Branden Grace is hoping to take his momentum from 2015 into the new European Tour season, but he knows he must overcome Leopard Creek Country Club specialist Charl Schwartzel at the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
Grace is defending champion in Malelane and arrives in his homeland on the back of a third place finish in the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai which moved him into the same position in The Race to Dubai.
The recently-finished campaign also brought a victory at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and top five finishes at the US Open and US PGA Championship for the man ranked 18th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
But Schwartzel is a three-time winner of this event with four second-place finishes while another South African, Louis Oosthuizen, was runner-up to Grace last year and currently sits three spots higher in the world placings.
And while Grace feels confident in his game, he knows he will face a tough challenge if he is to claim a seventh European Tour title.
"It's been a great year," he said. "A lot of positives and it's always nice coming into this event feeling that your game is in good shape. Last week was good, I wasn't in reach of maybe winning it but third position to finish off the tournament and the season was pretty nice.
"Coming back to Leopard Creek with the fond memories of last year is good and just getting to this place always feels nice. It kind of feels like home.
"It's five weeks in a row now for me, I feel a little bit tired but you feel when you come home it doesn't feel like a normal tournament week. You feel you're more relaxed coming here."
He added: "Charl has always played well here. Sometimes it seems that he's not been playing well in the year and he comes here and it brings out the best in him so he's definitely going to be a tough contender this week.
"Louis as well, he feels that this place owes him one but there are a lot of good players out there, a lot of guys who are on form.
We're all here to get the job done and lift the trophy at the end of the week. I'm keen to try my best to get it for the second time in a row - Branden Grace
Oosthuizen was another man who endured close shaves in Major Championships in 2015, finishing in a tie for second at The Open Championship and the US Open, while his consistency meant he did not miss a cut on The European Tour.
Despite that success, the 2010 Open Championship winner was left without a victory and is targeting this week, and next week's Nedbank Golf Challenge, as opportunities to get off the mark early in the new season.
"It's great being back in the country and I'm loving this golf course," he said. "I'm looking forward to the week and I think I'm mentally a bit stronger than I was a few years back.
"It was a good season, it could have been a lot better with one of those two (Majors) being a win but other than that I've played well in a lot of events. A season always feel empty if you don't get a win so I would love one of the next two weeks to be a win.
"This week is going to a tough one, there's a tough field. Charl and Branden are playing really good at the moment.
"Branden is defending and Charl owns the place so I think those are the two people everyone is going to be looking at battling it out, so hopefully I can stay within range and on Sunday pip them by one."
Schwartzel's first European Tour win came in this event in 2005 and it was also the scene of his last two, with his back-to-back triumphs in 2013 and 2014 the last time he tasted victory.
The 2011 Masters Tournament champion admits his game was in the doldrums when he finished in a tie for 26th last season, but is once again feeling confident as he returns to his favourite event.
"It's by far my favourite week of the year that I play in," he said. "This tournament has served me well over the years. It's gotten me out of some slumps and got me back on my feet and I'm pretty much hoping for the same thing. Every time I come back it's got a real peaceful feeling and some great memories.
"It's been coming for a while. Last year at this time was probably the worst space my golf swing has been in as a professional and it takes time, I lost a lot of confidence.
"It's a year later now and the improvement is so big, it is so good and to me it feels better than it's ever, ever been, golf-swing wise, which is a great comfort and a real positive. It excites me.
"I've been playing well from about the middle of the year with the long game, but the results weren't coming, so then I figured out that with all the scrapping around of the long game, I never really realised that my putting wasn't as good as it should be.
"I started analysing what was going on with that and I found some bad mistakes. Where I think I'm aiming, I'm not aiming, but those little pieces are coming together.
"On the big picture, there's a big improvement. Whether it will kick in this week or next week or another month or whatever it may be, it's on the right track and that excites me."
