R OYAL JOHANNESBURG has agreed to host this year’s Alfred Dunhill Champion- ship in place of Leopard Creek. It will be played on the East Course from December 11-14, the week following the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City.
putting surfaces, placed the greens un- der undue stress. Hot weather and low mowing heights can weaken the root system and increase their susceptibility to outbreaks of disease. The greens now require “a period of recovery.” Royal will also host the 2026 Africa Amateur. Leopard Creek used to have bent grass greens, but these were replaced in 2017 by a new strain of ultradwarf Ber- muda called Champion G-12 which is considered a more sustainable grass for the warm and humid Lowveld region south of the Kruger National Park. The Alfred Dunhill Championship wasn’t played at all that year due to the course upgrade. Leopard Creek always drew a strong field for the Alfred Dunhill, and it will be interesting to see if former champi- ons like Charl Schwartzel (a 4-time win- ner), Louis Oosthuizen and others will continue to support Johann Rupert’s tournament at a Gauteng venue. The players and caddies will particularly miss their morning and evening game- viewing rides into the Kruger Park. The wild animals which have become a fea- ture of the tournament broadcast have also helped attract a vast worldwide television audience over the four days. The Alfred Dunhill Championship has its roots in Johannesburg. It began as the Alfred Dunhill PGA Champion- ship in 1996 at Houghton Golf Club before becoming the Alfred Dunhill Championship in 2000. It will have been nearly nine years since Royal Johannesburg last hosted a DP World Tour event. That was the 2017 Joburg Open won by Darren Fich- ardt. The Joburg Open used both the West and East courses to cope with an extra-large field of 210 players, but this event will only be on the East with likely 156. The Joburg Open was held in either January or February and was often af- fected by rain. The final one in 2017 was concluded over 54 holes. A December date could work better in terms of the weather. Royal have a new course superinten- dent, Jan Hendrik Duvenhage, whose first priority will be to get the East into tournament shape. He was the super at Blair Atholl when they hosted two re- cent SA Opens in 2022 and 2023.
Leopard Creek has been the host venue since 2004, but the Mpumalanga course’s greens have been well below their best this year following hot sum- mer temperatures. The combination of hosting the Alfred Dunhill in Decem- ber and R&A Africa Amateur in Febru- ary, tournaments which required quick
A ROYAL CHALLENGE The back nine of Royal’s East Course begins with the 474-metre 10th, one of Gauteng’s longest 4s.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 95
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025
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