Nedbank Golf Challenge 2018 Programme by The Publishing Partnership

Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Major 8-11 November | Sun City

Nedbank Golf Challenge Programme

8-11 November | Sun City

NEDBANK GOLF CHALLENGE | 8-11 NOVEMBER | SUN CITY

2018

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CONTENTS 10 Welcome letters 22 Sponsor thanks 24 Tournament welcome What to expect at the 38th Nedbank Golf Challenge 30 The Rolex Series Perfect timing for the European Tour 38 Maturing with Grace The spotlight is on the defending champion 46 No doubting Thomas... Bjørn is back A welcome return for the Ryder Cup’s winning captain 52 Coetzee’s quest for improvement George Coetzee’s renewed focus for the game

56 El Niño now calmer in the storm Sergio Garcia tees up for his 10th Nedbank Golf Challenge 64 The essential Rory McIlRoy South Africa welcomes back a firm favourite 72 Stone on a roll again How will the Scottish Open winner Brandon Stone fare this year? 78 Picking the Ryder Cup winners The power of team and matchplay golf is a winning formula 85 Community care The Nedbank South African Charity Golf Day makes a difference

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in the lives of local communities Giving back through golf The Sports Trust and golf development The challenge behind the Challenge Preparing the Gary Player Country Club course each year is a collaborative effort. On course A hole-by-hole walk through the Gary Player Country Club Course layout Behind the scenes On and off the course fun at Sun City in 2017 Autographs Roll of honour

FOR SUN INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT CHAIRMAN Raul De Lima TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR Ken Payet SUN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS Claudia Henkel, Zoleka Skweyiya EVENT MANAGERS Elardus Senekal, Warren Rudolph, Sonja Holl, Sheridan Hughes, Herman Brits, Jeanne Visagie FOR THE PUBLISHING PARTNERSHIP EDITOR Matthew Pearce MANAGING EDITOR Wendy Maritz ART DIRECTOR Ryan Manning FEATURES WRITER Michael Vlismas COPY EDITOR Christine de Villiers EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mark Beare PRODUCTION DIRECTOR John Morkel FINANCIAL MANAGER Naeema Abrahams ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVES Nick Lumb, Justin Lyons, Neal Esau. TRAFFIC MANAGER Lesley Green PHOTOGRAPHY Grant Leversha, Getty Images REPRODUCTION Hirt & Carter PRINTING Novus Print Solutions Produced for Sun International by The Publishing Partnership (Pty) Ltd, PO Box 15054, Vlaeberg, 8018. Copyright Sun International 2018. Editorial and sales enquiries: tel 021-424-3517, fax 021-424-3612, email info@tppsa.co.za. The opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or Sun International. The Publishing Partnership (Pty) Ltd and Sun International do not accept any responsibility for information published. For information on sponsorship and hospitality opportunities at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, phone Warren Rudolph on 011 780 7248.

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W WELCOME to the 2018 Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player. It is a great honour once again to have the opportunity to partner with Sun International and the European Tour as the title sponsor of this event, the 38th edition of “Africa’s Major”. As part of the Rolex Series on the European Tour and the penultimate event in the Race to Dubai, the Nedbank Golf Challenge is a premier South African sporting event, as well as a highlight on the global golfing calendar. As always, this year’s event is an extravaganza of golfing talent, with some of the biggest international names in the sport competing for the coveted title and a share of the $7,5 million total prize purse. Nedbank’s involvement in the 2018 Nedbank Golf Challenge extends far beyond just our sponsorship of the main event. We believe sporting disciplines of all kinds bring people together, deliver

positive social impact and give talented young people the opportunity to realise their dreams. This makes Nedbank’s sponsorship of sport, and in particular golf, an extension of our brand promise to help people “see money differently”, and our stated purpose to use our financial expertise to do good for individuals, families, businesses and society. To this end sports development is a key focus of all our sponsorships and we will continue partnering with Sun International to raise more than R1 million for charities through The Sports Trust Challenge, played on the Monday after the main tournament. The Nedbank Golf Challenge digital app has been enhanced this year, with a variety of new and improved features designed to make your experience of the tournament the most memorable ever. Be sure to download the free app from the Apple or Google stores and immerse yourself in the action, or challenge fellow golf fans to win fantastic prizes daily. Thank you to the players, organisers, sponsors, spectators and fans who all contribute so much towards making the Nedbank Golf Challenge such an incredible event. I know you will all thoroughly enjoy the 2018 Nedbank Golf Challenge.

MIKE BROWN

CHIEF EXECUTIVE NEDBANK GROUP

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THE 2018 Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player will undoubtedly be one of the finest since “Africa’s Major” became a part of the exclusive Rolex Series on the European Tour. The field, for starters, is the strongest in recent years, with the inclusion of four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, 2017 Masters champion and double Nedbank Golf Challenge champion Sergio García, and defending champion Branden Grace of South Africa, to name only a few. Yet as the tournament has taken this step up in terms of prestige on the European Tour, so too have we as Sun International and our longtime and loyal sponsors, especially Nedbank, gone out of our way to enhance the entertainment offering of what is one of our finest sporting spectacles. We have always maintained that the Nedbank Golf Challenge is our most powerful tool in showcasing the wonders of Sun City, our flagship resort, to the world. Sun City itself has undergone almost as many transformations

as the Nedbank Golf Challenge over the years, and with the same intent, namely to remain the best and to be a resort that sets a world standard in terms of the variety of its offering. And in this sense it is always a pleasure to welcome the world’s leading golfers and their families to Sun City, and an equal pleasure always to hear how much they enjoy our resort, especially considering that these are players who travel the world and stay at many top resorts throughout the year. The impact of the Nedbank Golf Challenge also extends beyond Sun City. It’s because of this tournament that we can uplift the surrounding communities of which we have always been a part. It is with great satisfaction that we can include local suppliers in so much of what we do here. Through the partnership with the European Tour, the tournament reaches a worldwide audience that can be given a taste of the beauty and wonders of our country. At Sun International we take immense pride not only in our resorts being leading tourist destinations, but also in our country being viewed as the same. May 2018 be another year in which the world marvels at our tournament, is inspired by our people and falls in love with our country.

VALLI MOOSA

CHAIRMAN, SUN INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

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A AT Sun International we describe Sun City as a world within a city, and it’s always a tremendous pleasure at the time of the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player to welcome the world to our city. The Nedbank Golf Challenge remains one of South Africa’s flagship sporting events at what is undoubtedly the country’s flagship resort, and we are extremely proud of how Sun City and the tournament have grown and evolved into what they are today. This year we welcome another worldclass field as “Africa’s Major” continues to grow as one of the European Tour’s exclusive Rolex Series tournaments. When we embarked on this new journey with Nedbank and the European Tour, it was with the intent that the Nedbank Golf Challenge would remain one of the best tournaments in world golf, as it has always been. We have indeed achieved this and the tournament continues to be a favourite of both the players and the fans who look forward to the warm hospitality and welcome they receive.

The tournament is ingrained in South African sports culture and is an event that showcases not only Sun City but South Africa to the world. When Sun City first opened its doors all those years ago, it did so with the vision of being the best and setting a new standard in the industry. It defined what the modern integrated resort would become, and today we are proud to still be a leader in our field as we continually upgrade our facilities and our offering. Sun City, however, resides in an extremely poor area of our beautiful country and it is our responsibility to do more than ever before to help both our employees and our communities improve their daily lives. To this end I’m proud to say that we sourced more goods and services from local communities for the Nedbank Golf Challenge than we have done in the past, and we will do even more in the future. Through funds raised in the annual Sports Trust golf day held on the Monday after the tournament, a new sports facility will be built to benefit the local community. So please, as our guest, take in and enjoy everything this amazing resort has to offer – and welcome to our world within a city.

ANTHONY LEEMING

CHIEF EXECUTIVE SUN INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

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THE Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player is a sporting occasion that has become one of the greatest events on the South African sporting calendar, and it has featured some of the greatest names of modern golf in the past 37 years. As usual, the Sunshine Tour is thrilled to welcome everyone to the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City to witness with us yet another new chapter in this golf tournament’s illustrious history. We are as excited as ever to see who will emerge as champion to add his name to an iconic trophy. The tournament is part of the European Tour’s Rolex Series on the Race to Dubai, and its position as the second-last event of the season gives it additional spice. The field of 72 players and a

prize fund of $7,5 million means there will be no shortage of excitement as some of the world’s very best professionals come to South Africa. And with South Africa’s own Branden Grace the defending champion, there will be some real passion on the fairways. It is a pleasure working with our longtime partners Nedbank and Sun International, and their decades of experience in putting on this tournament mean that fans and players alike get a golfing experience unlike any other. As usual, we warmly welcome back the European Tour, with whom we collaborate on some of the best events in South Africa. And, finally, a special welcome to our tournament host, South African sporting legend Gary Player. In his role as ambassador and host to fans, sponsors and players, he gives meaning to the “Stroke of Genius” that makes this tournament unique!

SELWYN NATHAN

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SUNSHINE TOUR

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W WHAT a pleasure it is, on behalf of the European Tour, to welcome you to the stunning surroundings of Sun City for the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player. This historic tournament occupies a crucial position on the Race to Dubai as the penultimate event of the season-long contest. Our European Tour Number One is set to be crowned next week in Dubai, and I have no doubt that we will witness our great game of golf at its very best this week with the sensational field that has gathered here in Sun City. Last year Branden Grace produced a stunning closing round to win his eighth European Tour title in front of record crowds. In doing so he became the first home winner since 2007. We wish all of the golfers the best of luck this week. This is a tournament our players always enjoy

coming to, and that is in no small part due to our host, Gary Player. As a golfing icon, Garyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to this event and growing the game on the global scale is second to none, and we thank him and everyone associated with the Gary Player Country Club for their exceptional hospitality this week. Our sincere thanks also go to Nedbank for its steadfast support as title sponsor since 1996. This event continues to flourish, going from strength to strength each year, and we look forward to delivering another fantastic tournament. We must also acknowledge our cosanctioning partners at the Sunshine Tour, who are always an excellent team to work alongside, as well as Sun International and the significant number of corporate supporters for their contribution to this great event. Finally, our most sincere thanks, as always, to the members, volunteers and media taking part this week, without whom this would not be possible. Enjoy the golf.

KEITH PELLEY

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER EUROPEAN TOUR

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A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

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TO U RNA MENT I NTR O

THE EVOLUTION OF AN ICON The Nedbank Golf Challenge remains a landmark event in South Africa’s sporting calender.

