The idea to build a golf course on top of a dormant volcano next to a game preserve was absurd, but Sol Kerzner, a South African hotelier, had a plan.
“The first helicopter flight with Sol Kerzner into the vast open bushveld was interesting,” Gary Player said about the plan to build his namesake golf course in Sun City, South Africa, his home country. “I thought to myself, there is no way a golf course, let alone a world-class resort, could be built here.”
Because the course was on top of a crater, Player said, the rock was extremely hard to break through. There was also no water, requiring engineers to build a pipeline to pump water from miles away. The rock, lack of topsoil and mountains of vegetation made shaping the course nearly impossible. But Kerzner was a visionary, Player said. “He made things happen.”
By 1979, the Gary Player Country Club was ready for play. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, the course has solidified its reputation as it hosts the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which begins on Thursday.
The tournament was called the Million Dollar Challenge when it debuted in 1981, bringing together the golf greats Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Johnny Miller. It came down to Ballesteros and Miller, with Nicklaus a stroke behind after missing a putt on his final hole. Miller beat Ballesteros in a playoff.
At about 8,000 yards, the par 72 is one of the world’s longest golf courses. Its sprawling, flat fairways meander through the brush and lakes and lead to slick bentgrass greens.
That is if players can manage the effects of the wind, tight fairways, altitude and the tricky grass.
“I like the clingy grass,” Branden Grace of South Africa, who won in 2017, said last year. “It’s the grass we grew up playing on. A lot of golfers from Europe or America have a hard time with it and aren’t very keen on it. They find it a little bit tricky and sticky, and thick at times. For us growing up, we had to get used to it.
“Also, there in Sun City, with being so high up in altitude and the heat, the ball goes forever. You can hit a 7-iron 200 yards without even thinking about it. Some guys don’t even play with a driver. You have to be accurate and keep it on the short stuff, and aggressive when you should be off the tee.”
It was the wind that Lee Westwood of England remembers from last year.
“It’s not such an easy golf course when the wind is in the direction it was, and it was swirling as the day went on,” he said, after shooting a 64 on his final round and winning the tournament.
The former champions Retief Goosen, Martin Kaymer, Grace and Henrik Stenson described the course as tough but fair in a joint statement this year.
“This golf course is often set up like a major championship during the Nedbank Golf Challenge,” said Goosen, of South Africa, who also said the wind was tricky. “The fairways are narrow, and the rough is sometimes four inches deep.”
Kaymer, a German, said you had to hit the fairways.
“They can make it tight here, and once you miss fairways it’s very difficult to hit the greens because the ball sits down in the rough,” he said. “Even then, to get it back on the fairway you can struggle. So driving is key.”
Stenson, of Sweden, also said hitting the fairways was important.
“If you were to miss the fairway, you’ve got a bit of rough, and after that it’s bush and maybe a new ball,” he said. “So you’d better be on your long game.”
Grace said the course tested all elements of play.
“Pretty much everything in your game must be on song here,” he said. “It’s a brutal test, especially when the wind starts swirling. You think it’s coming off the left and then it’s off the right.”
And then there is the wildlife.
“Not many places will you have a herd of elephants peering down and adding extra pressure to sink your putt,” Player said.
The course borders Pilanesberg National Park, home to more than 7,000 animals. Player said that the golfers and the animals have coexisted peacefully.
For the most part that’s been true. A fence separates the course from the park and generally keeps the animals from meandering onto the fairways, yet a few have made appearances.
In 2016, there was a mongoose invasion. Play was briefly suspended when about 20 arrived on the 16th green and inspected Victor Dubuisson’s ball.
An agitated baboon charged Luke Donald of England in 2014 during an approach shot. Donald ran for cover behind his caddie, Johnny McLaren. “The fact that my caddy, Johnny, didn’t even flinch makes my reaction look even more pathetic!” Donald said later.
Another time a baboon wandered onto the course and picked up a ball, leaving judges puzzled over how to rule the interference.
Ernie Els of South Africa, who won the tournament in 1999, 2000 and 2002, returns this year.
“It’s always a pleasure to play in South Africa and particularly at the Nedbank Golf Challenge,” he said. “I’ve got some great memories of the tournament — particularly from my three wins.”
Last year, Westwood powered through to a three-stroke victory over Sergio García of Spain to take the tournament for the third time after back-to-back wins in 2010 and 2011.
Els joins his countrymen Louis Oosthuizen and Grace, whose 2017 win was one of his most memorable golf experiences.
“When I won, I relived those moments of watching Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman winning the tournament,” Grace said. “So, when you get the chance to do that, it’s pretty special. Just walking up the 18th hole past the grandstand and hearing the applause the way I did last year was one of those moments you never forget in your life.”
Source: Golf - nytimes.com
