Preview: South African Open Championship

The European Tour stays in South Africa this week for the South African Open Championship. Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson are in the field.

Pearl Valley
Fergus Bisset
By Fergus Bisset
published

Lowdown: A Jack Nicklaus design, the course at Pearl Valley only opened for play in 2004. This will be the second South African Open Championship to be hosted here. Last year James Kingston won to claim his first European Tour title after 20 years as a professional. Since it was first played in 1903, the South African Open Championship has seen just nine foreign winners. But with the likes of Rose, Stenson, Clarke and Westwood in the field there’s certainly a chance the odds may be upset. Trevor Immelman plays in his home Open as Masters Champion and he’ll be inspired by the fact he won the event in consecutive years back in 2003-2004.

Preview: Chevron World Challenge

Venue: Pearl Valley Golf Estate, Western Cape, South Africa Date: December 18-21 Course stats: par 72, 7,438 yards Purse: €1,000,000 Defending champion: James Kingston (-4) TV coverage: Thursday 18 – Live on Sky Sports 2 from 8.30am Friday 19 – Live on Sky Sports 3 from 8.30am Saturday 20 – Live on Sky Sports 3 from 10.30pm Sunday 21 – Live on Sky Sports 3 from 10.30pm Player watch: Henrik Stenson – The on-form Swede has won on his last two outings in the World Cup and at the Nedbank Championship. He’ll surely be in the mix again this week. Retief Goosen – A previous winner of the tournament, Goosen will be hoping for a better year in 2009. A win here would be the perfect springboard. James Kingston – The defending champion will be aiming for a repeat performance around a course that holds great memories.

Key hole: 13th. A par five of 581 yards, a creek comes into play three times en-route to the green - It’s a great strategic test. Skills required: Strong hitting. At 7,438 yards with four par fives, the man with the ability to hit a long ball has a distinct advantage here.

Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

Latest