Month: October 2022

Recent DP World Tour winners Ryan Fox, Robert MacIntyre and Guido Migliozzi will add further star power to the international field gathering in Sun City for the 40^th anniversary edition of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

New Zealander Fox is currently third in the DP World Tour Rankings in partnership with Rolex thanks to an impressive season that has included wins at the Ras al Khaimah Classic and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the Old Course, St Andrews, as well as six further top tens.

The three-time DP World Tour winner will tee it up at Gary Player Country Club for the fourth time from November 10 – 13, 2022, looking for a big finish to the season as he vies to become the first player from New Zealand to be named European Number One.

Fox said: “This is a tournament that I’ve always enjoyed going to, and it’s great to see it back on the schedule. It’s been a positive season for me so far, and I’m looking forward to the last few events, including a trip back to Sun City for the 40^th anniversary event.”

MacIntyre will make his second appearance in ‘Africa’s Major’ in November, following a top ten finish in 2019.

The Scot started the qualification process for the 2023 Ryder Cup with a bang last month, winning the DS Automobiles Italian Open at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club – the venue where Europe will take on the United States next September.

The 26-year-old won his second DP World Tour title at the perfect time as he aims to fulfil his dream of a Ryder Cup debut in Rome.

MacIntyre said: “I had a great experience on my debut at the Nedbank Golf Challenge and I can’t believe that it was three years ago now. There’s a lot to play for over the last few events of the season in terms of the DP World Tour Rankings and Ryder Cup qualification, and I’m looking forward to another good week at Sun City.”

The Ryder Cup also featured in Migliozzi’s third DP World Tour win, with the Italian lifting the Open de France trophy at Le Golf National – scene of Europe’s 17.5 – 10.5 victory over the United States in 2018.

He made his debut in the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the end of a 2019 season in which he won both the Belgian Knockout and Magical Kenya Open presented by Absa, and returns to a field that also includes European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald, as another impressive year draws to a close.

Migliozzi said: “I’ve only had the chance to play there once, but the Nedbank Golf Challenge is a great week on Tour and I’m glad to see it back on the schedule. It’s the second last event of the season with a lot of points on offer so we’ll be aiming for a big finish.”

The trio of stars join Donald in a field that also includes defending champion and two-time Ryder Cup star Tommy Fleetwood, who lifted the trophy in 2019 – the last time the event took place due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and South African DP World Tour winners Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Dean Burmester and Thriston Lawrence.

The winner of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit will also receive a place in the 64-player field at Gary Player Country Club.

The Nedbank Golf Challenge has been a highlight of the South African sporting calendar since the first edition in 1981, with an impressive list of former winners including the legendary Seve Ballesteros, South African golfing icon Ernie Els and Major Champions such as Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Trevor Immelman and Danny Willett.

The 2022 Nedbank Golf Challenge will once again be included on the DP World Tour schedule in partnership with Nedbank and Sun International, this season as the penultimate event before the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. The US$6,000,000 event will also carry an increased number of DP World Tour Ranking Points, with 7,000 points available.

The last edition of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 2019 delivered record attendance figures and sold-out hospitality. Ticketing information for the milestone 40^th event will follow in due course.

SUN CITY, North West – Stephen Ferreira claimed his maiden victory on the Sunshine Tour when he won the Blue Label Challenge by a single point at the Gary Player Country Club on Saturday.

Ferreira finished on a total of 38 points under the modified Stableford scoring system used for the tournament, just one clear of Luca Filippi who pushed him all the way to the final hole.

It was Ferreira’s first victory on the Sunshine Tour since he turned professional in 2011, and after a second-place finish in the SunBet Challenge at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club recently, there were signs that he was on the brink of a breakthrough.

“I’m still a bit speechless,” said an emotional Ferreira who struggled to speak during the prizegiving ceremony.

“I’m glad to finally get the win. I love the Gary Player Country Club course. I come here a lot and have finally managed to tame the beast.”

Ferreira’s victory comes at a timely point in the Sunshine Tour season as it moves towards the big summer tournaments.

“It’s huge,” he said of this first win and its significance.