HERE IS ALWAYS excitement among the golf fraternity as the first Major of the year approaches. That first weekend in April means The Masters and, for South African golf fans, a bleary-eyed Monday morning at work after watching the

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almost-guaranteed drama of the “back nine on Sunday at Augusta National”. What almost certainly makes The Masters so eagerly anticipated is the familiarity of everything associated with the tournament: the music that accompanies the opening sequence of television pictures

Gary Player congratulates Branden Grace after winning last year’s Nedbank Golf Challenge.

has not changed in a generation, the par-three tournament on the Wednesday, the familiar sights of “Amen Corner”. That level of familiarity applies to very few events in world golf, which is perhaps why we in South Africa feel such a similar level of affinity with the Nedbank Golf Challenge, played on the same course every year since 1981. Granted, the early years of the tournament were distinctly different to the way things are run today, but at its core this remains an iconic golf course that was certainly ahead of its time in many ways. It is thoroughly appropriate that Gary Player is the official tournament host of the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Not only did he set the bar dizzyingly high for future generations of South African professional golfers in terms of work ethic, fitness

and on-course performance, but he also put his mark indelibly on this tournament with the design of the course. Player has often spoken of the first time he flew over the Sun City site in a helicopter with Sol Kerzner, surveyed the land below, and thought that Kerzner was more than a little mad at the mere thought of building anything there, let alone a five-star resort boasting a world-class golf facility. Yet their combined vision produced something that has not undergone massive change over the past 38 years and yet has remained one of the best tests of golf around for players of all abilities, right up to the very best the game has to offer. It was always going to take some razzmatazz to make the world take notice of a fledgling Sun City, so the original “Million Dollar Challenge” had the perfect ingredients to attract the desired attention. Some of the most iconic golfers of the time, celebrities from the entertainment world for the pro-am, and the biggest prize purse in golf at the time (and for many years thereafter) were all factors that contributed to creating instant interest.

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And when Johnny Miller and Severiano Ballrequired to make it happen – and happen esteros played out a nine-hole sudden-death successfully. playoff for the cheque and the title in the So it is that the top 64 players on the tournament’s first year, 1981, South Africa’s Race to Dubai standings now get to partigolfing public were hooked. cipate at Sun City along with some Soon enough, the field had invited players and, most notagrown from the initial bly for South African fans, five invitees to 10, then the winner of the previous later to 12. When the season’s Sunshine Tour President’s Cup was Order of Merit. For played in South Afrieven though the event ca, the tournament has been internatook advantage by tional since incepextending invitations tion in 1981, it has to the American and always retained that International teams, distinctly and uniquely and the field swelled South African flavour to 20 for that year. that has made it so special There was the experiment to visiting players, caddies with the “winner takes and officials, and their Gary Player and Sol all” concept, in which families. Kerzner’s combined vision Welshman Ian WoosBranden Grace’s nam took $1 million for victory a year ago was produced something first place and the rest an important one for that has not undergone of the field got no prize the inspiration of the massive change over the money – a format quickly next generation of South dispensed with – and last 38 years and yet has African golfers for whom then the increase of the many an appearance – remained one of the best first place cheque to $2 let alone a victory – here tests of golf around for million, from which Ernie at the Nedbank Golf players of all abilities, Els benefitted twice. Challenge is and will All of this – and more always be a significant right up to the very best – speaks of an event that career goal. the game has to offer. has never been afraid to How significant, too, challenge convention and to try do things then that Grace cradled the familiar crystal differently for the collective benefit of playgolf ball trophy in the company of the legend ers and spectators. that is Player, there from the very beginning Indeed, when the opportunity arose to in 1981 as a competitor and still adding imbecome a part of the European Tour’s Rolex measurable value as tournament host and Series and the penultimate stop on the the designer of this timeless golf course. Tour’s Race to Dubai, there appeared to be Sometimes, as they say, the more things little hesitation in accepting the change to change the more they stay the same. “Afriboth scheduling and format that would be ca’s Major” is alive and well.

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T H E GO LF YEA R

THE ROLEX SERIES:

PERFECT TIMING FOR THE EUROPEAN TOUR The Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player has firmly entrenched its place in the European Tour’s Rolex Series’ Race to Dubai.

HEN the Rolex Series made its debut on the European Tour in 2017, the intention was that it would be the stage for some of the finest moments on the tour. It did that last year. And then, in 2018, it raised the bar. This year the elite series of eight of the biggest tournaments on the European Tour has witnessed some of the biggest moments of the golf year, and with more sure to come in the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player. It began in May when Francesco Molinari won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. In terms of providing the stage for the world’s best players to excel, the first Rolex Series event of the year certainly succeeded. The man who would go on to be crowned the Champion Golfer of the Year with his victory in The Open set a high benchmark for the Rolex Series when he beat Rory McIlroy to the title at Wentworth. A week later Molinari finished second in the Italian Open, only one shot behind the second Rolex Series winner of the year, Thorbjørn Olesen. Once again it led to greater moments as Olesen went on to make his first Ryder Cup European team, led by fellow Dane Thomas Bjørn, and share in the glory of a 17,5 to 10,5 victory for his team over the USA. As the host course of the Ryder Cup, Le Golf National in Paris took on even greater significance when it welcomed the third Rolex Series event for the HNA Open de France.

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A champagne moment for Francesco Molinari after his victory at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

THE G O L F YE AR

Alex Norén, a former winner of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, claimed his second Rolex Series title when he birdied two of his last three holes to hold off a strong field of Ryder Cup stars, including Justin Thorbjørn Olesen Thomas from the US, celebrates his Italian who finished tied eighth. Open triumph. And one of the men he beat into second place, Russell Knox, European Tour Chief Executive Keith went one better the following week and Pelley has rightly called the Rolex Series beat Ryan Fox in a playoff for the Dubai “one of the most significant advancements Duty Free Irish Open hosted by The Rory in the Tour’s 44-year history”. Foundation. The Nedbank Golf Challenge finds itself The intensity of form players in those at the heart of this development, hosting four Rolex Series events suggested it was the second richest tournament on the Rolex building up to something truly special. And Series at $7,5 million. The minimum purse that was indeed the case in the Aberdeen for a tournament on the series is $7 million, Standard Investments Scottish Open. and with the DP World Tour Championship South Africa’s Brandon Stone produced topping the list at $8 million. one of the most memorable final rounds Yet the series has sought not only to in Rolex Series history when he closed with redefine prize money on the European Tour, a 60 to win his third European Tour title but also to elevate the game of tournament at Gullane Golf Club. golf as a whole through increased global Stone became the second South television coverage, new technological enAfrican to win a Rolex Series event after hancements for the broadcast as well as a Branden Grace won the 2017 Nedbank strong digital presence, and a greater level Golf Challenge. of entertainment and fan engagement. That set up a tantalising run-in to There is no doubt that the Rolex Series The Open Championship, where Molinari has done exactly what it declares: elevating cemented the form of the Rolex Series the competition, elevating the sport, and champions with his victory, and with fellow elevating the prize through the eight best Rolex Series winners Olesen finishing in a tournaments on the European Tour and at share of 12th and Noren tied 17th. eight iconic locations worldwide. The Turkish Airlines Open, the Nedbank In 2017, Norén, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Golf Challenge and the season-ending Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Justin Rose and DP World Tour Championship complete Grace were among the winners of the a memorable 2018 Rolex Series of tournainaugural Rolex Series tournaments. That ments showcasing the European Tour’s already set the tone for the quality of elite professionals. champion this series demanded.

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“It’s amazing to see how far the Rolex And what we have done with the creation Series has come,” said Bjørn, Europe’s of the Rolex Series is provide a wonderful victorious Ryder Cup captain. option for the top players. And they have Reflecting on the success to date of embraced it. the Rolex Series, Pelley said, “In terms of “It’s important for the Rolex Series to the strength of field, there’s been a 12% have great events on great golf courses, increase in the strength of field across the and make it extremely easy for the players events, if you compare the 2017 events with to navigate around that particular city. And the 2016 events. Seven of the eight events then everything else is about creating an were the strongest events that particuentertainment platform; what we are doing lar week in the world of golf in to expose their personalities. So terms of strength of field. overall, I believe that they The social engagement have more choice than saw an increase of they have ever had besome 87% year over fore. But I definitely year – and as far as believe we are on media value goes, the right track with which is obvithe Rolex Series. ously critical to “I would say our commercial that the Rolex partners and our Series has defistakeholders, the nitely provided Rolex Series events us with the opporsaw some 35% intunity we didn’t have Russell Knox wins the Dubai crease in media value. before. I think the Rolex Duty Free Irish Open beatSo when you look at the Series has elevated the ing Ryan Fox in a playoff. metrics, the Rolex Series entire tour and the awarehas been a gargantuan success, ness of the tour. I would say. “I would tell you that the importance of the “In terms of growing our tour, providing Rolex Series has gained the attention of the value for our stakeholders and our sponUS players. At the end of the day, what we sors, and growing the game, we believe can do is put together the best tournament that creating innovative, creative, enterwith the best prize purse and the best expetaining content to showcase our players in rience, and have the golf course ready, have a completely different light is undeniably our fans ready to be engaged and provide the way forward. that option to our players.” “I think the Rolex Series was a monuAs for the future, Pelley envisages the mental step in making the European Tour growth of the Rolex Series to 10 tournaa viable alternative to the PGA Tour. The ments. “Ten would be the ultimate, but I’d reality is that there are 150 72-hole golf rather have eight good events, eight great tournaments around the world when you events, than 10 events just for the sake of look at all the different tours. So the having 10 events. Ten would be our goal, but choices that the players have are enormous. I’m comfortable with eight solid events.”

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THE G O L F YE AR

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P L AYER P RO FI LE

MATURING WITH GRACE Defending champion Branden Grace will be a firm favourite at Africa’s Major this year. Fans will be asking if he – or a South African compatriot – will keep the trophy on home soil.

