It is 17 years since Ernie Els won the first edition of the Alfred Dunhill Championship to be played at Leopard Creek Country Club and the four-time Major Champion is delighted to be back at one of his favourite events.
The home hero's victory in 2005 was one of 28 claimed so far on the DP World Tour in a career that has seen him twice be crowned Europe's Number One and spend time at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking.
At 53, the man known as the Big Easy now focuses most of his efforts on senior golf and while he will enjoy his week on the edge of the stunning Kruger National Park, he is still eager to put on a show having never missed the cut in six previous appearances at this venue.
"It's one of my favourite events in the world so hopefully we can do something," he said.
"We are almost like tourists now, we live abroad. My wife is here and we're enjoying it like a tourist, were going into the park and looking at the animals and enjoying the South African bush. It's an amazing place.
"It's wonderful, just look at the place. It's nice and green, had a lot of rain, the river is flowing and the golf course is in amazing condition so it's great to be back.
"The greenkeeping has been amazing... you can just see the edges of the bunkers are really crisp, everything is really in great shape. They've done some different cutting around the greens and so forth but the whole place is in a wonderful condition."
