Ken Borland

Almost half of the field for the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City has been confirmed, with Korean-born American Kevin Na, the world number 26, the latest player to confirm his participation in the event from December 4-7.

The 14 confirmed players includes half of the triumphant European Ryder Cup team, with Thomas Bjorn, the defending champion, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Victor Dubuisson, Jamie Donaldson and Stephen Gallacher all having qualified for the second edition of the new-look Nedbank Golf Challenge with a 30-man field.

The Race to Dubai, the European Tour’s order of merit, ends this weekend in Dubai with the World Tour Championship, and the majority of the Sun City field will then be confirmed. The only remaining places will depend on who wins the Cape Town Open on November 30 and who the top five South Africans in the world rankings are.

Tournament director Alastair Roper said the likes of Marcel Siem, Jonas Blixt, Louis Oosthuizen, Joost Luiten, Alexander Levy, Mikko Ilonen, Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood were all likely to qualify and had entered, while he would be targeting Ian Poulter, Danny Willett, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Brooks Koepke, the winner of the lucrative Turkish Open at the weekend, and Ernie Els in the coming days to secure their participation.

Top European stars such as Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose will be heading to the United States that week to play in the Hero Honda World Challenge, Tiger Woods’s tournament that has moved from California to Orlando, Florida.

“I’m not holding my breath for Adam Scott, and Poulter, Willett and Garcia have yet to express an interest. Koepke is now sixth on the Race to Dubai and has not yet entered, but I’m going to try and get him to do that soon.

“Ernie is the fourth-highest South African in the rankings so he should qualify, but he has an injury niggle and I think he’s leaving it as late as possible to enter just to see how his fitness is. Dawie van der Walt is in as the winner of the Sunshine Tour order of merit and Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen are the next two South Africans on the rankings.

“Then there’s Ernie and Tim Clark. George Coetzee was in the reckoning on the Race to Dubai but has now slipped out, but if he has a good week now then he could edge out Tim Clark. But a lot of the South Africans – like George, Tim, Branden Grace, Richard Sterne and maybe Retief Goosen will hopefully be playing in the Cape Town Open to try and win that and qualify for Sun City,” Roper said yesterday.

If some of those golfers are culled from the list then the likes of Pablo Larrazabal and Romain Wattel will come into the picture, while South African Danie van Tonder has finned his way into contention through his performances this season. If Englishman Ross Fisher maintains his 18^th position in the Race to Dubai then he will qualify through that; otherwise he’s in as the leader of the Sunshine Tour order of merit. If Fisher qualifies through his European Tour ranking, then Van Tonder, second on the local money-list, will be making his Nedbank Golf Challenge debut.

The presence of at least three golfers of Asian heritage – Na, Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat – will also enable Sun International to go on a valuable marketing exercise of their resort to countries like South Korea and Thailand.

Roper was also delighted to report steady rain in the Pilanesberg over the last couple of weeks, which apart from maybe encouraging the moles to burrow just underneath the fairways, should guarantee consistent rough and encourage the golfers to stay on the short grass.

Confirmed players: Thomas Bjørn (Denmark), Martin Kaymer (Germany), Lee Westwood (England), Charl Schwartzel (South Africa), Victor Dubuisson (France), Jamie Donaldson (Wales), Stephen Gallacher (Scotland), Dawie van der Walt (South Africa), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thailand), Luke Donald (England), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain), Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand), Ross Fisher (England), Kevin Na (United States).

The Nedbank Golf Challenge (NGC) is set to once again go ahead at the end of the year at Sun City, thanks to the demise of the Tournament of Hope that sounds a clear warning to the international golf tours that they are losing control of their players.

The Sunshine Tour, in conjunction with the International Federation of PGA Tours, had initially announced that the Tournament of Hope, an $8.5 million event modelled on the World Golf Championship tournaments, would take place in late November and it is an open secret that they had hoped Sun City would host it.

But with the announcement that the Tournament of Hope has been put on hold, the NGC is no longer under pressure, although it is believed negotiations are under way to alter the format of the tournament from its traditional 12-man field.

It is likely that the NGC will have an expanded field – possibly as many as 50 golfers – while it will also enjoy closer ties with the Sunshine and European Tours, elevating it from a mere exhibition tournament.

The NGC has been in existence for 32 years and it is in many ways a relic of the past, having been designed to bring top overseas golfers to South Africa (or Bophuthatswana as it was then known) during the days of sporting isolation. Having once been the richest tournament in the world, it is now struggling to attract the top players who have so many more options all over the world to choose from.

It is this “player-power” that has effectively sunk (hopefully temporarily) the Tournament of Hope.

Despite offering more prizemoney than any of the WGC events, there was no guarantee that the event would attract the top players.

Even the WGC events face the same challenge these days: Last November, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods withdrew from the HSBC Champions in Shenzhen, preferring to play an exhibition match elsewhere in China instead.

And that’s what the Sunshine Tour and Sail, the Tournament of Hope promoters, feared: No matter how much money they were offering, there was no guarantee leading players would make the trip to South Africa, especially at the end of the year.

Although it wasn’t in the contract, they were hoping that what had been promised to them by the U.S. PGA Tour  – that the event would count for their money-list and for FedEx Cup points, as well as earning the winner a three-year exemption in America – would be delivered.

