It was great to be back on home soil at Sun City for the Nedbank Golf Challenge, and when I look back at things I have to consider it a good week to have had a top-10 finish. But, when I woke up on the Sunday morning I was thinking of a lot more, I have to admit.
I was paired with Jeunghun Wang and Andy Sullivan in the final threeball of the tournament and from there we could see what was happening to the leaderboard around us. I didn’t feel any pressure and, in fact, the crowd really got into things, making it such an enjoyable experience.
But nothing went my way in that fourth round. I’d started three behind after those two missed putts at Nos 17 and 18 in the third round, but still thought that if I could hang in and a few putts were to drop, I’d be in the thick of things, especially as I was hitting the ball well.
Then Wang made two birdies in the opening four holes to go five ahead of me and all I could try to do was keep it together. But then I made an ugly double bogey on the par-three 7th.
All the while we could see Alex Noren was playing some unbelievable golf. It was one of those days where things couldn’t go wrong. I reckoned to myself that I could stay with Wang and Andy the way things were going, but Alex was having one of those rounds. There was no way anyone was going to challenge him on the day.
Especially considering I’d had a good Friday and Saturday, the final round was frustrating for me, so it was very disappointing I couldn’t make a run at it. But, take nothing away from Alex. He made a difficult course look easy to play on.
The conditions during the week were as windy as it gets at Sun City and that made the course play really tough. And it was set up tough – which is something I like and appreciate. I like being challenged by a tough layout, where shot making and club selection plays a bigger role.
What I found was that the wind made things very different compared to how you’d find it if playing at the coast. The course is a lot longer than at the coast and when the wind is strong it’s a very different experience. The ball travels a long way through the air at Sun City and when it’s a strong wind and you’re hitting long-irons, you doubt yourself at times, because it plays a big role on those shots.
After Sun City it was off to Abu Dhabi for the final event in the Race to Dubai, then back to the US where I’m playing in Tiger Woods’ tournament before heading back home for a Christmas break, which will take in my charity golf day at Pinnacle Point.
