Zander Lombard was trying his best to manage expectations as he prepared to make his first DP World Tour start since romping to victory at the Qualifying School Final Stage in November.
It has been just under 18 months since the South African’s left knee “snapped – like a gunshot” during a game of padel - an anterior cruciate ligament rupture and medial meniscus tear that ended his 2024 season in June.
It says a lot about the first half of his campaign that the seven-time DP World Tour runner-up still finished 66th on the Race to Dubai but an understandably difficult 2025 season saw him heading to the six-round marathon at INFINITUM.
He broke 65 four times in Tarragona en route to a 37 under par total and remarkable 13-shot victory and since then he has registered a top ten on the Sunshine Tour as well.
So while he arrives at this week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship full of confidence, he is also wary of getting ahead of himself after a spell in his golfing life he admits has been “brutal”.
“I want to play the best I can every week,” he said. “I know it’s cliché but it’s one round, one shot at a time and see where that puts us at the end of the week.
“But I’m keeping expectations low, I know the reality, I’m only a year and a half post-surgery so there’s going to be a few things to work on but I’m excited for the season and excited to see what it has in store.
“The game is solid, everything is in a really good spot. I’m not doing anything poorly, there’s nothing really to work on, it’s more of the same and I’m looking forward to this week.
“It’s been trending the last couple of months, my knee has been really good, I’m healthy, I’m strong, I’m feeling fit and I feel like I’m back to where I was before my injury and that’s a fun place to be. I’m enjoying golf.”
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The 30-year-old has two top tens at this event but those were both at Leopard Creek, with the 2026 edition moving to Royal Johannesburg Club.
With relatively tame rough, Lombard is expecting a low scoring week but he is looking forward to the test of the “great old layout”.
“Royal Joburg is going to be a great host of this event,” he said. “It’s got that Alfred Dunhill feel, that little aura about it. It’s an amazing event and we all love to play it.
“This year it seems like the rough is not too bad so it’s not going to put too much pressure on hitting fairways. That being said, I think fairways are going to be important to control the second shots and that’s just what a great old layout does: it forces every part of your game to be on.
“I think scoring is going to be low and it’s going to be a fun week.”