TANDING on the driving range at the Old Course in St Andrews, Branden Grace is engrossed in a text on his phone. As he types, his focus makes it easy to mistake it for a message to a swing coach or his management company. But it’s far more important than that. “He’s got a bit of jet lag and my wife says he is struggling to sleep. Poor guy,” Grace says as he captures the new role in his life: that of father to young Roger. “It’s been excellent and I’m loving every minute of it,” adds Grace. Life has indeed taken a new turn for the defending champion of the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player. Grace’s own father, Peter, has played an important role in his life, which he summed up when the two of them played together one year in the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St Andrews. “It’s special to play with my dad,” Grace said at the time. “My parents have done so much for me to get me where I am today. To have the opportunity to bring him here

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where the game pretty much started is a privilege.” And there is no doubt he will bring the same focus and passion to his role as father as he has to an incredible career thus far. As you’d expect of any new father, the adjustment to having a baby in the house has resulted in a 2018 season that hasn’t hit the headlines on the golf course. On the PGA Tour, Grace has had top finishes of tied third in the AT&T Byron Nelson and tied eighth in the Valspar Championship. On the European Tour, his year started well in South Africa with a second place in the BMW South African Open hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni and also included a share of fifth in the BMW PGA Championship. And the Majors saw top-30 finishes in three of the four, with a missed cut in The Open. His world ranking has dropped from a career high of 10th to 45th at the time of writing. Yet there is no doubt that once Grace feels he has settled into this new phase in his life, it will reflect in his form on the fairways. When it comes to his own career, he

Grace winning the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge, “Africa’s Major”.

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P L AYE R PR OF I L E

This is the one has seen the value of taking off Scott Jamieson to win one step back to move two the Nedbank Golf Challenge event that, as a steps forward – or maybe, by a single stroke. Like any South African, you in this case, just standing young South African golfer, want to win. It’s still for a moment before it’s a title he had dreamt ‘Africa’s Major’ for a of winning. leaping forward again. After grinding his way “This is the one event reason and what a through the Challenge Tour, that, as a South African, special place it is! Grace earned a place on the you want to win. It’s ‘Africa’s Branden Grace European Tour in 2009. But Major’ for a reason and a year later he was back on what a special place it is! the Challenge Tour and seriously questionThere’s a lot of history and a lot of great ing where his career was headed. winners’ names on the trophy, and I’m very “I was out on the Challenge Tour playing glad to be able to put my name on the every week, and just trying to survive and trophy as well,” said Grace. get back on the European Tour. Sponsors Grace’s victory ended a decade-long aren’t easy at times like that, so you use drought of South African winners of the most of the money that you make. But that Nedbank Golf Challenge. And the joy of puts huge pressure on you.” having a home winner was shown as Gary And then came 2012. Grace won the Player himself leapt out of his chair alongJoburg Open in January and then the Volvo side the 18th green and hugged Grace after Golf Champions, beating his childhood hehis triumph. roes Ernie Els and Retief Goosen in a playIn identifying what he believed was the off at Fancourt’s Links. He won five times winning moment for Grace, Player singled in a memorable season that was his true out the 50-foot birdie putt on the par-three breakthrough into stardom in the game. 16th the younger South African made to “I could just relax and play golf,” he says of the foundation these victories laid for the rest of his career. Branden Grace In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Grace’s with his father Peter, during performances in the Majors the Alfred suggested he was close to Dunhill Links becoming South Africa’s next Championship. champion at this level as he twice finished in the top five in the US Open and the PGA Championship, and in 2017 he had a memorable sixth in The Open that included the lowest round in men’s Major history of 62. But it’s perhaps apt that Grace’s first “Major” victory was in “Africa’s Major”. At Sun City last year he held

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CMY

DGP-E-XXXXX R2D ADVERT (South Africa 9-9-18).pdf

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break free of a tie with Jamieson and take a one-stroke lead into the closing holes. Grace felt the same. “It was great to finish the way I did. It was great to be able to pull it off.” In winning last year’s Nedbank Golf Challenge, Grace became a beacon for the new generation of South Africa’s young professionals. Theirs had been a generation of watching Els, Goosen and Trevor Immelman fly their South African flag in this tournament. And while the expectation to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge had always been there, it’s probably only when one of your own actually does it that the belief that you can do so yourself is even stronger. “Last year Branden ended a lengthy drought between South African wins in ‘Africa’s Major’, and I’d love to follow him and add my name to that list,” said Brandon Stone of how Grace’s victory has inspired him. Having settled into life as a family man, Grace’s next focus will no doubt be on the Majors. It’s a goal he set himself when he started to taste success at this level of the game in 2015 and 2016, and it will most

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likely be a priority for him to get back there as soon as possible. “My long-term goals are to win Majors and consistently rank inside the top 10,” he said three years ago. “I know what Major Championship golf feels like now. I know what being in the hunt feels like. I definitely want to see my name on one of those trophies. When I tee it up now, I feel I can win a Major.” For the moment, Grace is thoroughly enjoying the distraction of fatherhood. “It’s good to get your mind on other things and not just golf. A lot of guys fall into the habit of just thinking about golf. You need that time away from the game to clear your head and think of other things. I’ve realised golf is what I’m good at, but there are a lot of things outside of golf as well. I think when you realise that, then you start enjoying the game more.” But fans shouldn’t be too concerned about this winless stretch. As Grace says of his own game when he has been on those amazing runs of success: “When I get it going, I get it going properly.”

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Branden Grace during the 2018 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

BRANDEN GRACE

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Bjørn is Back

Former Nedbank Golf Challenge winner Thomas Bjørn returns to the Gary Player Country Club with a renewed belief in himself.

P L AYER P R OFIL E

“

T FEELS GOOD to be back.” a winning team in the Ryder Cup. For a man Those words represent everything who has reached some lows in the game, of Thomas Bjørn’s incredible including losing the 2003 Open Championvictory in the 2013 Nedbank Golf ship when he led by three with four to play, Challenge and how he described his return winning the 2013 Nedbank Golf Challenge to the European Ryder Cup team in 2014. and then winning the Ryder Cup as captain And they are also just as apt this year as have been welcome moments of redemption. Denmark’s greatest golfer returns to Sun He may himself feel as though he has had City, now as a victorious European Ryder several lives in this game. Cup captain. As one of the young stars of Danish golf, When Bjørn won the 2013 Nedbank Golf Bjørn started his career on the Challenge Challenge at the age of 42 with a superb Tour and won three times in 1995 to secure final round of 65, it his place on the European sparked a significant Tour. He claimed his first When you play in confidence boost for European Tour victory in a golfer who had been the 1996 Loch Lomond tournaments like the questioning whether he World Invitational, and Nedbank Golf Challenge still had a competitive then in 1997 made his it gives people a feeling Ryder Cup debut. future in the game. “This is right up there In 1998 he recorded that they are taking a with the biggest victories his first top 10 in a Major step in their careers – of my career. The golf I when he finished tied they believe that they played was so good. I’m ninth in The Open can actually play with 42 and to start my 14th Championship. Bjørn season like this is unberemained a consistent the best and are not lievable. This takes me into just another guy on tour. winner on the European 2014 with the belief that I Tour through to 2006. But Thomas Bjørn can compete with the best then came a four-year in the world,” Bjørn said slump during which the after that win at the Gary Player Country Dane said he completely lost his desire Club. The following year he was back in the for the game. European Ryder Cup team and inside the “Between 2008 and 2009 I was really ropes rather than serving as vice-captain. suffering. My passion for the game was “It was nice to walk in that locker room gone. I was thinking maybe I should give and actually see a golf bag with your name up playing altogether. I just didn’t have the on it. From all the way down in my heart it desire to play. I wasn’t enjoying any of it.” feels good to be back. To come back into It was a slump and a feeling he managed the Ryder Cup team is one of the better to break with his victory in the 2010 Estoril achievements of my career,” he said of that Open de Portugal. After that Bjørn won moment in 2014. three times in 2011, and then once in 2013 And now he returns to Sun City among when he claimed the biggest cheque of his the select few in the game to have captained career at Sun City.

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Bjørn puts his intense nature down to a habit of Danish people of “taking ourselves so seriously until there comes a point where we just realise how ridiculous we are and that we do ridiculous things”. Yet ever since the age of six, when he started to play the game, Bjørn has done so with an incredible intensity and focus. Even as a child he used to spend hours chipping into a bird bath in his parent’s garden to perfect his short game. That bird bath became so legendary that it now has a permanent place at Bjørn’s home club of Silkeborg Golf Club. Much as he emerged as a new force in world golf, Bjørn has spoken highly of events such as the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player playing a vital role in developing the future stars of the global game. “We all know who the superstars of the game today are, but we need a change all the time. We need new guys from different countries, and then those guys come through… Any player who plays on Tour, as soon as they get confidence, they can go on to great things. When you play in tournaments like the Nedbank Golf Challenge it

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gives people a feeling that they are taking a step in their careers – they believe that they can actually play with the best and are not just another guy on tour.” Bjørn admits he doesn’t know what his next step in the game will be now that he has reached the pinnacle that Ryder Cup success brings. And he’s in no rush to decide either. “These next few months it’s just about coming back down to earth and trying to find myself and figure out what’s in store for me going forward. I can’t stand up and say, ‘OK, I’m going to go full at it now and that’s the only focus I’m going to have,’ because that has left me, especially in the last 12 months. “So I need a bit of time to figure out if I have that motivation. At 47, after pretty much two years away, it’s going to take a lot of hard work to get back to playing good golf.” But, for now, the next step to Bjørn’s career will be onto the first tee at the Gary Player Country Club, and to a resounding welcome as the victorious European Ryder Cup captain and a welcome member of the 2018 Nedbank Golf Challenge field.

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Team Europe celebrates with fans after their decisive victory in the Ryder Cup.

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COETZEE’S

QUEST FOR IMPROVEMENT George Coetzee confesses a hiatus from golf after an ankle injury did his game the world of good. He’s back now, and focussed on the longevity of his game.

