Potgieter’s debut will create buzz at Sun City Christo Lamprecht & Stingers are absent from the lineup. BY STUART McLEAN
Erik van Rooyen. He’s the youngest South African to gain a PGA Tour card. The youngest Korn Ferry champion ever – winning in the Bahamas in January at 19 years 4 months. And the youngest player to shoot a sub-60 score (59) in a PGA Tour- sanctioned event in Colombia. The Nedbank Challenge has hap- pily returned to its old December date, which should increase the attendance figures. Last year, when held in Novem- ber, it was the penultimate tournament in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai. Now it is part of the Opening Swing for the 2024-25 season. Interestingly, though, it remains a limited field event, with just 66 playing. There was no desire from the sponsors or organisers to have a bigger field. Potgieter had mixed results on the
biggest tournament of them all? Potgieter has played exclusively in America on the Korn Ferry Tour since turning pro in June 2023. The 2022 British Amateur champion has done so well this year that he must be consid- ered a serious contender at Sun City, one of the main SA hopes for the title along with his fellow PGA Tour mem- bers Thriston Lawrence, Christiaan Be- zuidenhout – the two highest ranked SA players on the World Ranking – and
ax Homa will be defending his title in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, but there is possibly
more anticipation around the presence at Sun City of Aldrich Potgieter, the 20-year-old prodigy who has made a flourishing start to his career as a tour professional. Has any South African delayed his professional home debut for 18 months and then done so in the
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
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