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The Nedbank Golf Challenge is an annual golf tournament played on the Sun City Gary Player Country Club Course which is situated in South Africa’s North West Province. Over three decades, since the inaugural event which featured a field of only five players, the tournament has grown in stature, and what began as a ‘exhibition’ of golf, soon grew into a fully fledged tournament complete with official world ranking points.

The tournament has unquestionably become the greatest showcase of golf on the African continent and is fondly regarded as "Africa's Major".

Played during the first week of December, a time of the year when both the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup and the European Tour’s Race to Dubai have been concluded, the marquee names in professional golf consider the Nedbank Golf Challenge to be a year-end highlight, and despite the dates clashing with the Chevron World Challenge, the 30th Nedbank Golf Challenge attracted some of the biggest names in the game.

History:

The Nedbank Golf Challenge was inaugurated in 1981 and has had several previous names.

It was known as "The Million Dollar Challenge" in the early years. When it was first played in 1981 the purse was US$ 1 million, with a winner's share of $300,000. In 1987 the event was played on a "winner takes all" basis, with the winner claiming the whole of the million-dollar purse. This was designed to overcome any qualms the world's top golfers might have about competing in South Africa during the apartheid era, and it was successful in doing this in many cases. In 1988 the winner's prize was again $1million, but additional prizes were introduced. Nedbank had been involved since inception and took the mantle of title sponsor in 1994.

From 2000 to 2002 the first prize was US$2 million, from 2003 the winner's share of the total prize fund was reduced from more than half to around 30%. The standard winner's share on the PGA Tour is 18% and on the European Tour it is 16.67%. In 2006 the winner received $1.2 million out of a total purse of $4.385 million, so the prize distribution is now not far from the normal pattern for a professional tournament.

The total purse was increased in 2010 to US$ 5,000,000 with the winner receiving US$1,250,000

From 2006 the tournament carried Official World Golf Ranking points.

Past winners:

2010 – Lee Westwood ENG
2009 – Robert Allenby AUS
2008 - Henrik Stenson SWE
2007 - Trevor Immelman RSA
2006 Jim Furyk USA
2005 Jim Furyk USA
2004 Retief Goosen RSA
2003 Sergio García ESP
2002 Ernie Els RSA
2001 Sergio García ESP
2000 Ernie Els RSA
1999 Ernie Els RSA
1998 Nick Price ZIM
1997 Nick Price ZIM
1996 Colin Montgomerie SCO
1995 Corey Pavin USA
1994 Nick Faldo ENG
1993 Nick Price ZIM
1992 David Frost RSA
1991 Bernhard Langer GER
1990 David Frost RSA
1989 David Frost RSA
1988 Fulton Allem RSA
1987 Ian Woosnam WAL
1986 Mark McNulty ZIM
1985 Bernhard Langer GER
1984 Seve Ballesteros ESP
1983 Seve Ballesteros ESP
1982 Raymond Floyd USA
1981 Johnny Miller USA

The event is televised live for four days and has a viewership of close to 1.4 billion worldwide. The tournament is broadcasted to over 200 countries with the first ever broadcast in HD in 2010.

Selection Criteria

Defending Champion
Winner of the South African Tour Order of Merit
Ten places as per the Official World Rankings after the US PGA starting from number one.

The Sports Trust Challenge
Nedbank and Sun International host The Sports Trust Challenge each year, the day after the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Corporates pay to enter a four-ball, and play the Gary Player course in the same layout as the previous day's Nedbank Golf Challenge last round. Over R1m is raised for The Sports Trust each year to assist them in supporting sport development in South Africa. Both Nedbank and Sun International are founding trustees of The Sports Trust.

For further details visit www.nedbankgolfchallenge.com