Lee Westwood continues to hold the Nedbank Golf Challenge in high regard.
The tournament has a special place in the Englishman's heart after he claimed back to back titles at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City from 2010.
Westwood celebrated replacing Tiger Woods as World Number One by coasting to a remarkable eight shot victory just a few weeks later, before becoming just the sixth player to retain his crown the following year.
Now, heading to the event for a tenth time, the 41 year old is looking to put on another strong showing.
The 23 time European Tour winner said: “It’s a great field here at the Nedbank Golf Challenge – it always is here.
“It’s one of the big sporting extravaganzas in the South African calendar and they get a lot of world-class players here.
“I’ve been lucky enough to win it a couple of times and it’s a great title to win. Every player wants to have it on their CV.
“I’ve been coming here since 1997 and it’s a championship I’ve always held in very high regard and wanted to win.
“Ernie Els beat me in a play-off in 2000, and I think my worse finish is fifth in the nine times I’ve played here, so I seem to have played well.
“I’ve shot some low scores, such as the 62 in 2010 when I won. I think I was 18 under par that year and 17 under the year after when I also won. And I think Ernie and I were tied at 20 under when we played off in 2000.
“So my scoring average is pretty good round here and I’ve been looking forward to this week for a while. Hopefully I can play as well as I did a few years ago.”
Westwood believes the conditions in South Africa will play their part this week.
He added: “There hasn’t been a lot of rain recently so the rough isn’t that long. There could be some low scoring this week, but obviously the conditions will dictate whether or not that’s the case. That’s always the way in professional golf.”
Meanwhile, another player who knows what it takes to win at the Gary Player Country Club is South African Louis Oosthuizen.
The 32 year old triumphed at the Dimension Data Pro-Am on this course in 2007.
And the seven time European Tour winner believes patience will be vital if he is to kick off the new campaign in style.
“I’m confident going into it, but I want to take it slow,” Oosthuizen, one of seven South Africans in the field this week, said.
“I’ve won a tournament here before and it’s the type of place where a bad hole is around the corner. There are tough tee shots and spots that you need to stay away from.
“I’ll be cautious out there and take it slow and give myself a lot of birdie chances. The game is there to do it, so it’s a matter of thinking right and mentally staying in the moment.”
The 2010 British Open champion, now 55th in the World Rankings, is relishing the opportunity to play in his homeland.
Oosthuizen, whose 2014 season was hampered by a recurring back problem, said: “I’m looking forward to this week. It’s always great and pulls a good crowd.
“It’s always fun playing in front of South African crowds and it would be nice to play some good golf.”