T is perhaps only George Coetzee who could recognise the timing of breaking his ankle in late 2015 as almost perfect. Only in his mind could that surfing accident, which came after he’d won three European Tour events, have been something positive. But Coetzee was indeed not too fazed by the injury that sidelined him. “When I broke my ankle, I knew this was my gap,” he said. “If I was going to make some changes, this was the time.” Despite his success in claiming four Sunshine Tour titles and three European Tour titles since he turned professional in 2007, Coetzee was not convinced he had a swing that could give him longevity in the game. “There were always mistakes in my swing. I wouldn’t give the credit of my early success to my swing. I did win some tournaments with good ball striking, but most of the time it’s been my short game and mental game that got me to where I am. I’d never been totally satisfied with my swing.” It seems hard to believe that a golfer who won the first junior tournament he played in as a 10-year-old – the Gary Player Week at his home club of Pretoria Country Club

– and then started his professional career in similar fashion with three wins in his first two years on the Sunshine Tour, ever could have done so with a swing he described as “struggle, struggle, struggle”. Yet Coetzee has always been far more of a thinker about his own game than many give him credit for. When he made his breakthrough on the summer leg of the Sunshine Tour by winning the 2011 Telkom PGA Championship, he said that victory put to bed the self-doubt he’d been feeling for three winless years prior. “I’ve been worried about my ability to pull it off coming down the stretch,” he said then. Coetzee made his European Tour breakthrough with a win in the co-sanctioned 2014 Joburg Open. But he has always been focused on seeking to improve beyond just what the results are showing, and here his swing was not where he believed it needed to be if he wanted to have a long career in golf. “It’s such a long process. But now I know exactly what I want to do. It’s no longer a case of, ‘What do I need to do to hit the ball properly today?’ Now at least I have a plan.” It’s a process that seemed to reach completion with his victory in the Tshwane Open

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George Coetzee poses with fans after winning the Tshwane Open.

terrible at it, but it means a lot to me.” Something that also means a lot to Coetzee is his charity work. He doesn’t speak too much about it, preferring to just help out where he can – such as helping to save an orphanage in Atteridgeville that was going to lose its home. Coetzee and his family arranged a golf day at Pretoria Country Club and raised R450 000, which he donated to the orphanage to help them buy the house they were using. “The house they were in was going to be sold, so with my mother and girlfriend driving it, we helped them buy it. All of the funds raised from our golf day went to that orphanage. It was a good cause and a great success. A lot of good people chipped in to help,” Coetzee says. “Sometimes it’s good to know that I’m not just playing golf for myself and that I’m working towards helping other people. I don’t want to sound too deep or anything, but it’s kind of fed my soul a bit.” Following the win at the Tshwane Open in March and a fourth place in the Open de España thereafter, it’s been a bit of a quiet season for Coetzee. But you can bet it hasn’t stopped him thinking. Always thinking about his next move to improve.

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at Pretoria Country Club in March this year, his second in this European Tour co-sanctioned event. Winning it also helped him top the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit for that season, thereby securing him his place in this year’s Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player. “I’m really looking forward to playing the Nedbank Golf Challenge this year. Gary Player is genuinely a legend of our sport, and for him to host it, it really doesn’t get any better. It’s a fantastic tournament and I know all the players really enjoy coming out to South Africa because it is such a great week and an amazing place to visit. I’ve played the last couple of years and it’s obviously one that I want to be in the mix for.” Branden Grace’s victory last year has done a lot to convince the current generation of South African stars that now is their time to make their mark in “Africa’s Major”. But he wouldn’t be George Coetzee if he didn’t stop just short of saying he has it all figured out when it comes to his game and his constant quest to improve. “The problem is we usually put time limits to it, and there are no time limits to this. You’ve got to just keep doing it until it comes right.” Coetzee’s great strength throughout his career has been learning to listen to himself, and not to put too much faith in the many voices around him. Even when those voices are telling you to quit surfing because it’s bad for your golf career. And, in case you were wondering, he won’t quit. “Surfing brings a kind of peace. I’m

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PL AY ER P RO FI LE

‘EL NIÑO’ CALMER IN THE STORM

Sergio García’s tees up for his 10th Nedbank Golf Challenge. Will the two-time champion be the first European to enjoy three wins at the event?

T’S hard to believe that Sergio García was only 19 when he made his Nedbank Golf Challenge debut in 1999, the same year he turned professional and only five years after Seve Ballesteros made his final appearance in “Africa’s Major”. This year, García is making his 10th appearance at the tournament, and his first since finishing second to Thomas Bjørn in 2013. More significantly, he stands the chance to become the first European golfer to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge three times. To some South African golf fans, it may feel as though they have seen García grow up in front of them, moving from a teenager predicted to become the next super-

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star of the game and who in 1999 travelled with his mother to Sun City, to this year returning as a Major winner, happily married and a father. Such was García’s meteoric rise in world golf that two years after his Sun City debut he lifted the famed crystal trophy after beating Ernie Els in a playoff. In 2003 he won a second Nedbank Golf Challenge title,

Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm celebrate Europe’s Ryder Cup win this year.

again in a playoff, and again by beating a South African, this time Retief Goosen. Those two victories came during a period when García was undoubtedly the next best thing to hit world golf. He arrived in the professional arena following a stellar amateur career, in which he had become the youngest player to make a European Tour at the age of 16 and had claimed the

Amateur Championship. When he turned professional in 1999, it took him only six tournaments to win his first European Tour title in the Irish Open. By 2003 he’d already won four European Tour titles, three PGA Tour titles and an Asian Tour title, and most notably finished second to Tiger Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah. It was that “duel” at Medinah between

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the dominant Woods and a García was young García still the standthat prompted ard bearer in even Sports terms of wins Illustrated to deon that tour, clare afterwards namely seven. the beginning of a And then by 2010 rivalry “that should he was so thoroughly Winning the first of two Nedbank propel the game into a disillusioned with golf Golf Challenge titles in 2001. new era. Forget Nicklaus and that he confided in a few Palmer; Woods (23) and García close friends on tour he might (19) have the star quality of Newman consider quitting. Instead he ended up and Redford.” taking 10 weeks away from the game. Of course, there was that incredible And in 2012 came the most public six-iron from behind a tree on the parexample of the complex nature of García four 16th that will go down as one of the when, feeling the pressure of not yet having finest shots in Major history, along with the won a Major, he lashed out after a second youthful exuberance of his celebration that round of 75 at The Masters and declared, injected new life into the global game and “I’m not good enough. In any Major I’m suggested this was a boyhood genius the not good enough. I have no more options. likes of which golf had not seen before. At I waste my options.” A day later, when he the end of that memorable final round with was pressed to try and explain what he said Woods, García was almost breathless as he with a softer question from a golf writer described it as “the best day of my life”. asking what he thought he was missing in Yet amid the genius of 10 wins on the his game to win a Major, García responded, PGA Tour, 14 on the European Tour, and now “Everything.” nine Ryder Cup appearances for Europe, The truth is, though, that only one thing and with 2018 captain Bjørn describing him was ever missing from García’s game. It as the heartbeat of Europe’s Ryder Cup had nothing to do with his technical ability, efforts and “my Seve Ballesteros”, García which every pro and every coach who’s ever sometimes came across as a tortured soul. spent more than 18 holes around him will There were the public clashes with Woods, tell you is among the best in the history a player the 19-year-old García idolised and of golf. loved competing against, and a host of othAnd it took the very Major that precipier moments that seemed always to detract tated his comment about being not good from his talent. If French golfers are always enough, and the very course that he once described as eccentric, then Spanish golfers described as unfair, to reveal the one thing are always described as mercurial, and he felt he was lacking. García certainly fits this description. “My character,” García said when asked It didn’t matter that in 2008, among all after his 2017 Masters victory what he was of the players under 30 in the PGA Tour, most proud of from that performance.

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Gone also is the intense selfrecrimination. On the Sunday evening of the 2017 Masters, García acknowledged, “I know how much of a hard-headed man I can be sometimes. It’s not easy. But the most positive thing is that I feel like I have so much room for improvement. I’m excited. I feel like I still have a lot of great years in me. And I’m excited for those.” For longtime fans of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, the Sergio García they see teeing it up on his 10th appearance at the Gary Player Country Club will not be that fresh-faced 19-year-old they remember. It won’t be that young star who closed with a magnificent final round of 63 in 2001 and then chipped in on the par-three 16th to beat Ernie Els in the playoff that year. In much the same way that the Nedbank Golf Challenge has evolved and undergone a complete transformation of what it was in 1999, it may just be that the Sergio García South African fans see at this year’s Challenge turns out to be an even better version of anything they’ve seen before.

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“How positive I stayed when things weren’t going well… The problem before was where my head was at sometimes. I did think, ‘Am I ever going to win one?’ But I’ve been thinking a little bit different, a little bit more positive. And kind of accepting, too, that if it didn’t happen for whatever reason, my life is still going to go on. It’s not going to be a disaster.” García’s wife, Angela, was still his fiancée when he won The Masters, but she had certainly been a rock in terms of keeping him more calm and offering him a view of life outside of never having won a Major. “Calm” is definitely a word García would use to describe how he felt all week at the 2017 Masters. “I was very calm. Much calmer than I’ve felt in probably any Major Championship,” he said. And it’s a theme for his life after the green jacket too. He has patched things up with Padraig Harrington following a frosty relationship between the two for many years. And he gets along a whole lot better with Tiger Woods as well, even tweeting congratulations where relevant.

Sergio Garcia and his caddie Glen Murray celebrate his 2017 Masters victory.

“SPORT HAS THE POWER

TO CHANGE THE WORLD”

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SERGIO GARCIA

AU TO G R A P H

P L AYER P RO FI LE

THE

ESSENTIAL RORY MCILROY Will the three-time Race to Dubai winner enjoy a fourth win? Rory McIlroy wants to give himself every chance to achieve it.

N 2008, Rory McIlroy stepped onto the in the world, McIlroy needed only two 10th tee in the Singapore Open. He’s tournaments to secure his European Tour the first to admit he was nervous about card. One of them was the Alfred Dunhill playing with his partner. He had been Links Championship in Scotland, where he paired with Ernie Els. finished third after being granted an invita“Ernie was the first big name I had played tion to the tournament by host and South with as a pro. I was nervous alright,” African businessman Johann Rupert. says McIlroy. “But I remember “It was a life-changing week hitting a three wood past his for me. I was a young 18-yeardriver and I thought, ‘This is old just starting out in my alright’. I always remember professional career, and I that. We went out at the finished third that week. end of the tournament for That earned me enough dinner, had a few drinks money to get my Europeand had a great time.” an Tour card for the next He was such a fan that season. I’ve always been he named his first dog after very grateful to Mr Rupert Rory McIlroy and Ernie Els Els – Theo, as in Theodore for extending me an invitation Ernest Els. Apart from his close reto play that year and allowing me lationship with Els, McIlroy has always had to go on and achieve what I did.” a link to South Africa throughout his career. Early in his professional year McIlroy After turning professional in 2007 when played in the 2007 South African Open at he was ranked the number one amateur Pearl Valley near Franschhoek and missed

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Rory McIlroy signing autographs during the Ryder Cup in September.

