Former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel will attempt to win a third consecutive Alfred Dunhill Championship when he tees it up at the stunning Leopard Creek Country Club this week.
The home favourite won by a staggering 12 shots in 2013 and successfully defended the title a year later, cruising to a four-stroke victory over Richard Finch to make it four Leopard Creek victories in total, having claimed his maiden European Tour title at this event in 2005.
Schwartzel finished tied 14th in last week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge, and he will hoping to build on that form in the second event of The 2015 Race to Dubai and last of the calendar year.
His compatriot and fellow Major winner Louis Oosthuizen is another star attraction at Leopard Creek, which is famous for its wild animals roaming the course.
Situated on the outskirts of the renowned Kruger National Park and perched above the Crocodile River, sightings of crocs, hippopotamus, antelope, buffalo and elephant are commonplace at the unique Malelane venue.
Something of a wildlife enthusiast himself, Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open Champion, was tied seventh at the Gary Player Country Club last week and will be chasing his first Alfred Dunhill Championship victory.
This year’s Alfred Dunhill Championship also represents the first opportunity of 2015 for the graduates of the Qualifying School and the Challenge Tour to test their mettle at golf’s highest level.
There will be 21 players in South Africa this week who gained their European Tour playing privileges at the six-round Q-School Final at PGA Catalunya Resort in Spain, while 11 of the 15 Challenge Tour graduates will also be in attendance.
While some are experienced professionals, others such as highly promising Italian upstart Renato Paratore, who was third at the Final Stage, and Jérôme Lando Casanova, who came through the Challenge Tour Rankings, will be hoping for a strong start to their European Tour careers.
At just 17 years old, Paratore became the third youngest player to claim his European Tour card in Girona in November and the two-time Junior Ryder Cup star and Youth Olympics Gold Medallist will be looking to follow in the footsteps of his compatriot and mentor, Matteo Manassero, by forging a successful career on the top tier of European golf.
Also in the field at Leopard Creek this week is the winner of last week’s lucrative Nedbank Golf Challenge, as England’s Danny Willett – the early leader of The 2015 Race to Dubai after claiming his second European Tour title at Sun City on Sunday – tees it up on another of Gary Player’s revered layout.
The Alfred Dunhill Championship is the second of 47 European Tour events on The 2015 Race to Dubai and the second of six tournaments in South Africa this season.
