Nicolai Højgaard is hoping he can go one better than on his last visit to Sun City as he bids to close out his year in style at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
The Dane finished runner-up to Max Homa at Gary Player Country Club at the back end of the 2023 season, a week before winning on the Rolex Series at the DP World Tour Championship.
Now, after a season playing across both the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR, Højgaard returns looking to impress again in South Africa as he takes his place alongside a host of star players making their debut on the 2025 Race to Dubai.
"It's good to be back again, I've been looking forward to this week all year,” he said.
Victory this week would see Højgaard emulate mentor Thomas Bjørn as just the second Dane to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge since it joined the DP World Tour schedule in the 2014 season.
Having finished 55th in the limited field event on his debut in 2022, the three-time DP World Tour winner believes he has found a blueprint to play a course which, at almost 8,000 yards, is among the longest in the world.
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"Last year I played it quite conservatively the first couple of days and tried to build myself into the tournament and I think I'm going to have a pretty similar strategy this week,” the World Number 58 added.
"I have an idea of what number I need to get to and all that so it's knowing when to be aggressive and when to put the ball in play."
Situated alongside Sun City is Pilanesberg National Park and Højgaard is enjoying the chance to get up close with Africa’s “Big Five”.
"I had good fun last night on a game drive so it was a good way to start the week,” he said.
"It's a lovely place. It's good to be back in a place I've played well before, it always helps and you kind of know what you're getting into.
"The place is unique. You have the game drive, you feel like you've got the wildlife next to you and it's pretty special. It's so far away from what we're used to and what I'm used to back home in Denmark so I'm always excited to be back. I can't wait to see what the week has in store.”
