This week sees the latest edition of the Nedbank Challenge which some people still call the Million Dollar because that used to be the first prize. It is a bit more now, but that is not particularly rare in the golfing world anymore when the top golfers compete for probably at least 40 tournaments a year where the first prize is more than $1 million. The sad thing about the tournament is that few American players come now. It is a function of how far America is from South Africa in terms of a direct flight, where the flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg is 17 hours and from New York it is obviously longer and with the money not being so exciting anymore, the days of people like Tiger Woods coming to Sun City are over.

Tiger did come to Sun City and I was lucky enough to be there on that day and watch him play. We really have not had the American greats in recent years. On the positive side, the top 10 in the world is largely dominated by European players at the moment and almost all of the European leading players, apart from the world’s number 1, Rory MciIroy, will be there.
It is somewhat disappointing that Rory Mcilroy will not be there as a few years ago he pulled out, citing flu, and promised that he would return the next year. He however has never come to Sun City again and like Tiger he seems to be trying to play a very small number of events around the world and not necessarily travel. He did however pull out of the event before, and in fairness one would expect him to honour his commitment to return, and to have done so already. My money is going to be on Lee Westwood and I also think Louis Oosthuizen, who has come so close so many times this year, must be due a win and this could well be the course where he picks it up.