The penultimate DP World Tour event of the season visits South Africa for the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Gary Player Country Club.
The tournament, dubbed “Africa’s Major,” is one of the most prestigious on the circuit, so not surprisingly, a strong field will be in attendance.
That includes a debut appearance at the event from Max Homa, who ranks eighth in the world. The American is making his first start since excelling at the Ryder Cup, where, despite finishing on the losing side, he amassed 3.5 points for Zach Johnson’s team to emerge as one of the few positives from it. That was Homa’s latest strong performance in an impressive 2023, which included victory at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Homa is not the only member of the USA team in this week’s field. Wildcard Justin Thomas also appears as he looks to regain his best form during a disappointing year that saw him miss out on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
There are signs he is over the worst of his slump following a T12 at the Wyndham Championship and a finish of fifth at the Fortinet Championship, which came before he secured 1.5 points at Marco Simone. Thomas is looking for his first win since claiming the 2022 PGA Championship title at Southern Hills.
The man to beat this week is likely to be defending champion Tommy Fleetwood. The Englishman has claimed victory in the last two editions and heads into this week’s event on the back of some encouraging form, including sixth in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Fleetwood was also a key player in Team Europe’s Ryder Cup win, although he missed cut in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship the following week.
Fleetwood is joined by three other members of Luke Donald’s team - Justin Rose, Robert MacIntyre and Nicolai Hojgaard.
Rose, who has distanced himself from the 2025 Ryder Cup captaincy, is enjoying a solid season and claimed victory in February’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA Tour. With 7,000 Race to Dubai ranking points up for grabs here, the Englishman, who is currently 91st in the rankings, will not have given up the chance to reach the top 50 needed to join the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm in competing at the season-closing DP World Tour Championship.
As for MacIntyre and Hojgaard, they enter the tournament eighth and 21st in the standings, respectively.
Other high-profile players in the field include New Zealander Ryan Fox, who won September’s BMW PGA Championship, and Adrian Meronk, who was unfortunate to miss out on a maiden Ryder Cup appearance and provided the perfect response to that snub in the shape of a comeback victory at the Andalucia Masters in October.
LIV Golf player Branden Grace, who won the 2017 edition, also plays as he aims to claim victory in his homeland once again. Another local player, four-time DP World Tour winner Thriston Lawrence, participates too.
A purse of $6m is on offer. Below is the prize money breakdown and field for the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
Nedbank Golf Challenge 2023 Prize Money
Nedbank Golf Challenge 2023 Field
- Marcus Armitage
- Nick Bachem
- Matthew Baldwin
- Alexander Björk
- Daniel Bradbury
- Daniel Brown
- Julien Brun
- Jorge Campillo
- Todd Clements
- Sean Crocker
- Jens Dantorp
- Louis De Jager
- Hennie Du Plessis
- Nacho Elvira
- Ewen Ferguson
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Grant Forrest
- Simon Forsström
- Ryan Fox
- Branden Grace
- Julien Guerrier
- Marcus Helligkilde
- Calum Hill
- Daniel Hillier
- Ryo Hisatsune
- Rasmus Højgaard
- Nicolai Højgaard
- Max Homa
- Matthew Jordan
- Maximilian Kieffer
- Nathan Kimsey
- Romain Langasque
- Pablo Larrazábal
- Thriston Lawrence
- Zander Lombard
- Hurly Long
- Joost Luiten
- Robert MacIntyre
- Richard Mansell
- Tom McKibbin
- Adrian Meronk
- Francesco Molinari
- Vincent Norrman
- Thorbjørn Olesen
- Adrian Otaegui
- Yannik Paul
- Matthieu Pavon
- Victor Perez
- Aaron Rai
- Richie Ramsay
- Justin Rose
- Antoine Rozner
- Jason Scrivener
- Shubhankar Sharma
- Callum Shinkwin
- Marcel Siem
- Jordan Smith
- Sebastian Söderberg
- Matthew Southgate
- Ockie Strydom
- Connor Syme
- Justin Thomas
- Sami Välimäki
- Matth Wallace
- Dale Whitnell
- Jeff Winther
Did Ernie Els Win The Nedbank Golf Challenge?
The South African legend won the tournament in 1999, 2000 and 2002 and is one of only four players along with Lee Westwood, David Frost and Nick Price to win it three times. Tommy Fleetwood will join that list if he wins the 2023 tournament.
Where Is The Nedbank Golf Challenge Being Played?
The Nedbank Golf Challenge is held at the Gary Player Country Club in South Africa's Sun City. The course is one of the longest in the world at 8,000 yards from the championship tees and is also widely regarded as one of the best in the country.
