• Defending champion, Richard Sterne will be aiming to become only the third player in European Tour history to claim three consecutive European Tour titles, having previously won the Alfred Dunhill Championship and South African Open Championship. Nick Faldo (1983 – Open de France, Martini International and Care Plan International) and Seve Ballesteros (1986 – The Irish Open, Monte Carlo Open and Open de France) are the other two golfers to achieve the feat.
• Should Sterne make a successful defence of his Joburg Open crown, he would become just the third South African to retain a European Tour title, following, Ernie Els (2002-04 Heineken Classic) and Trevor Immelman (2003-04 South African Open Championship).
• The Joburg Open is one of only two 2009 European Tour International Schedule events where two or more courses are used. The Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club have the East and West courses. The other tournament is the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship which is played over the Old Course, St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
• In 2007and 2008 Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club’s East Course measured 7,590 yards, making this course the longest in European Tour history. This has only been eclipsed by the South Course at Torrey Pines, the venue for the 2008 US Open Championship.
