Ken Borland

Ryan Fox’s omission from the International Presidents Cup team gave birth to plenty of controversy, and the New Zealander showed his class on the opening day of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City as he soared to the top of the leaderboard with an amazing eight-under-par 64.

At the time of South African – and 2007 Nedbank Golf Challenge winner – Trevor Immelman choosing his International team, Fox was ranked 47^th in the world. But half-a-dozen players ranked below him were chosen, Immelman going as far down the rankings as No.114 Taylor Pendrith.

Fox is now up to 26^th in the world rankings, the second-highest in the field behind No.25 and defending champion Tommy Fleetwood. The son of former All Blacks great Grant Fox was hurt by the fact he does not play on the U.S. PGA Tour and his major showings were poor in an otherwise stellar 2022.

But Thursday was a dream day on the Gary Player Country Club course for Fox, who leads veteran Luke Donald (65) by one thanks to five birdies and an eagle on the back nine.

“I don’t know what happened to be honest,” Fox said. “I couldn’t believe Louis Oosthuizen shot 64 on this course when Tommy won in 2019. I played okay on the front nine [-1] but from the 11^th hole I felt that I pretty much couldn’t miss any shot.

“I’ve become better with the Driver, I have more confidence with it now and I wasn’t as intimidated off the tee as I used to be here. I kept the ball in play better and I had a lot of good numbers in, which makes a massive difference.

“You’re not between clubs and you don’t feel like you’re guessing. It was also easier to pick the wind today, it didn’t swirl so much.

“On the back nine I was in one of those zones you don’t get very often, and in that state you just need to get out of your own way,” Fox said.

Fox made just one mistake with a bogey on the par-four third, and being that error-free was an unattainable wish for most of the 66-strong field, even though it was a mild day at Sun City.

Only three golfers were bogey-free. Incoming European Ryder Cup captain Donald was one of them with an outstanding 65, where he also burnt up the back nine with five birdies.

Italian youngster Guido Migliozzi also had four of his five birdies on the back-nine, as he signed for a bogey-free 67 and third place.

Min-Woo Lee, Fabrizio Zanotti and Richard Bland finished on four-under, while the other bogey-free round came from another Italian, Edoardo Molinari, who shot 69. He is in a tie for seventh with Richie Ramsay, Lucas Herbert, Rasmus Hojgaard and Adrian Otaegui.

The leading South Africans were Branden Grace and Justin Walters, a shot further back on two-under-par 70.

Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti is the only golfer to claim a hole-in-one in the 40 years of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, so it was perhaps only prim and proper that he should be at the top of the leaderboard at the end of his first round on Thursday as Africa’s Major returned to Sun City.

With the limited fields in existence for most of the famous event’s history, it took 35 years for the first ace to be recorded, with Zanotti the man to make history when he sunk his seven-iron on the 195m par-three fourth hole in the second round in 2016.

On that occasion, his eagle took him to the top of the leaderboard, but unfortunately he could not hold on to that position as a 78 in the third round saw him tumble, but a 72 on the final day did see him finish tied-16^th.

On Thursday he also did not stay at the top of the pile, as he was overtaken by Guido Migliozzi and then Luke Donald and Ryan Fox, but his excellent four-under-par 68 means he is very much in contention to be the first South American winner of the tournament.

The 39-year-old Zanotti smiled broadly when reminded of his 2016 feat and asked whether the Nedbank Golf Challenge has a special place in his heart.

“I really like it here and you play holes and see places where you hit really good shots before. But this time I nearly hit it in the water on the fourth!

“But my play from the tee was one of the good things today. I made a great start on the 10^th with a birdie and then it was just about keeping patient.

“The wind always gets harder here and sometimes you miss the direction. And a few of the pin positions are very difficult, a bit inaccessible, but it is pretty fair overall.

“The greens are still a little soft, but as they get harder then the pin positions will be tougher,” Zanotti said.

The two-time DP World Tour winner is ranked 48^th on the order of merit, so he was understandably happy with his start to this Rolex Series event, tied in fourth place, four off the lead, with the top-50 on the points list going through to next week’s World Tour Championship finale in Dubai.

“I’ve been really steady this year, made a lot of cuts and had a few good results. But I need a good week here and I want to put four good rounds together because I always seem to make a few mistakes and have one poor round.

