Ken Borland

For the first time in nearly 25 years, a matchplay tournament will feature on the Sunshine Tour programme when the South African Matchplay Championship is held at Zwartkop Country Club from Tuesday to Sunday.

Zwartkop is a short, 6442-metre course in Centurion that is ideally suited to matchplay golf and hosted a famous exhibition match in 1966 between Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.

As Dale Hayes, the popular Yogi-Bear like figure synonymous with South African golf and the owner/director of Zwartkop, points out, the course may not be long, but the Hennops River winding through it presents a good mental challenge, especially for matchplay. Several of the smallish greens are fringed by the river, meaning shots that are either too short or too long are in danger of a watery grave.

“Top-class golfers hit the ball so far these days that Zwartkop is not long enough to be a great test of strokeplay golf. But when Handa [the sponsors] contacted me about hosting an event and they asked what format we should have, I straight away said matchplay.

“Because of the river, there’s water on 10 of the holes, with seven of those coming into play for the pros. So there’s a lot of risk or reward involved and a golfer needs to decide if he’s going to be aggressive or not. If he’s standing over a shot and is first to go, he’s got to decide whether to have a go or play it safe.

“You need a lot of thinking around this golf course, you can’t just step up and smash driver. Every shot requires a lot of thought and if you get too clever, then the water will be waiting for you,” Hayes said.

While this weekend’s HSBC Champions in China will obviously attract the biggest names in South African golf, Hayes says he is still “very pleased” with the quality of the field.

Jbe Kruger, the diminutive golfer with the heart of a Staffie who is third on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, will headline the 128-man field and can expect a stiff challenge from the likes of reigning SA Open champion Hennie Otto, former champion James Kingston, veteran Des Terblanche and three-time European Tour winner Darren Fichardt.

Hayes is expecting a highly-entertaining show from these top golfers.

“Matchplay is the most popular form of golf, it’s what you play against your buddies. Spectators can come and see some special golf, the golfers will be aggressive and will go for it and there should be lots of birdies and eagles, which you don’t see in strokeplay,” Hayes said.

The prize pool is R2 million and the winner will walk away with R300 000 as well as valuable Order of Merit points, while even first-round losers take away R4 700 from the event.

The support from the sponsor’s founder, Dr Haruhisa Handa’s ISPS – the International Sports Promotion Society – means there will also be a disabled component to the tournament.

Sixteen disabled golfers, including some from the On Course Foundation which gives seriously injured members of the British Armed Forces the opportunity to play golf, will play in their own concurrent tournament.

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Ernie Els will not be coming to Sun City this year to play in the Nedbank Golf Challenge as the four-time major winner continues to pick and choose when and where he plays in South Africa.

While Els – a former world number one and a truly global superstar who was voted on to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2010 – has every right to do so, he has for several years displayed a reluctance to treat his passionate South African fans with the same commitment as he brings to the European and PGA (American) tours.

Since 2007, when Els arrived at the 18^th hole of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek with a two-shot lead over journeyman Englishman John Bickerton and promptly deposited two balls into the water surrounding the island green to register a triple-bogey 8, the Big Easy has only appeared in five tournaments in five years on South African soil.

And even in those five tournaments, he has seemed a reluctant participant, his relations with the media – who in the most part are fawning much like the public – has been mediocre, with Els behaving more like a wounded old buffalo bull on the banks of the Crocodile River fringing Leopard Creek than one of South Africa’s greatest sporting heroes.

Nedbank Golf Challenge tournament director Alastair Roper on Thursday put a brave face on the absence of probably the tournament’s greatest drawcard, especially since his astonishing victory in this year’s Open Championship has revitalised a career that seemed to be rapidly tailing off.

“Obviously as one of this year’s major winners, Ernie received an automatic invite and he was sent that immediately after the Open. In August I met with his management company and they indicated that he was finding it difficult to come back to South Africa this early in the year. He wants to spend time with the family and his kids, who will still be in school. They only break up around December 22 and he doesn’t want to take them out early,” Roper said.

Most of the South African media, used to the way Els treats them with disdain while fully living up to his nickname with the scribes on the European and PGA tours, are not buying the excuse.

Last year, Els was a noticeable absentee from Sun City for only the third time in 20 years because his form had not been good enough to earn an invitation. The Nedbank Golf Challenge sends invites to the defending champion, the four major winners – unfortunately none of them have accepted this year – and then according to the world rankings, the cut-off date this year being September 23. The winner of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit is also guaranteed entry.

Els, who had dropped to 45^th in the world in September 2011 when the field was decided upon, was reported as being less than pleased to have not been invited to Sun City, where he has won on three occasions and is a firm crowd favourite.

While he may be giving a figurative “up yours” and getting some payback against Roper and his team this year, he is also, at a stage in his career when twilight is surely approaching, alienating his most loyal supporters which can never be advisable, especially for somebody who is now trying to drum up charitable support for research into autism, which his son, Ben, suffers from.

While Els’s absence will undoubtedly affect the gate at Sun City, it won’t make much of a difference. As Kevin Pietersen and Quade Cooper have recently learnt, and many more before them, no one is bigger than their sport and 95% of the people smashing kegs of beer in their faces when Els is there will be back again.

“There’s no doubt that Ernie’s absence last year was part of the reason we had two or three thousand fewer people,” Roper said. “But the weather also did not help the attendance. In 2011 we had 62 000 spectators, while in the previous year we had 65 000,” Roper said.