Unfortunately these incentives have not yet been forthcoming, although Sunshine Tour commissioner Selwyn Nathan is optimistic that they might come through in Masters week in April.

As one Sunshine Tour insider said: “We’re not in the business of over-promising and there wasn’t enough motivation for the top players to guarantee their presence in South Africa”.

Without the top names, the sponsors’ investment would not bring sufficient return and it is to the credit of the Sunshine Tour that they have been honest with their stakeholders about this.

Meanwhile, Alastair Roper, the NGC tournament director, has been praising the event as “the best tournament ever”, using the testimonials of 2012 champion Martin Kaymer, veteran Bernhard Langer and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts as evidence.

The changing landscape of professional golf may force the NGC to alter the shape and feel of the event, but the end-of-year party at Sun City looks set to still be the encore of the South African golfing year.

Composure under pressure was the quality appertaining most to Martin Kaymer as he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge by two strokes at Sun City on Sunday.

The German maintained his cool on the back nine, despite home favourite Charl Schwartzel drawing level with him as he reached the turn, securing the crystal globe trophy with a three-under-par 69 in the final round for an overall tally of eight-under-par 280.

Kaymer was the archetypal efficient German, mirroring the original golfing model, Bernhard Langer, who won the Champions Challenge for seniors on the previous day, also by two strokes.

Although the blue skies and searing heat usually associated with the Nedbank Golf Challenge gave way to steady rain on Sunday, Kaymer revelled in the conditions and said the final round had been the easiest.

“Today was the easiest of the four rounds, there wasn’t much wind, it was fairly calm and easier to hit the fairways. It was easy to be aggressive, you could hit mid-irons and the greens were holding, they stopped very quickly,” Kaymer said.

The Ryder Cup hero was relaxed and seemed to be enjoying himself as he set out for the final round with a one-stroke lead over Louis Oosthuizen.

A magnificent eagle on the par-five second hole was the perfect boost, but he immediately handed back the advantage with a double-bogey on the third, his pulled drive being unplayable.

Five straight pars followed before Kaymer successfully held off the charging Schwartzel with three successive birdies from the ninth hole.

But the 27-year-old, playing in the NGC for just the second time, made some bad mistakes on the back nine, but recovered from them in brilliant fashion.

He found a greenside bunker on the par-three 12^th hole and then chipped 12 feet past the hole, but made the putt for par.

Then, on the par-five 14th, he sent his drive way left to where the sun don’t shine. Incredibly, his ball landed in a clearing in the thick Pilanesberg bush and Kaymer was able to rise to the challenge of hitting his ball back on to the fairway and then producing a superb third shot that landed 10 feet from the flag to set up the most unlikely of birdies.

“My tee shot on 14 was the biggest piece of luck, I was very lucky to find the ball and then it was in a perfect position just to chip out on to the fairway, which led to birdie,” Kaymer said.

The 2010 PGA champion did drop a stroke on the par-four 15^th after hitting his approach shot over the green and then chipping 10 feet short of the flag, but he escaped from big trouble again on the par-three 16^th, sinking a clutch 18-foot putt for par.

Kaymer had weathered the storm and two pars coming in completed a very impressive triumph.

Schwartzel played very well too on the final day, matching Kaymer’s 69 – in fact, he could easily have gone a couple shots lower were it not for a frustrating day with the putter, a few putts hanging agonisingly on the edge of the hole.

The auburn-haired Oosthuizen, who began the day hot on Kaymer’s heels, saw his challenge fade away as he mixed three birdies with five bogeys for a 74, finishing fourth on two-under-par overall.

It was Schwartzel, however, who had the most regrets, looking as glum as the weather, with not even a sunset over the Pilanesberg hills to cheer him up.

He birdied the second hole and then went on a hot streak around the turn with further birdies on the ninth and 10^th holes. His chances looked bright as he birdied the 14^th hole and Kaymer bogeyed 15 to narrow the gap to just one stroke.

But his hopes disappeared on the penultimate hole when he left his approach shot short on the par-four 17^th and then duffed his chip for a costly bogey.

“It was really tough out there, the course played long. I gave it a good shot but was just short at the end. I’ve always liked this course but it just doesn’t seem to suit my eye, it’s always a real hard grind for me,” Schwartzel told CCTV after his round.

Langer, who Kaymer credited with being a great help during the Ryder Cup, was waiting at the final hole for his countryman as Germany celebrated a double triumph.

Langer also won the NGC twice, in 1985 and 1991, and was also the first German golfer to reach number one in the world rankings.

Kaymer became the second early last year and is eagerly trying to recapture that form.

His win at Sun City, beating some of the best golfers in Europe, is a step in the right direction and he will begin his 2013 campaign with confidence, keen to pick up where he left off at the Gary Player Country Club.

“I’m very happy that I’ve finally won this year. I’ve been practising hard and playing well, but it just didn’t happen for me before today. I said to my caddie, Craig Connelly, that we have to win once a year at least.

“Bernhard has been a very big help to me and everyone talking about a German double put a bit more pressure on me. But I’m very proud to now have my name on the path at the ninth green, joining that special circle of winners,” Kaymer said.

The focused German can fondly remember the weekend he played like a world number one at Sun City as he aims for the pinnacle of world golf again next year.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-12-03-cool-kaymer-makes-it-a-german-double