Challenge power pack

Westwood in pole position but will feel the heat from world No1 Donald and SA's Schwartzel, writes Liam Del Carne

ALTHOUGH he has again assembled a field reasonably close to golf's stratosphere, Nedbank Challenge tournament director Alastair Roper has the nagging feeling he left one or two big names out there.

The tournament, which tees off at Sun City on Thursday, again has a cast more stellar than cellar with the world's top-, third- and fourth- ranked players in attendance. Roper believes it could have been better.

"Overall I'm really happy with the field. You are always going to want one or two players you didn't get. I would have liked to see Adam Scott (ranked seventh), as well as Justin Rose (16th). If he (Rose) didn't have to play at another European tournament in Hong Kong next week to qualify for Dubai (World Championship), he would have come.

"We would have loved to have Ernie (Els), and Retief (Goosen) for that matter. There is no doubt that Ernie is a good crowd puller but he is not protected and like all other players he has to qualify.

"Unfortunately, he hasn't been at the top of his game this year and we hope next year he'll be back. Who knows?"

While Els didn't crack an invitation, the player who so illuminated last year's event got the nod. Lee Westwood last year occupied a playing plane so elevated from the rest of the field that he won by a staggering eight shots.

While Westwood's form was sublime, it failed to rub off on the rest.

"Lee was probably a shot or two better than we expected. Ideally, we try and set the course up for a winning score of between 12 and 16 under. You want to get them to average 67 or 68 a round.

"Ultimately, you don't want stupid rounds that make a mockery of the course but you don't want the set up to be so difficult you make a fool of the players," said Roper.

"You must find a happy medium. If somebody can shoot four rounds of 68 and win this tournament we would have achieved what we set out to do."

Westwood's main challengers are likely to be world No1 Luke Donald, former No1 Martin Kaymer, while Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, arguably the best performer in the Majors this year, is a real threat.

Donald, whose touch on and around the green is like that of the latest iPod, will also have to measure up from the tees. On a course measuring more than 7000m you can't afford to be short.

And despite the lack of rain, Donald can't expect a friendly skid on the fairways.

"We have installed a new irrigation system that covers a bigger area," Roper pointed out. "Rain wasn't as critical in the build up because we only had a little bit in October and only had the first meaningful amount last Monday, when we had 40mm.

"We have had another 10mm and things are changing fast. A lot can change before the event."

As dark horses go, recent Major winners Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke may object to being classed on the fringes but that probably says as much about the quality of the field as you need to know.

FIELD AND WORLD RANKING

Luke Donald (1), Lee Westwood (3), Martin Kaymer (4), Charl Schwartzel (13), Graeme McDowell (14), Kim Kyung-Tae (24), Robert Karlsson (28), Anders Hansen (31), Simon Dyson (32), Thomas Bjorn (33), Jason Dufner (35), Darren Clarke (36).