Search for the perfect hand at Sun City in Nedbank Challenge

Golf is all about chasing perfection that can never be reached — though many of the golfers say the Gary Player Country Club course is in perfect condition this week.

However, whoever wins the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City that starts on Thursday is going to have to produce close-to-flawless golf.

Leading the overseas charge, which has prevailed for the last five tournaments, are world number 13 Viktor Hovland, who says his game is getting back to where it was when he was in the top three of the rankings, and Will Zalatoris, who says his back is now not just 100% but 150%. Rising European star Marco Penge, Canadian Nick Taylor, Thomas Detry of Belgium and England’s Laurie Canter are in the field.

Hopes for a South African to win for the first time since Branden Grace in 2017 will centre around Thriston Lawrence, Garrick Higgo, Aldrich Potgieter and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who are all in the top 100 of the world rankings.

Potgieter has come closest to winning since Grace when he was runner-up to American Johannes Veerman last year, having led by three strokes at the start of the final round.

The 21-year-old says he has been inspired by meeting tournament host Gary Player and is confident that if he is in contention again, he can finish the job this time.

After losing by one stroke to Veerman, Potgieter won the Rocket Classic in a lengthy playoff in June, becoming South Africa’s youngest ever winner on the US PGA Tour at 20 years, 289 days old.

“Mr Player is always willing to give 100% and to have so much energy at the age of 90 is so special and inspirational,” Potgieter said.

“I have a different mindset this year, I’m more relaxed. I’ll take things a little bit different if I’m in the same position as last year, try to play the same golf I did on the first two days. It was a bit emotional on the final day.

“If it’s your time, it’s your time. I’ve learnt to be OK with results because there’s a lot you can’t control. But I feel good and my game is good.

“I’ve spent a month at home in Mossel Bay and all the events I did well in last year, I was coming off a break.

“The course is thick with rough and I know the greens are going to firm up. So I’m going to hit a lot of two-irons like last year, maybe three drivers. It takes a little bit of the advantage of being a long-hitter away, but I thought I did well last year. On the Saturday I was really good.”

Zalatoris, who has three runner-up finishes in Majors, is making another comeback after back surgery, but this time he is confident the operation has sorted out his herniated discs.

“I feel great, I wouldn’t make my first start after surgery 10,000 miles away from home if I didn’t,” the American said. “The operation has been such a game-changer; if I thought my back was 100% after the previous surgery, this is now 150%.

“Last year I played six, seven and eight horribly, finishing on one-over and the winner was on five-under. But last year the course was so much faster, this year there is a lot of rough. You’ve got to pick your spots to be aggressive and some holes you get out with par as fast as you can. There are really some horrid holes,” Zalatoris said.

Hovland says he has been through some terrible times of his own, having been ranked as high as third after he won the Dubai Desert Classic in January 2022. Of course it is all relative as he is still ranked considerably higher than anyone else in the field, and he said he felt his game was returning to that previous high level after he shot a bogey-free 65 in Wednesday’s pro-am.

“I played really nicely today. In the past couple of years I’ve really struggled with my driver, and on this course you have to put the ball in play otherwise it becomes a real challenge. I took a lot of time off this year to work on things and try to get my game into shape. But it was frustrating because I did not see a lot of improvement.

“So it’s been a grind even though I won the Valspar Championship in March. But my game has stabilised a bit, it’s starting to get better and I feel good. It’s no joke this place, you’ve really got to do everything well. You can’t fake it and the rough is pretty juicy and the greens are so small and firm.

“But I’m trending in the right direction. Obviously the pins were in the middle of the greens today for the pro-am, but I was stepping up and hitting the shots I’m seeing. That gives me a lot of confidence, I saw a lot more today than I have in the last two years,” Norwegian Hovland said.