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the cut after an opening 83. In December 2008 he travelled to Leopard Creek to play in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and missed the cut there as well. A week later he finished tied third McIlroy in the South African celebrates his win at the Open alongside Els Arnold Palmer when it was again Invitational on the PGA Tour played at Pearl Valley. in March. So when McIlroy says of his first meeting with Els in Singapore in 2008, “That was the beginning of the relationship and it’s kind of continued from there”, he could just as easily be speaking about his relationship with South Africa and how this country played a role in the magnificent career he has gone on to enjoy. McIlroy since returned to play in the BMW South African Open, hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni, at Glendower Golf Club in 2017, when he lost in a playoff to Graeme Storm in front of record crowds that surprised even him. But the one sense of unfinished business has been the Nedbank Golf Challenge, hosted by Gary Player. Before this year’s tournament, McIlroy was in the field for the 2009 Nedbank Golf Challenge but had to withdraw because of illness. He’s in the field this year largely because of the tournament’s new status as a Rolex Series event and its positioning the week before the season-ending DP World Tour Championship. At the time of writing McIlroy was ranked fourth on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and seeking a fourth

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Race to Dubai crown, following those in 2012, 2014 and 2015. “I’ve been fortunate to win the Race to Dubai on three occasions and this year I want to give myself every chance of winning it for the fourth time. So the Nedbank Golf Challenge is a huge week on my schedule and the penultimate event before we battle it out for the Race to Dubai title.” It’s been another solid season for McIlroy in which he won on the PGA Tour in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but he has yet to add to his four Majors won between 2011 and 2014, the last of which came in the 2014 PGA Championship. This year his best results in the Majors were fifth in the Masters and second in The Open. It’s the curse of such incredible success before he is even 30 that McIlroy will now forever be judged upon how many Majors he wins – and how many years he goes without winning one. It’s something he addressed in the press conference ahead of this year’s Open Championship at Carnoustie. “Obviously, I’ve had a decent career up until this point, and I’ve got a lot of time left to add to my Major tally or just tournaments won or whatever it is. It’s hard to win any week on Tour, let alone the four big ones

INTRODUCING THE ALL-NEW

THE NEXT GENERATION OF FORGED PROGRESSION F EATURIN G

ARRIVING SOON

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18/10/2018 10:49

that we get a year. Look, I was on a nice run there from 2011 to 2014. I haven’t won one since but I’m trying my best every time I tee it up, and it just hasn’t happened.” Of course, McIlroy would love it to happen in any of the four Majors. But a victory in the Masters would not only earn him a place in the exclusive club of Grand Slam champions, but it would also bury a few of the bad memories he has of Augusta National. A final round of 74 at this year’s Masters again cost him a green jacket. As part of his analysis of what went wrong there, McIlroy decided to take up reading books. One book in particular – Essentialism – has helped him put his career into perspective, he says. “I’ve become more balanced, I guess. I try to see the bigger picture and I try to have some perspective in my life. It isn’t all about trying to win golf tournaments and chase titles. There are other things that give me fulfilment as well. “I think sometimes I need to get back to that attitude where I play carefree and am just happy to be here. If you’re happy in Playing for a victorious European team at the 2018 Ryder Cup in France.

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what you’re doing and you’re just happy to be here, I feel like it’s where I feel the most comfortable. It’s where I feel like I can be 100% myself and express myself. Sometimes the pressure that’s put on the top guys to perform at such a high level every week starts to weigh on you a little bit.” More than his golf and his career, McIlroy’s honesty is possibly his greatest strength. And at Carnoustie he gave a very real assessment of what it takes to stay at the top and keep winning Majors when you’re on a run. “My performances in the Majors at that point [2011-2014] weren’t the norm. That was above my normal level. Then you go back down, and then you build yourself back up again. Even the 14 that Tiger [Woods] won, that was him at his 100% best. You look at Jordan [Spieth] and he had a nice little run – he’s won three in three years. I won four in four. Tiger won 14 in 11 years. That’s pretty ridiculous. I’m certainly not expecting to go on that sort of a tear. I found a way to get it done four times, and hopefully I find a way to get it done a few more times before I’m finished.” It sounds a lot like something he’s said before. Late on a Sunday afternoon in 2007 at the back of the Old Course green in St Andrews, McIlroy reflected on his third-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. “You know, hopefully, if I can keep going the way I am, there’s a lot of good things out on Tour for me. So, you know, hopefully I can just keep playing well.” It’s worked out pretty well so far.

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P L AYER P RO FI LE

STONE

ON A ROLL AGAIN... Scottish Open winner Brandon Stone recognises 2018 as a turnaround year for his game. Self-belief, family and revisiting his love of golf as a youngster have made all the difference.

week before his wedding in September, Brandon Stone did something that reflected the kind of long-term thinking of marriage. But in this case it was a longterm decision about his career. Stone decided to tee it up in the Vodacom Origins of Golf 54-hole tournament on the Sunshine Tour, and to bring his dad with him. This wasn’t about winning a golf tournament. It was about something far more human for Stone. “It was special to have my dad with me in that tournament. It was the last week before my wedding, and we rented a nice house on the estate for the two of us. We had a few braais and just a bit of good male bonding. I needed to increase my testosterone levels after too many conversations about flowers and bridesmaid’s dresses. So it was great to play golf with my dad and then sit down, have a braai and maybe watch some rugby. I actually play my best golf when I’m trying to enjoy the week,” said Stone. And if you’re looking for the secret to Stone’s success, then that’s it right there. He will always find a way to hit a golf ball really well. He’s done so throughout a

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glittering amateur career, then bursting on the professional scene and winning two European Tour events in 2016. But what a tough 2017 revealed to him is that keeping his own passion for the game burning is as critical to his success as swing planes. When he gets both in sync, it leads to the kind of success he enjoyed in winning the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open this year for his third European Tour title. “Prior to my win in Scotland it had probably been the worst year to 18 months that I’ve had in my career. It was a very tough time in which I struggled with the results I wasn’t getting on the golf course, and I got quite down on myself. I just didn’t feel good about myself,” said Stone. “So I made a very conscious decision three weeks prior to Scotland to start treating myself a bit better and stop putting myself under so much pressure to perform.” The high standards Stone had set for himself are the result of a professional career that has progressed quite quickly. He won his first professional title in the Sunshine Tour’s Lion of Africa Cape Town Open in 2015. Then came a magical 2016 in which he won two

Brandon Stone enjoyed a third European Tour title this year at the Scottish Open.

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P L AYE R PR OF I L E

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Brandon Stone celebrates with caddie Teagan Moore after an eagle during the final round of the Scottish Open in July.

reason for why I was doing this. I’d never regarded playing professional golf as work. I’d always seen it as fulfilling my passion and potential. I felt like I’d lost sight of that. It was a very personal decision to treat myself better as a human being and rediscover that love for the game I had as a boy. “And 18 months of really hard work culminated in one result that managed to change not only my year but also my outlook towards the rest of my career. There’ve been players before me that have really struggled and come back from it. That result has put me back on track.” And now, married at the age of 25, Stone says he’s more than ready for this next phase in his life. “I’m very blessed to have a special person by my side who has been with me since I was 16. I’m really looking forward to what’s ahead.” Stone is indeed focused on the kind of long-term thinking marriage brings, and there seems no doubt that it will benefit his career as much as it does his personal life.

IMAGES: GETTY IMAGES

European Tour titles, starting with the BMW South African Open and then ending the year with the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, the latter of which he won by a convincing six strokes. So, by the age of 23, Stone had won two European Tour titles, one Sunshine Tour Order of Merit title with record earnings of more than R7 million, and been selected for South Africa’s first Olympic golf team. “I have been a bit surprised by the success I have had so early on in my professional career. But in a way I also haven’t. I set very high standards for myself and for my potential,” Stone said at the time. And adds, “Sometimes you can lose perspective. It’s incredible having these things on your CV, but sometimes I also need to bring myself down to earth a little bit and see what I can do from hereon in.” Then in 2017 he suffered a run of missed cuts despite feeling like his game wasn’t that far off the mark. “The thing I struggled with the most was that every week I felt great and it felt like my week, and then I didn’t get the result. It’s tough when you feel like you’re playing well and not getting the result. After months and months of self-abuse, it really came down to the fact that I wasn’t treating myself well. I wasn’t happy with my game and as a result I wasn’t happy on the course or off it. “After the success of 2016 I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform in 2017 and probably took a bit away from the enjoyment factor of being on tour. I lost the

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Reason to celebrate: European team member Francesco Molinari and his captain Thomas BjĂ¸rn.

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2018 RYDER CUP

PICKING THE

RYDER CUP WINNERS With a crushing defeat of the US team to regain the Ryder Cup in France, Thomas Bjørn’s brave European team proves once again that team and matchplay golf often bear little correlation to individual performances and rankings.

N PLOTTING THE downfall of the Americans in this year’s Ryder Cup, Thomas Bjørn’s masterstroke as European team captain was perhaps not so much in selecting the right 12 players for his team on the golf course as it was in selecting the right few players for his team room. The Captain’s Picks proved as important as ever for Bjørn, and in selecting those four players of Ian Poulter, Sergio García, Henrik Stenson and Paul Casey, Bjørn showed that he was far more interested in what they meant to the team environment than simply their current form. Bjørn said as much when, on the Monday after their 17½-10½ beating of a hugely talented US team at Le Golf National in Paris, the Dane singled out the biggest reason for their success. “The picks,” he told the media. Such was the intuitiveness of Bjørn’s selections that even his opponent, US team captain Jim Furyk, admitted afterwards, “Thomas was a better captain this week.” The results on the fairways are one thing. But as Europe has shown time and time again in golf’s premier team competition, how a team comes together off the fairways

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201 8 RYD E R CU P

Thomas Bjørn (holding the trophy) with his victorious Ryder Cup team.

will determine how well they perform on them. And here, Poulter and García in particular played a massive role for the Europeans in terms of team spirit, while Stenson and Casey brought a calm experience to the whole environment. Bjørn, who featured in three winning Ryder Cup teams before this and knows a thing or two about team dynamics at this level, described his experience in France: “This was the best team room I’ve ever been in. It was calm. It was determined. It was focused. It was fun. Everything that this Ryder Cup was, is what I think The Ryder Cup should be about for a European Team.” Francesco Molinari will go down as the hero for the Europeans in what has been a remarkable summer of success for the understated Italian, with his clean sweep in the Ryder Cup. He and England’s Tommy Fleetwood also forged a new pairing for Ryder Cups to come as they dominated in Paris, spawning the era of “Moliwood”. García became the leading European

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points winner in Ryder Cup history. And the rest did exactly what Bjørn asked of them, namely to humble themselves when required and to then play like giants when called upon. “I think it’s very easy to sum it up. Some played five matches and some played two matches, but they all contributed. And when you sit in this situation at the end of it, you know, you say to yourself as a player, ‘I’ve played in my Ryder Cups and I don’t care how many matches I play in as long as we win’. I think that’s what it’s all about. We worked as a team and we knew we were up against very strong opponents, but we went out on the golf course and believed in ourselves and what we stood for as a team. We never, ever looked towards their team or took much notice of what they were about. We were about us as a team and what we do,” said Bjørn. Yet as resolute as he may have been, there is no doubt Bjørn was worried after a Friday-morning fourballs session that saw them 3-1 down to the Americans.

