The dust may have only just settled on a glorious finish to the 2014 season, but The 2015 Race to Dubai already gets under way this week with a world-class field at the lucrative Nedbank Golf Challenge.
The US$6.5million event kicks off a fortnight in South Africa as Denmark’s Thomas Bjørn returns to the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City to defend the title he won in such emphatic fashion 12 months ago.
The 43 year old carded a final round of 65, which included two eagles, to take home the lion’s share of the prize fund, afterwards describing it as one of the best days of his career.
The performance was significant in Bjørn’s qualification for the European Ryder Cup team, and he will be joined at the sun-drenched resort in the north-eastern South Africa by four of his team-mates from the Gleneagles triumph, namely Stephen Gallacher, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Jamie Donaldson, who was joint runner-up behind the Dane last year.
Miguel Angel Jiménez, who was one of Paul McGinley’s vice captains in the stirring victory over the United States, is also in the field.
Former Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel will lead the home charge, whilst other notable names in the line-up include England’s Luke Donald and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee.
The Nedbank Golf Challenge became part of The European Tour International Schedule at the start of last season, before which it had been played every year since 1981.
With an impressive roll call of former champions such as Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and Ernie Els, the tournament was expanded to 30 players last year, and now comprises the top players from The European Tour, the US PGA Tour, the Sunshine Tour, the Asian Tour, the Japan Golf Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia. The top five South Africans in the Official World Golf Ranking are also exempt.