“I’ve been on the Sunshine Tour for a while and have come close a few times. You know, you doubt yourself, but I finally got the win and I’m ecstatic. Luca (Filippi) fought hard today and there were a lot of players close to me going into the final round. I knew I had to go low and make a lot of birdies, which I did. Luca pushed me over the last hole. It was nice to hole that big putt for the victory.”

Pieter Moolman, who was another maiden winner on the Sunshine Tour recently, finished third on 36 points.

SUN CITY, North West – Stephen Ferreira held on to the top spot on the leaderboard after the third round of the Blue Label Challenge at Gary Player Country Club on Friday, once again not paying for a couple of late bogeys.

Ferreira, who began the penultimate day leading by two points in the modified Stableford event, produced another solid round of golf with a pair of birdies on each nine, taking him to eight points for the day, but then he dropped shots, and points, with bogeys on the last two holes. That left the Zimbabwe resident who plays under the Portuguese flag with six points for his round, taking him to a total of 30 points, still renting out that two-point lead.

Last week’s winner of the Fortress Invitational at Ebotse Links, Pieter Moolman, enjoyed a fantastic day with five birdies and an eagle on the par-five fifth giving him 13 points and vaulting him into second place on 28.

Jaco Prinsloo, who is second on the Luno Order of Merit, had an even better day with five birdies and an eagle, and no dropped shots, giving him 15 points for a total of 26 heading into the final round. Jbe’ Kruger, second overnight, had a tough front nine, scoring minus-three, but bounced back after the turn with three birdies to finish with 24 points in total.

The 30-year-old Ferreira hails from Borrowdale Brook Golf Club in Harare and has 10 top-10 finishes from 136 Sunshine Tour events. With more than R1.6 million in prizemoney from those performances, Ferreira will nearing the R2 million mark if he can hold off what are bound to be stiff challenges from Moolman, Prinsloo and Kruger, and perhaps even youngsters Jayden Schaper and Luca Filippi, who are both on 23 points.

SUN CITY, North West – Finishing with two bogeys in the last three holes normally goes against the grain for golfers, but the nature of the modified Stableford scoring system means it was worth the risk for Stephen Ferreira and did not cost him the lead at the end of the second round of the Blue Label Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club on Thursday.

Ferreira still posted an excellent 13 points on Thursday, via a five-under-par 67, and he is two points clear of Jbe’ Kruger.

Up until his dropped shots on the par-three 16^th and the par-five 18^th, the 30-year-old Zimbabwe resident, who plays under the Portuguese flag, was unstoppable with five birdies and an eagle-three, worth five points, on the fifth hole.

“I’m very happy, I felt good today and played really solid golf and sank a few putts,” Ferreira said. “I was aggressive and smart.”

“My first bogey was because I took the wrong club on the par-three and was in the wrong place in the bunker and couldn’t get up-and-down. On the last hole, I had 230 to the flag and had a go because a bogey is only minus-one. It was a risky shot and I didn’t quite pull it off, but in this format, every now and then you have to take a risk.

“But on five I hit a good tee-shot in the middle of the fairway, had 237 to the flag and knew exactly which club to use, a nice floating five-wood to 10 feet and then I made the putt,” Ferreira said.

The runner-up three weeks ago in the SunBet Challenge Wild Coast event said he was grateful for Zambian golfer Madalitso Muthiya bailing him out of a putting problem he had.

“I’ve felt I’ve been playing really good golf but I just haven’t been getting a score, and that’s down to not making putts. We’re all good golfers out here, we all hit the ball well, all hit good irons, so putting is what makes the difference,” Ferreira said.

“My friend Madalitso helped me tweak something small with my putting and now I’m putting nicely.”

Kruger also notched 13 points, via seven birdies, on Thursday, only once landing in trouble when he bogeyed the par-four fourth hole.

First-round leader Brooklin Bailey dropped out of the leadership race as he scored minus-nine on Thursday, with three double-bogeys and just two birdies on his card.

SUN CITY, North-West – Like a smooth-running car, American Brooklin Bailey felt that all the different parts of his game were in sync on Thursday as he raced into the lead after the first round of the Blue Label Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club.