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“It was a bit of a roller-coaster ride, to be honest. We were obviously disappointed with the morning. But there was a good feeling about going out and trying to do something in the afternoon.” And it was on that Friday afternoon when Bjørn’s genius in his Captain’s Picks shone through. Stenson, Poulter and García, who had all sat out the morning session, stepped up for the foursomes and delivered three crushing victories with their teammates in the first three matches. And when Molinari and Fleetwood took down Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas 5&4 in the final match that afternoon, the momentum had shifted heavily in Europe’s favour. A 3-1 victory in the Saturdaymorning four-balls kept up Alex Noren, Thorbjorn Olesen, the momentum, and there Francesco Molinari and Tyrrell Hatton celebrate after Noren was still plenty of European holed a long putt on the 18th confidence even after the to win his match against USA’s Saturday afternoon fourstood up and did their Bryson de Chambeau. somes were shared. But bit,” said Bjørn. Bjørn kept his team’s focus on the singles, a Jon Rahm, Ian Poulter, Thorbjørn Olesen, traditional strength for the Americans. Sergio García, Francesco Molinari, Henrik “You keep reminding yourself that we had Stenson and Alex Norén all won their sina big lead at Valderrama and we won, but gles to secure a victory not even Bjørn ever only just. We had a big lead at Brookline, dared think would be so convincing against and lost. At Medinah we were a long way such a strong American team. behind and we turned it around and won. “When you take on the captaincy, you So history will show me and everybody on can never dream of a scoreline like this. the team that this is not over. That’s what You know it’s going to be close, but you it’s all about. You go full bore in the singles. can’t dream of a scoreline like this. That’s Get out there and do all the right things, obviously down to all 12 players, but I’m and this is not over until you’ve got the extremely proud of those four guys that got points on the board,” Bjørn told the media picked, because it’s by no means easy to on Saturday evening. be picked. There’s pressure on you if you’re When the first three singles matches going to be picked, and they stood up, all of didn’t go Europe’s way, as Rory McIlroy was them, and showed what they are worth,” beaten 1-up by Justin Thomas, Paul Casey said Bjørn. halved with Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose The picks were indeed the secret to lost 3&2 to Webb Simpson, there was cause Europe’s success – most notably the one for concern again. “And then everybody of captain.

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IMAGES: GETTY IMAGES

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years

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2018/09/19 08:16

SU N I NT ERNATION AL

COMMUNITY CARE The Nedbank Golf Challenge has always aimed to provide opportunity beyond the tournament week to raise money for local communities in the vicinity of Sun City. Last year, Rustenburg-raised Brandon Stone had the honour of handing over a cheque to a local school on behalf of the Nedbank South African Charity Golf Day held in the UK each year.

HE soil around Rustenburg appears barren, but scratch a little deeper and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s filled with some of the richest minerals on the planet. And, as South African professional Brandon Stone experienced just ahead of the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player, it has an equal richness in humanity. On the day before the tournament got underway last year, two Volvo courtesy cars provided for the event drove through the gates of the Retlakgona Primary School in

Meriting, a community about 40 minutes outside of Sun City. The school is a sanctuary for the local children, who grow up in extreme poverty. On that Wednesday before the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenged started, its 1 704 students all had their best school uniforms on, and their principal, educators and prefects awaited the arrival of Stone. The young South African grew up in Rustenburg. He was here to hand over a cheque of R100 000 that was raised at the

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SU N I N T E R N AT I O NA L

Nedbank South African Charity Golf Day in the UK as part of the Nedbank Golf Challenge’s drive to make an impact in the local community beyond the week of the tournament. The school used the money to buy a photocopier. They were extremely grateful, but not even Stone could have predicted the extent of their gratitude. When the 24-year-old walked into the school’s courtyard, the cheers that erupted were beyond anything a man who by then had won two European Tour events (he added this year’s Scottish Open to his impressive record), represented South Africa at the Olympics and played in two Majors that year had experienced. As he walked among the throng of students, one of them shouted out a poem she had written for him: “Mr Stone, the king of golf… The man who hits for us… The swing of the man is excellent… Brandon, keep winning… Keep winning,” she called. And just before he sat down behind the podium, another student hugged him,

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From left: Andy Stubbs, Director: International Policy, European Tour, Brandon Stone and Geoff Johnson, Chairman: Nedbank South African Charity Golf Day at the entrance of Retlakgona Primary School near Sun City.

bursting into tears as she held onto him for a few minutes at least. “That was very emotional,” said a visibly moved Stone afterwards. “I don’t think winning the Masters would have a cheer that meant that much to me.” Stone says it was exactly the kind of reality check he needed right then. “When you come to places like this you realise how fortunate you are. I had been struggling on the golf course the previous few weeks. I was on the phone with my mother a few days earlier and telling her I just feel down the whole time. Then you come here and you see the smiles on these children’s faces. They have nothing. You can’t tell me they have even got R50 in their bank accounts. But they’ve got these big smiles on their faces. “Pardon my French, but it shows you how full of s**t we are at times. We take

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2018/10/09 17:27

SU N I N T E R N AT I O NA L

To see what Nedbank’s South African charity golf day has done for them… R100 000 for this community is a fortune. Brandon Stone

The school principal, Thomas Rankeng, pledged all of their support behind Stone as he competed in last year’s Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City following the handover, and will surely do so again in 2018. “These people have no reason to support me,” said Stone. “Me growing up here is one thing, but they didn’t have to be so welcoming as they were today. I’m a normal kid from Rustenburg, so it was so overwhelming to experience this.” But they do have a reason to support Stone. As one of the school’s educators, Sebole Kagiso, said, “Brandon is from Rustenburg. He is a son of the soil.” And the soil here is rich beyond measure.

From left: Brandon Stone, Geoff Johnson, Chairman: Nedbank South African Charity Golf Day, educator Sebole Kagiso and school principal Thomas Rankeng.

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IMAGES: GRANT LEVERSHA

so much for granted. We complain about the temperature of our cappuccinos, for goodness sake. Those kids are just happy if they have a school uniform for the year. None of the problems you go through on a golf course compare with this. “I’m in the fortunate position of having a roof over my head, living comfortably and travelling the world. When you see kids like these, you realise that South Africa is an incredible country – but there is still so much more we can do to help. To see what Nedbank’s South African charity golf day has done for them… R100 000 for this community is a fortune. I hope it helps the school go from strength to strength.”

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2018/10/22 15:46

PA RTNERSHIPS

SAGDB golfers (from left): Andre van Zyl and Celiwe Biyela.

Daren Hanekom (SADGA)

GIVING BACK THROUGH GOLF The Sports Trust continues to provide opportunities through sport to children of all ages.

S FOUNDING PARTNERS of The Sports Trust, Nedbank and Sun International are key partners in the drive to use the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player as one of the premier fundraising events for the trust. The Sports Trust Challenge is the main vehicle for this. It takes place on the Monday following the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge and features golfers who have bid on the privilege to play in this event, taking on the Gary Player Country Club as it was set up for some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best professionals the day before. Since the tournament became part of the European Tour and Gary Player started hosting it, the Gary Player Foundation has

been the main beneficiary of The Sports Trust Challenge. Last year it supported the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School, which was started in 1983 and today takes care of 125 preschool learners between the ages of three and six from the disadvantaged community around Lanseria. The Sports Trust also supports the South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) and the South African Disabled Golf Association (SADGA) through the provision of a fourball for its top golfers in The Sports Trust Challenge. This year, the SAGDB will be represented by Celiwe Biyela from KwaMashu and AndrĂŠ van Dyk from Klerksdorp. Biyela is currently a member of the SAGDB National Squad and has also rep-

N EDBAN K GOLF CHALLEN GE 201 8 | 9 3

PAR T N E R S HI PS

Learning through sport: Pupils from Blair Atholl Primary School, with Gary Player (below).

resented her province at various levels of the game. Van Dyk has represented South Africa internationally and had a lowest round of 63. “The SAGDB sincerely appreciates the opportunity given to our players to be part of The Sports Trust Challenge. It broadens the golf and life experience of these players. It also presents a platform for us to showcase some of our talented players among the business leaders in the country, which in itself presents different opportunities to these players and to the SAGDB. We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with The Sports Trust and hope to keep building on this,” says Grant Hepburn, CEO of the SAGDB and GolfRSA. ‘The Sports Trust Challenge enables Nedbank to demonstrate its brand essence by using our financial expertise to do good for individuals, families, businesses and society. The Nedbank Golf Challenge plays an integral part to inspire and aid our future

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champions beyond the actual tournament,’ says Tobie Badenhorst, Nedbank’s Head of Sponsorships and Cause Marketing. Daren Hanekom, winner of the Deaf Golfer Division at the 2018 Canon South African Disabled Golf Open, will represent SADGA in The Sports Trust Challenge. Hanekom became part of SADGA’s First Swing Program while still in Grade 8. He currently works as a SADGA coach in the Western Cape, and will start his studies for a PGA of South Africa Coaching Diploma in 2019. Ken Payet, Tournament Director of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, says, “The Sports Trust Golf Challenge was started in 1999 and provided a unique opportunity for business leaders to come together and participate in this annual fundraising event. Funds raised have made golf and sport more accessible to the youth from disadvantaged backgrounds and continues to make an impact outside the ropes and in South African communities.”

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2018/10/02 11:15 AM

CMY

EVENT P REPAR ATION

THE CHALLENGE

BEHIND THE CHALLENGE Preparing the Gary Player Country Club golf course each year is a collaborative effort between man and nature.

HE challenge the world’s best golfers face in playing the Gary Player Country Club course can perhaps only be matched by the challenge of ensuring this iconic layout is in peak condition every year for the millions of fans worldwide who tune in to watch the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player. And while being an annual host of one of the largest tournaments on the European Tour makes preparation easier in many senses, it also brings with it the added pressure of returning fans, returning players, returning sponsors and media, and the expectation created by previous years. And for Ken Payet, Tournament Director of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, there is the further ramification of this being a resort golf course that is top of many golfers’

bucket lists. So the goal for the green-keeping staff is to ensure the golf course peaks not just for the week of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, but remains in that condition for the weeks following. “We are focused on making sure that we remain consistently good for the golfers who watch the tournament on TV and want to play here. During the week of the tournament the phone never stops ringing with golfers booking rounds,” says Payet. While the conditioning of this golf course remains a year-round priority in partnership with Bidvest Top Turf, the intense focus on preparing it for the Nedbank Golf Challenge begins around August. Then everything starts to take shape: scaffolding is prepared, stands are built, and the tournamentspecific work on the golf course begins.

