Ernie Els returns to Leopard Creek this week with bittersweet memories of the Gary Player-designed lay-out in Mpumalanga.
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Home favourite Ernie Els returns to Leopard Creek this week with bittersweet memories of the Gary Player-designed lay-out in Mpumalanga.
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The 2010 European Tour season gets underway with Thursday's Alfred Dunhill Championship and Els is undoubtedly the star attraction at the opening event of the second 'Race to Dubai'.
The 40-year-old knows how to win at this week's course having triumphed by three shots there at the end of 2005.
However, it also holds a few demons for him as, on his last visit two years ago, he was two ahead on the final tee and then incredibly twice found the lake, ran up a triple-bogey eight and handed the title to a surprised John Bickerton.
Indeed, water has cost the 'Big Easy' dear in recent times, just two months after that blunder on home soil he needed a closing birdie to force a play-off with Tiger Woods at the Dubai Desert Classic but took six.
Then last month, at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, he finished with a course record-equalling 63, but lost by one to Phil Mickelson after finding the drink with his approach to the par-five last and running up a bogey once again.
Positives
However, unsurprisingly Els is focusing on the positives ahead of his return to Leopard Creek.
"I love this tournament and the golf course that it's played on," he told his personal website.
"It has to be one of the most spectacular courses in the world, right on the edge of the Kruger National Park with the wildlife all around. It is pretty amazing."
Els' compatriot Richard Sterne is the defending champion, having beaten England's Robert Rock and Swede Johan Edfors by a shot last December.
However, the man heading to South Africa in undoubtedly the hottest form is Italian Edoardo Molinari, who has won four of his last six events.
While the first two of those were on the second tier Challenge Tour, he subsequently emerged victorious at the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan, where he beat Robert Karlsson in a play-off, and the week after that he teamed up with brother Francesco to give Italy their first-ever World Cup victory.
The former US Amateur champion finished only 147th on the main circuit two years ago and lost his card, but now he is ranked 59th in the world and a climb into the top 50 by the end of the year would take him back to The Masters in April.