So Sun City are losing 5% of their crowd by not having Els there. But the Big Easy is surely losing way more than that in terms of his own personal brand on his home turf.

While Els, currently number 22 on the world rankings, will be missed, there is plenty of quality in the field.

Ironically, it is the player at the bottom in terms of world rankings who might become the new crowd favourite.

Nicolas Colsaerts, who made a sensational Ryder Cup debut with a 62 in the opening day fourballs, was the last player to be invited at 35^th in the rankings, but Roper seemed ready to drop a couple of rand on the Belgian.

“Colsaerts is so long off the tees. If his driver is working and he’s in the middle of the fairways most of the time, then he’ll definitely be a challenger,” Roper said.

Members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team who won their biennial tournament against the United States against all odds three weeks ago make up nearly 60% of the field with Lee Westwood the obvious favourite once again.

Westwood is looking to go one better than the back-to-back titles of Seve Ballesteros (1983-84), David Frost (1989-90), Nick Price (1997-98), Els (1999-2000) and Jim Furyk (2005-06) in becoming the first golfer to win three successive titles, but the recent form of fellow Englishman Justin Rose, who was born and lived in Johannesburg until he was five, suggests he faces the stiffest of challenges.

The recent form of Louis Oosthuizen, the leading South African in the field, will raise the hopes of local fans, while the presence of 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner Garth Mulroy should also help make up for the absence of Els.

NGC field (with current world ranking) – Lee Westwood (England, 4); Justin Rose (England, 5); Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa, 12); Peter Hanson (Sweden, 25); Paul Lawrie (Scotland, 29); Francesco Molinari (Italy, 30); Charl Schwartzel (South Africa, 31); Carl Pettersson (Sweden, 32); Martin Kaymer (Germany, 33); Bill Haas (USA, 34); Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium, 35); Garth Mulroy (South Africa, 172).

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Lee Westwood will be returning for an attempt at an unprecedented hat-trick of titles, but Ernie Els has decided not to accept his invitation to this year’s Nedbank Golf Challenge, Sun International announced on Thursday.

While Westwood leapt at the opportunity to try and become the first golfer to win at Sun City for three successive years, returning to the Gary Player Country Club for the ninth time, local favourite Els will not be participating in the 32^nd edition of the tournament, from November 29 to December 2.

Tournament Director Alastair Roper said while it was unfortunate the resurgent Open champion would not be playing, Els had his reasons.

“Obviously as one of this year’s major winners, Ernie received an automatic invite and he was sent that immediately after the Open. In August I met with his management company and they indicated that he was finding it difficult to come back to South Africa this early in the year. He wants to spend time with the family and his kids, who will still be in school. They only break up around December 22 and he doesn’t want to take them out early,” Roper explained at the field announcement in Sandton on Thursday.

Westwood, meanwhile, the highest-ranked player in the field at number four, has apparently committed himself to becoming a regular contestant in the NGC.

“His manager, Chubby Chandler, told me that Lee has made up his mind to play at Sun City in perpetuity. He loves the course, he considers it his backyard and he doesn’t care who comes along, he believes he can beat them there. He’s been pretty unstoppable at Sun City before,” Roper said.

Invitations are sent to the defending champion, the four major winners – unfortunately none of them have accepted this year – and then according to the world rankings, the cut-off date this year being September 23. The winner of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit (Garth Mulroy) is also guaranteed entry.

This year the invitations went as far down as world number 35 Nicolas Colsaerts, with three South Africans (Mulroy, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel) and seven members of Europe’s triumphant Ryder Cup team cracking the nod.

Europe snatched victory from the United States on a dramatic final day at Medinah, with Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer playing key roles, while Colsaerts made a sensational Ryder Cup debut by shooting 62 as he and Westwood beat Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in the opening day’s fourballs. Roper believes the NGC can only benefit from the hype.

“It was a marvellous Ryder Cup and Europe’s magnificent win bodes well for us because it means all those golfers are on top of their game. They will be confident and the memories from Medinah will still be fresh in the public’s mind,” Roper said.

While Westwood, who won by a mammoth eight strokes in 2010 and by two shots over Robert Karlsson last year, is the clear favourite, world number five Rose has been in excellent recent form and loves playing in the country of his birth, having narrowly missed out on the NGC title in 2007, when he was just edged into second by Trevor Immelman.

“I think there will be real pressure on Westwood. Justin Rose is really hot at the moment, being in South Africa suits him, he has one foot here and he will feel totally at home. But Louis Oosthuizen is also in great form, he’s had a stellar second half of the year and he will certainly compete with them. Plus Colsaerts is so long off the tees that if his driver is working and he’s in the middle of the fairways, he’ll be a challenger too,” Roper said.

But South Africa’s most in-form golfer, Branden Grace, will not be in the field because he was too far down the world rankings at the September 23 cut-off.

“He wasn’t even in the top 50 when we made the cut-off, but he won just after that which pushed him up the rankings. But even at his current number 37 in the world, he wouldn’t have got in,” Roper explained.

NGC field (with current world ranking) – Lee Westwood (England, 4); Justin Rose (England, 5); Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa, 12); Peter Hanson (Sweden, 25); Paul Lawrie (Scotland, 29); Francesco Molinari (Italy, 30); Charl Schwartzel (South Africa, 31); Carl Pettersson (Sweden, 32); Martin Kaymer (Germany, 33); Bill Haas (USA, 34); Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium, 35); Garth Mulroy (South Africa, 172).