N EDBAN K GOLF CHALLEN GE 201 8 | 9 7

At the heart of the conditioning and “Last year, we planted new love grass that preparation is Bidvest Top Turf’s appointed was specially grown for us during the winter course superintendent, Konrad Suhr, who in the waste bunker islands in front of the leads a permanent team of 31 course-main14th green. The local impala discovered it tenance staff, supplemented by a further and managed to consume it all in one night,” five staff during the week of the tournaPayet explains. ment. “The maintenance contract we have Course set-up rests in the hands of the with the Bidvest Top Turf team is invaluable,” European Tour, but since the tournament’s says Payet. “They draw from years of agrondebut in 1981 the philosophy has been to omy experience and are sensitive to our maintain a balance between presenting goal of managing the course at Sun City in a challenge for the players and not making the most environmentally sensitive manner it too tough. True to Gary Player’s original possible. Their team is a critical component vision for this golf course, length was never of ours, for the event and all year round.” meant to be its greatest defence. In fact, The golf course undergoes a spring treatplaying it off the back tees on every hole ment and the intensive does not actually bring fertilising of all areas, as out the best in this Bidvest Top Turf is well as other work such golf course. The cloveras sodding; reshaping shaped greens already sensitive to our goal of fairways, bunkers and allow for some pins that managing the course tees; and adding sand to can be tucked away to at Sun City in the most the bunkers. Much of the increase the challenge of watering at this stage is environmentally sensitive an approach shot. And done by hand. when you factor in the manner possible. While Sun City underswirling wind, you already went a major upgrade of have a good defence. The the golf course irrigation system kikuyu rough and how thick it is allowed in 2010, irrigation only takes you so far. to grow for tournament week add to Nothing beats a good rainy season. the challenge. “Traditionally we get our first summer The variability of the par-3s, which can rain towards the end of October,” Payet feature up to a three-club difference in tee says. “With the tournament moved to the options, makes these holes in particular vital beginning of November, we have placed an to the overall set-up strategy. And when it even greater emphasis on practising responcomes to the iconic par-5 ninth, it will always sible water use.” be set up to encourage its risk and reward The course is then officially closed in early factor, which means the back tee will rarely October, allowing the team to focus more be used in the tournament week. on the detail that makes this a prestige golf Preparing this golf course is a team effort course – from repairing pitch marks and in every sense, requiring the perfect partnerdivots to checking on the consistency of the ship between man and nature to create a bunker sand and even managing the animal memorable week. influence on a golf course that borders on And it’s a partnership that has outperthe Pilanesberg Game Reserve. formed expectations every year since 1981.

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IMAGE: GRANT LEVERSHA

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H O LE BY HOL E

ON COURSE 72 of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest golfers will be competing for top spot on one of South Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most challenging courses

DISTANCE 403m PAR 4 STROKE 7

Most will hit a club from the tee that takes the fairway bunkers out of play. Players will be left with a mid- to short-iron to a green that slopes sharply from back to front and with some potentially wicked pin placements. Distance control with the approach is vital to ensure a reasonably flat putt.

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H O L E BY HOL E

2 DISTANCE 520m PAR 5 STROKE 13 The first of four par-fives, all of which are genuine scoring opportunities. A fairway bunker right in driver territory and a sharp left-to-right camber on the fairway make the tee shot tough, but everyone will take a chance with the driver here to create the chance of reaching the green in two.

The tee shot on this par-four is vital. A driver can leave a nine-iron or wedge into the green but the risks are high, with bunkers on the right of the fairway and bush on the left. The prudent play is a three-wood or less, which leaves a medium iron to a raised, well-bunkered and viciously sloping green.

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DISTANCE 411m PAR 4 STROKE 3

years

HOL E BY HOL E

4 DISTANCE 195m PAR 3 STROKE 9 The number of tee positions and depth of the green allow for a distinctly different shot requirement on all four days. Few are tempted by the traditional front-right pin position over the water on Sunday, while anywhere above the hole on this green leaves a lightningfast putt.

DISTANCE 449m PAR 4 STROKE 11

Most will hit a three-wood off this tee to take a deep fairway bunker out of reach, which then leaves a medium-to-long iron into a green that was designed to accept short-iron shots. If the pin is in a corner of the green, then the prudent play is to aim for the middle of the green and be happy with a two-putt par.

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H O L E BY HOL E

6 DISTANCE 388m PAR 4 STROKE 15 A short but potentially dangerous par-four where the biggest threat lies in the tee shot, with a fairway bunker up the right and thick rough down the left. The green is well bunkered and also protected by thick rough immediately in front of the green.

The green has two distinct portions separated by a ridge, and to get the tee shot all the way to a back-left pin position requires a long iron even for the long hitters. Although a front-right placement looks more inviting from the tee, it brings more bunkering on the right into play.

1 08 | NED BANK G O L F C HA L L E N G E 2 01 8

DISTANCE 206m PAR 3 STROKE 17

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2018/10/08 5:25 PM

HOL E BY HOL E

DISTANCE 450m PAR 4 STROKE 1

A ditch running through the fairway rules the driver out off the tee, so almost everyone will be hitting a three-wood here. Once the fairway has been found, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still plenty to do, with an approach that is uphill all the way to a green on which the pin can be tucked away. Frequently ranked the most difficult hole.

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H O L E BY HOL E

DISTANCE 545m PAR 5 STROKE 5

1 1 2 | NED BANK G O L F C H A L L E N G E 2 01 8

The most popular spot for spectators, the ninth green and surrounds provide one of the great amphitheatres in South African sport. On at least two of the four days, the island green will be in range in two shots, setting up the possibility of two-putt birdies and the odd eagleâ&#x20AC;Ś but some potentially big numbers as well.

4036_Sun_City_NGC_Prog_Ad.pdf

2018/10/06

09:24

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From sun, surf, and adrenaline-pumping action to world-class conferencing coupled with luxury accommodation and unique dining experiences, Sun City has everything you can think of. Home to over 100 activities, 2 world-renowned golf courses, the Gammon Golf Academy, 30 restaurants and 6 accommodation options, the choice is all yours. For more information, visit suninternational.com and to book accommodation call +27 14 557 1000

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HOL E BY HOL E

10 DISTANCE 500m PAR 5 STROKE 16 A second consecutive par-five that the players like to use to kickstart their back-nine charge. The green is comfortably the smallest target on the course, demanding absolute precision from more than 200 metres out if it is to be found in two, but you can expect to see a large number of up-and-down birdies here.

DISTANCE 419m PAR 4 STROKE 10

A visually intimidating tee shot, as the hole takes a 90-degree dogleg from right to left and there is nothing but thick bush all the way up the left. The prudent play is to aim straight and be content with finding the fairway, even if it does mean a slightly longer approach.

N EDBAN K GOLF CHALLEN GE 201 8 | 115

H O L E BY HOL E

12 DISTANCE 200m PAR 3 STROKE 14 It’s uphill all the way to the green on this short hole with a long, relatively narrow putting surface and some wicked slopes, especially near the back. The most important thing is to leave a putt from under the hole, as anything above will be difficult to stop.

There’s a surreal feeling at this hole – being the furthest from the clubhouse, there are seldom many spectators. Four is always a good score as there is danger left and right off the tee, and a green full of slopes and subtleties. A back-right pin position is toughest, with a gaping bunker protecting the front.

1 1 6 | NED BANK G O L F C H A L L E N G E 2 01 8

DISTANCE 406m PAR 4 STROKE 2

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Bet with the official sports betting partner of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

SUNBET PTY LTD (REGISTRATION NUMBER 2008/014410/07) TRADING AS SUNBET IS LICENSED BY THE WESTERN CAPE GAMBLING AND RACING BOARD. NO PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18 ARE PERMITTED TO GAMBLE. WINNERS KNOW WHEN TO STOP. SOUTH AFRICAN RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING FOUNDATION TOLL FREE COUNSELLING LINE 0800 006 008 OR SMS HELP TO 076 675 0710.

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HOL E BY HOL E

14 DISTANCE 550m PAR 5 STROKE 8 The infamous â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;love grassâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; strategically scattered throughout the massive bunker that surrounds the green creates doubt in going for the green in two. Even for those laying up, the approach has to be absolutely precise with the green no more than 10 paces deep in places. Considered a real birdie opportunity.

DISTANCE 431m PAR 4 STROKE 6

The real challenge lies in the tee shot: you need a miracle not to make bogey if you find the left-hand fairway bunker that is in the range of a three-wood off the tee. The bunker front right of the green is one of the deepest on the course, so to be shooting for a right-pin position, hitting the fairway off the tee is imperative.

N EDBAN K GOLF CHALLEN GE 201 8 | 119

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HOL E BY HOL E

16 DISTANCE 193m PAR 3 STROKE 18 The pressure of the home stretch can cause the odd wayward tee shot on the otherwise least intimidating of the four par-threes. The hole has the advantage of being versatile due to its variety of tee positions and the ridge running across the middle of the green to create two distinct tiers.

From the back tee it is a carry of more than 200 metres just to reach the fairway. The real risk, however, is with the approach shot: even with a good drive from the back tee, the players are left with a medium-iron shot to a green positioned in the famous Sun City lake, with a deep bunker to the right protecting against a bail-out.

DISTANCE 437m PAR 4 STROKE 12

N EDBAN K GOLF CHALLEN GE 201 8 | 12 1

18 DISTANCE 474m PAR 4 STROKE 4 Most players will opt for a fairway wood or hybrid off the tee to ensure the best possible position in the fairway; the further left in the fairway, the better on this 90-degree dogleg left. A pin position anywhere on the left is relatively accessible, but the traditional Sunday back right brings a gaping bunker into play and there is absolutely no margin for error with the approach.

