This week on the DP World Tour, the Nedbank Golf Challenge makes a return after a 3 year hiatus since the global pandemic.
Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood is back at Suncity in South Africa where he won the event in 2019 after a playoff win against Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult. A win which was his 5th, and still, most recent DP World Tour win, his 4th Rolex Series title.
This year the event marks its 40th anniversary, first played in 1981, and part of the DP World Tour schedule since 2013. The field this week at the Gary Player Country Club consists of the top 60 available players from the DP World Tour Rankings in Partnership with Rolex, the winner of last season’s Sunshine Tour Order of Merit and five invites.
‘Africa’s Major’ has a prize pool of $6 million as a number of home favourites will be looking to get their name etched on the coveted trophy. They include, Thriston Lawrence, already a two-time winner on the DP World Tour this season at the Joburg Open and Omega European Masters, Oliver Bekker, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge champion Branden Grace.
With this being the penultimate week on the DP World Tour, Ryan Fox could make further gains on chasing down Rory McIlroy in his search for the Harry Vardon Trophy. A win this week for the Kiwi would see him leap frog the Northern Irishman into pole position as this week also includes an increased number of DP World Tour Rankings Points, with 7,000 available.
And still every player in the field this week will be trying to break into the top 50 on the DP World Tour Rankings come end of play Sunday to automatically qualify for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai at Jumeirah Golf Estates next week, with a $10 million prize fund on offer.
