants: Robert Karlsson and Lee Westwood.

He was crowned the Hong Kong Open champion at the start of the year and later won the BMW PGA Championship. Jimenez was also third in the Scottish Open, the European Masters and the Mercedes-Benz Championship. He tied for fourth in the Spanish Open and shared sixth in the US Open.

Rookie

First-timer KJ Choi is ranked sixteenth in the world and is a seven-time winner on the US PGA Tour. He has also twice represented the International Team in the Presidents Cup, including in 2003 at Fancourt in South Africa.

His year was highlighted by victory in the Sony Open in Hawaii. That win came in mid-January. A win at Sun City would make a nicely-balanced bookend for the stocky South Korean.