1 2 2 | NED BANK GO L F C HA L L E N G E 2 01 8

HOL E BY HOL E

Graphics: Courtesy Plus 4. (Contact Alan Hoffman at 082 254 0017 or email alan@plus4.co.za)

N EDBAN K GOLF CHALLEN GE 201 8 | 123

Course HOLE Ms PAR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

403 4 520 5 411 4 195 3 449 4 388 4 206 3 450 4 545 5 500 5 419 4 200 3 406 4 550 5 431 4 193 3 437 4 474 4

H5 H6

H12

TOTAL 7177 72 H8

H15 H11

8 9

10 H9

H1 H16

1 2 3

H17

H10

7 H18

8 4 TC Ticket Pro

2 5

7 6

12 13 14

18 17 15 16

Inclement weather policy Inclement weather policy for spectators for Spectators

If the siren sounds, If the sirenAlso avoid the following: sounds, put down your umbrella and seek shelter immediately. put down your Grandstands, telephone poles, hilltops/high Also avoid the following: umbrella and seak Grandstands, places, or/ high wire fences, wearing metal Telephone metal poles, Hilltops places, Metal or fences, Wearing metal spiked golf shoes, Bodies of water, shelter immediately.wire spiked golf shoes, Open fields, Tall or isolated trees, Golf Carts bodies of water, open fields, tall or isolated trees, golf carts.

Hospitality

1 Nedbank Pavilion on the 9th 2 PwC 3 Transnet 4 SuperSport Course 5 Circa Pavilion HOLE Ms PAR 6 Sun Vacation Club 1 403 4 Members 2 520 5 3 7 Sun 411 MVG 4 19th 4 8 Circa 195 3 Legends Club 5 449 4 6 9 Sun 388 MVG 4 Platinum 7 10 Bidvest 206 3

H13

H12

H14

Welcome WalkwaySkyboxes Hospitality

H15

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

H16

Enter through Welcome Walkway Information Parcel drop-off Sponsors ticket collection Ticket Pro Circa hospitality ticket sales The Pro Shop

Nedbank Pavilion on the 9th PwC Transnet SuperSport Circa Pavilion Sun Vacation Club Members Sun MVG 19th Circa Legends Club Sun MVG Platinum Bidvest

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

SuperSport Nedbank Sun International Marketing Volvo Honda Club Car Sun Vacation Club â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Activation

Sun Vacation Club Sales FedEx SunSales Chivas JCDecaux Vodacom Deloitte Volvo Circa Watering Hole Telkom Amarula Rolex Emirates GladAfrica Circa 18th Green Hospitality Nedbank on 18th Sun International VIP Lounge Stella Artois

On-course facilities . Practice green

Welcome Walkway Putting green on 1st Practice range on 10th Medical emergencies TC Sponsors Ticket Collection Ticket Pro VIP parking On-course leader boards On-course Facilities On-course big Practice Green screens SB Putting Green on 1st TV interview area Practice Range on 10th Medical Emergencies Sunbet VIP Parking The Pro Shop On-course Leader Boards shuttle Skybox On-course Big Screens pick-up points Enter Through Welcome Walkway Information

Parcel Drop Off

Ticket Pro

Public food village Public hospitality Circa Hospitality Ticket Sales village The Pro Shop Stella Artois SuperSport watering hole Nedbank Sun Grandstands International Marketing Wheelchair friendly Public/disabled WC facilities TV Interview Area Refreshment stations SunBet The Crossovers Pro Shop Skybox Shuttle OB Pick-up City Points Public Food Village Food station Public Hospitality Village Stella Artois Watering Hole

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

450 545 500 419 200 406 550 431 193 437 474

4 5 5 4 3 4 5 4 3 4 4

Skyboxes

1 Sun Vacation Club Sales 2 FedEx 3 Sun Sales TOTAL 7177 72 4 Chivas 5 JCDecaux 6 Vodacom 7 Deloitte ATMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s At Welcome Walkway, next to 8 Volvo Putting Green, SunBet, The 9 Circa Watering Hole Soho Hotel & Sun Central. 10 Telkom 11 Amarula 12 Rolex 13 Emirates Volvo 14 GladAfrica Honda 15 Circa 18th Green Club Car Hospitality Sun Vacation Club - Activation 16 Nedbank on 18th 17 Sun International VIP Lounge 18 Stella Artois

ATMs

Grandstands

Wheelchair Friendly

At Welcome Walkway, next to putting green, Crossovers Sunbet, the Soho hotel OB City & Sun Central. Food Station Public / Disabled WC Facilities Refreshment Stations

N EDBAN K GOLF CHALLEN GE 201 8 | 125

BEHIND

THE

SCENES

On and off the course fun at Sun City last year.

Louis Oosthuizen and Darren Fichardt celebrate Branden Grace becoming the first local champion at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 10 years.

N EDBAN K GOLF CHALLEN GE 201 8 | 129

Where it all begins: The first tee at Gary Player Country Club.

Great friends Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel share a laugh during the welcome ceremony.

1 3 0 | NED BANK G O L F C HA L L E N G E 2 01 8

“THE SOFTER FEEL.” - RICKIE FOWLER

“IT’S THE DISTANCE.” - BROOKE HENDERSON

“IT’S THE CONSISTENCY.” - JORDAN SPIETH

ONE, “WHEN YOU PLAY YOU KNOW.”

“IT’S EVERYTHING.” - IAN POULTER

“IT’S THE CONTROL.” - SO YEON RYU

“I’VE KNOWN SINCE DAY ONE.” - JUSTIN THOMAS

“YOU KNOW UNDER PRESSURE.” - ADAM SCOTT

“HOW IT FLIES THROUGH THE WIND.” - WEBB SIMPSON

“YOU KNOW WHEN IT SAYS THIS.” - HENRIK STENSON

Learn more at titleist.co.uk

NedbankChallenge_TitleistProV12018_Page.indd 1

04/10/2018 08:40

An aerial view during tournament week of one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most iconic resorts. South Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social season always starts at the Nedbank Golf Challenge. The annual beach braai at the Valley of Waves is hugely popular among players and guests.

Rain or shine, umbrellas are essential for Nedbank Golf Challenge visitors.

1 3 2 | NED BANK GO L F C HA L L E N G E 2 01 8

Now this is how you are supposed to watch live golf! Corporate hospitality alongside the 17th hole.

All ages and faces during Sun City festivities. Tournament host Gary Player with Thabo Mosololi, CEO Sun International, and anchor Neil Andrews (far right) in the SuperSport studio.

1 3 4 | NED BANK G O L F C H A L L E N G E 2 01 8

45737_NEDBANK Challenge_Pour_210x148.indd 1

2018/10/09 17:27

AUTOGRAPHS N EDBAN K GOLF CHALLEN GE 201 8 | 13 7

AUTOGRAPHS 1 3 8 | NED BANK G O L F C HA L L E N G E 2 01 8

916928ME Fedex Export & Import Magazine 118x93 FA.PDF 1 2018/10/19 12:58:30 PM

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Premier League. Absa Premiership. Vodacom Super Rugby. UEFA Champions League. Serie A. Europa League. UEFA Nations League. La Liga. WWEÂ®. All Proteas Cricket. Moto GP. Formula 1. Telkom Knockout. HSBC Sevens. Nedbank Cup.

WATCH ALL THIS AND MORE, LIVE AND IN HD, ONLY ON SUPERSPORT.

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2018/10/06

09:07

Stretching along the expansive and enchanting coast beside the Indian Ocean, Wild Coast Sun is guaranteed to be a golfing delight.

Hit the greens of the world-renowned Wild Coast Sun Country Club, designed by the legendary Robert Trent-Jones Jnr.

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The breathtaking 18 holes are played over hills, ravines, rivers, dams and waterfalls, boasting wide fairways and vast greens that challenge both professionals and amateurs alike. Many South African golfers will agree that it is undoubtedly one-of-a-kind!

TEE-OFF ON THE WILD SIDE

To find out more, visit suninternational.com

ROLL OF HONOUR 2016

2015

ALEX NOREN (SWE)

MARK LEISHMAN (AUS)

€1 048 522

$1.25 MILLION

2014

2013

DANNY WILLETT (ENG)

THOMAS BJ0RN (DEN)

69-67-75-63 274

2017 NEDBANK GOLF CHALLENGE WINNER

BRANDEN GRACE 68-75-68-66 — 277

€1 069 290

71-68-65-66 270

68-68-66-67 269

67-70-66-65 268

$1.25 MILLION

2012

2011

2010

2009

MARTIN KAYMER (GER)

LEE WESTWOOD (ENG)

ROBERT ALLENBY (AUS)

$1.25 MILLION

$1.2 MILLION

2008

2007

2006

2005

HENRIK STENSON (SWE)

TREVOR IMMELMAN (RSA)

JIM FURYK (USA)

$1.2 MILLION

2004

2003

2002

2001

RETIEF GOOSEN (RSA)

SERGIO GARCIA (SPA)

ERNIE ELS (RSA)

SERGIO GARCIA (SPA)

72-69-70-69 280

63-71-65-68 267

70-71-71-69 281

$1.2 MILLION

68-70-62-73 273

67-66-67-72 272

68-66-70-70 274*

$1.2 MILLION

68-64-71-68 271

68-66-68-74 276

70-65-69-63 267

$2 MILLION

67-70-68-71 277*

68-70-72-72 282*

68-71-66-63 268*

$2 MILLION

* Won in playoff N EDBAN K GOLF CHALLEN GE 201 8 | 143

ROLL OF HONOUR 2000

1999

1998

1997

ERNIE ELS (RSA)

NICK PRICE (ZIM)

66-67-67-68 268*

67-66-64-66 263

67-68-72-66 273*

71-68-68-68 275

$2 MILLION

$1 MILLION

1996

1995

1994

1993

COLIN MONTGOMERIE (SCO)

COREY PAVIN (USA)

NICK FALDO (ENG)

NICK PRICE (ZIM)

65-71-70-68 274*

69-72-69-66 276

66-64-73-69 272

67-66-66-65 264

$1 MILLION

1992

1991

1990

1989

DAVID FROST (RSA)

BERNHARD LANGER (GER)

DAVID FROST (RSA)

$1 MILLION

1988

1987

1986

1985

FULTON ALLEM (RSA)

IAN WOOSNAM (WAL)

MARK McNULTY (ZIM)

BERNHARD LANGER (GER)

$1 MILLION

$300 000

1984

1983

1982

1981

SEVE BALLESTEROS (SPA)

RAY FLOYD (USA)

JOHNNY MILLER (USA)

$300 000

70-69-68-69 276

72-71-66-69 278

69-71-65-74 279

68-65-67-72 272

67-71-68-68 274

69-67-70-68 274

71-71-71-71 284

74-70-70-68 282

72-69-68-71 280*

$300 000

67-66-75-68 276

69-70-68-71 278

72-68-66-71 277*

$500 000 * Won in playoff

1 4 4 | NED BANK G O L F C H A L L E N G E 2 01 8

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