Bailey, who began his round on the 10^th hole, collected five birdies and an eagle for a bogey-free 65, that translated into 15 points in the modified Stableford scoring system. He was four points ahead of Portugal’s Stephen Ferreira, who had six birdies and a bogey, while the leading players under the South African flag were Ockie Strydom and Jaco van Zyl in third place on 10 points.

“It was nice, hot weather so the body got loose early and I felt super-comfortable after making a great start with birdies on my second and fourth holes,” Bailey said. “I played really well, it just felt fluent in terms of what my swing, my body and the ball were doing.”

Coming from Texas, a typically hot October day in the Pilanesberg, with the temperature reaching 36°, was no bother for the 28-year-old Bailey, who has played the famous Gary Player Country Club layout a couple of times before and embraces the challenge rather than being daunted by it.

“I haven’t gone on very well here before, although I feel like I played good golf but did not get much out of it,” Bailey said. “But it’s a venue I really like, a real test of golf, it tests every facet of your game.

“A lot of credit must go to my caddy George, who made a lot of great decisions and kept me patient. It was a great decision to lay up on 18 and make birdie, and then I holed out from the bunker on the first hole for eagle. Then I hit it to a foot on the next hole for another birdie,” a delighted Bailey said.

Picking up nine points around the turn really knocked the other contenders out of the first-round race, and Bailey is now focused on backing up Thursday’s marvellous score with another low one in Friday’s second round.

“My game has been there this season, just not necessarily full-time,” Bailey admitted. “You’re not going to win or finish top-10 every week, but making cuts is important and in my last seven events I’ve had three top-10s and missed four cuts.

“So I’m really focusing on my consistency. I’m playing well when I’m on form, but there are little parts of my game that need improving, especially in putting and finding the fairways, those are certainly the two key areas.

“I felt like I’ve found my Driver, and after having a putting lesson this week and working on it for three hours one morning, I was really feeling comfortable on the greens as well,” Bailey said.

ROUND 1 SCORES

15 – Brooklin Bailey

11 – Stephen Ferreira

10 – Ockie Strydom, Jaco Van Zyl

9 – MJ Viljoen, Ryan Van Velzen, Jbe’ Kruger

8 – Stefan Wears-Taylor, Louis Albertse

7 – Doug McGuigan, Jayden Schaper, Luca Filippi, Wynand Dingle, Joe Long

6 – Christiaan Basson, Jaco Prinsloo, Peter Karmis, Pieter Moolman, JJ Senekal, Lyle Rowe, Steve Surry

5 – Jared Harvey, Rhys West, Anthony Michael

4 – Matthew Spacey, Christiaan Burke, Rourke van der Spuy, Combrinck Smit, Keith Horne, Keenan Davidse, Jean Hugo

3 – Neil Schietekat, Tristin Galant, Dan Erickson

2 – Michael Kok, Jaco Ahlers, Hayden Griffiths, Dylan Naidoo, Kyle McClatchie, Martin Rohwer, Martin Vorster

1 – Estiaan Conradie, Merrick Bremner, Herman Loubser, Jake Redman, Makhetha Mazibuko

0 – Madalitso Muthiya, Casey Jarvis, Richard Joubert, Hennie O’Kennedy, Dean O’Riley, Sean Bradley

-1 – Ryan Tipping, Luke Jerling, Erhard Lambrechts, Keagan Thomas, Malcolm Mitchell, Thabang Simon, Rupert Kaminski

-2 – Jean-Paul Strydom, Danie Van Niekerk, Adam Breen, Gerard du Plooy, Therion Nel

-3 – Dylan Mostert, Clinton Grobler, Hennie Otto, Jacques P de Villiers

-4 – Riekus Nortje

-5 – Albert Venter, Kyle Barker, Heinrich Bruiners, Jacques Blaauw

-6 – Ruan Conradie

-7 – Ruan Korb

-9 – Andre De Decker, Luke Brown, Bradley Bawden, Ricky Hendler

-12 – Dwayne Basson