Schwartzel a great replacement for injured Els

20 November 2015 - 12:41 By Liam Del Carme

The Big Easy is finding it increasingly difficult to make it to the Nedbank Golf Challenge (NGC). Multiple Major winner Ernie Els has had to withdraw from this year’s event because of injury‚ but local golf enthusiasts will delight in the fact that Charl Schwartzel will be taking his place in the field of 30.Els has played just once in the NGC in the last five years and the nature of his injury wasn’t specified. He does remain an undoubted drawcard having racked up three wins and having amassed the biggest earnings in the tournament since his first appearance in 1992 when he finished third.Els was amongst the four sponsor’s invites for the tournament to be held from the 3rd to the 6th of next month at the Gary Player Country Club.“We are very sorry to hear of Ernie’s injury and he will naturally be missed at the NGC because he has been such an integral part of this event for so many years‚” said Alastair Roper‚ Sun International’s tournament director.This will be Schwartzel’s seventh appearance at the tournament and he will be desperate to improve on his best finish‚ a runner’s-up spot in the 2012 instalment.Roper said he was delighted with Els’ replacement: “I’m pleased that we could include another Major champion in our field.”Schwartzel‚ a three-time Sunshine Tour order of merit winner will be joined by Louis Oosthuizen‚ Branden Grace‚ Thomas Aiken and Jaco van Zyl as the other South Africans in the field.Schwartzel has had an up and down season. He lost in a playoff at the South African Open‚ finished seventh in the US Open and had solid finishes of tied 9th in the WGC-Cadillac match play and tied 3rd in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour.Scotland’s Russell Knox was confirmed as the 29th player in this year’s field. He is another PGA Tour winner in the lineup.Knox broke through with his maiden PGA Tour victory in the WGC-HSBC Champions in November thus becoming the first Scot to win a World Golf Championship tournament.Knox is the top-ranked player on the PGA Tour’s Fedex Cup standings after losing a play-off to Graeme McDowell for the OHL Classic in Mexico.The final place will be taken by the winner of next week’s the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek.Confirmed NGC field:Charl Schwartzel‚ Louis Oosthuizen‚ Branden Grace‚ Thomas Aiken‚ Jaco van Zyl (all South Africa)‚ Webb Simpson‚ Robert Streb‚ Scott Piercy‚ Keegan Bradley‚ Kevin Na (all United States)‚ Lee Westwood‚ Danny Willett‚ Matthew Fitzpatrick‚ Chris Wood‚ Ross Fisher‚ Andy Sullivan (all England)‚ Steven Bowditch‚ Marc Leishman (both Australia)‚ Thongchai Jaidee‚ Kiradech Aphibarnrat (both Thailand)‚ Henrik Stenson (Sweden)‚ Shane Lowry (Ireland)‚ Victor Dubuisson (France)‚ Bernd Wiesberger (Austria)‚ Byeong Hun An (South Korea)‚ Martin Kaymer (Germany)‚ Søren Kjeldsen (Denmark)‚ Emiliano Grillo (Argentina)‚ Russell Knox (Scotland) – TMG Digital..

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