I was dismayed to see the field for this weekend’s Nedbank Challenge at Sun City.  I think the media has, in many past years, unfairly criticised the field as being weak or weaker than in the past.  That has not always been true with us having a number of the top 10 players in the world, but this year is no doubt in my mind the weakest field in the history of this tournament.  

It is complete with some South African golfers, whose names I never heard of before, and perhaps the increasing of the field from 12 to 30 players has created a sense, in a year especially like this year, of more weakness, giving that there are some fairly lowly ranked players in the world that are now taking part whereas if there were only 12, the lowest ranked player in the world would at least have the higher ranking than if there are 30 players.  With the exception of possibly Lee Westwood, Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer, Tim Clarke and Charl Schwartzel, the rest of the field really are not a “who’s who” of golf, and I am not surprised to see a lot less interest in the tournament this year than in previous years, despite an excellent media campaign running for months by Michael Vlismas on behalf of Sun International.  

Tiger Woods has his tournament on the same weekend in America as he has for many years and this year it has certainly attracted the cream of the international talent with almost all the best players in the world taking part in his tournament and Sun City having picked up the scraps.  Quite frankly, I think that the solution for Sun International is to go back to a 12 man limited field and use the money that they are currently paying compositions 13 to 30^th, possibly to pay some appearance fees – in other words, some of the top players in the world are not going to fly 17 hours from America to South Africa just to get US$100 000,00 or US$200 000,00 for last place – as much money as that may seem to us ordinary people!  If you want a Masters winner, somebody like Bubba Watson, who will bring in the crowds, perhaps you have to pay him an appearance fee, apart from the winnings that he would make and I think US$500 000,00 appearance fee on Bubba Watson would be money far better spent than paying out from 13^th to 30^th, for in many cases a bunch of no-name brands who will not generate any excitement amongst regular supporters over the years of this tournament.