Since Ernie Els won the inaugural contest in 1995 as many as 11 South Africans have won the Alfred Dunhill Championship, but who will walk away victorious in 2019?
The Alfred Dunhill Championship has a rich history of producing homegrown winners since the Big Easy got over the line all those years ago. He returns this week as part of a strong local contingent as the nation’s top players attempt to regain the famous trophy that was last won by a local in 2017 when Brandon Stone topped the pile.
Stone’s triumph was the sixth consecutive home victory at the championship, with South Africans winning every edition of the contest between 2011 and 2017.
There will be plenty of players looking to add to that tally this week, including the 2019 Scandinavian Invitation champion Erik van Rooyen, eight-time European Tour winner Branden Grace, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who clinched his maiden title at the Andalucía Masters.
The Sunshine Tour’s best will be quietly confident of upstaging the big names in attendance with Thriston Lawrence, from nearby Mbombela, one to watch.
Lawrence currently lies second on the Order of Merit after his maiden victory in the Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Stellenbosch in October. To go with that win, he has two runner-up finishes as well as a further three top 10s. Add those to the five top 10s he had last season, and it’s very clear that he has been putting himself into contention frequently enough to make it only a matter of time before he pulls off his next victory.