“At the beginning of the season, you always plan to be there in Dubai at the end, it was one of my goals. I am three days away from doing it, but I just need to be very patient in my thinking,” Zanotti said.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout must have felt a bit like an ant standing next to an elephant back in the 2000s when he followed Ernie Els around the Gary Player Country Club; now Bezuidenhout has inherited The Big Easy’s mantle as South Africa’s main hope in the Nedbank Golf Challenge that starts at Sun City on Thursday.

The 2000s were an era of dominance for South African golfers in the event, with Els winning in 2000 and 2002, Retief Goosen in 2004 and Trevor Immelman claiming the famous trophy in 2007.

Bezuidenhout, and compatriots like George Coetzee and Zander Lombard, were impressionable youngsters back then and the prestige of Africa’s Major is ingrained in them. The 28-year-old Bezuidenhout is based on the U.S. PGA Tour and is South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer in the field, and he also won the SA Open on the Gary Player CC course in 2020.

“Since 2000, we watched every year until 2012,” Bezuidenhout recalled on Wednesday. “I would watch the practice rounds, the short games, out on the course and inside the ropes.

“It was always my dream to play in this event and I’m very glad it’s back on the schedule. A lot of really good names are on the trophy, like Ernie, Retief, Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Seve Ballesteros.

“As a South African, you really want to put your name on that trophy because it’s a special event for us, there’s a bit more for us South African guys to play for.

“Playing in the United States, I’ve learned a lot. It’s a different style of golf, the grass is different. The strength and depth of fields is so good that you’ve got to try and save every single shot,” Bezuidenhout, who made his NGC debut in 2019, the last time the event was held due to the Covid pandemic, said.

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood has owned the title since then, bringing the daunting Gary Player Country Club course to its knees with a final-round 65 that saw him into the playoff he won against Sweden’s Marcus Kinholt.

“This is a very special event for me. I’m not South African but I grew up watching it with my dad every year. I love the history behind it and the winners,” Fleetwood said.

“When you walk down the ninth hole on the left and you see all the winners from all the years on that walkway, I often thought it would be great to add my name on there.

“To get that win was very cool and we’re all excited to come back. I love the game in this country and how popular golf is over here. I’ve always enjoyed playing out here,” the top—ranked player in the field said.

Although LIV Golf has caused much heartache to the DP World Tour, participants in that breakaway league are teeing it up at Sun City, including South African Branden Grace, the 2017 champion.

ST FRANCIS BAY, Eastern Cape – Golf is a capricious mistress and George Coetzee has been in the game for long enough to know the swing he has one day might not be around the next, but the two-time Sunshine Tour order of merit champion had the experience, composure and skill to get the job done on Sunday as he clinched his second PGA Championship title at the St Francis Links.

Coetzee had just a one-stroke lead going into the final round, but a polished four-under-par 68 on Sunday, which included two eagles and almost a third, carried him to 15-under-par and a three-stroke victory in the prestigious R1.2 million tournament.

“I was pretty much under pressure all day, I didn’t really feel comfortable and my swing wasn’t 100%,” Coetzee said after claiming his 14^th Sunshine Tour title.

“But golf is one of those games, it’s not like cycling where the more you cycle the better you get. You can have one swing on one day and then the next day another swing.

“So I was putting pressure on myself, but I stuck to the game-plan, made good choices and hit good shots, and luckily it was enough in the end,” Coetzee said.

Some of those shots were better than good as an eagle on the par-five third hole brought some early pleasure, and he holed out with a sand-wedge for an eagle-two on the par-four 10^th hole. In between those highlights, he could also have eagled the 350-yard par-four fifth hole after driving the green, but his putt was narrowly wide.

“We were put on the clock on the fifth and I didn’t have time to read my putt properly,” Coetzee laughed.

Unusually, Coetzee made bogey on the following hole on both occasions he registered an eagle.

“I was really happy with my two eagles after I saw a lot of chances in the third round. But then it was a bit hard to calm down and get back into my rhythm, get my head back into a good space,” Coetzee admitted.

But back-to-back birdies on the 12^th and 13^th holes put him firmly in control of the tournament and he parred his way in from the 14^th for a comfortable victory in the end.

Rookie Casey Jarvis produced his best Sunshine Tour result as he finished second after a final-round 69, and the experienced duo of Hennie Otto and Jake Redman were tied in third place, one stroke behind on 11-under-par, both shooting two-under-par 70s on Sunday.

Coetzee will now head to Sun City and this week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge, which is like the AGM of South African professional golf, assured that he has the game in place to contend for that massive title.

“The confidence I take from beating the field here is a big boost and I’m generally pretty happy with the swing that has shown up for the last couple of weeks,” Coetzee said.