Royal Durban Golf Club to favour South African golfers
When the inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship gets under way this week, many players will be hoping for a one last kill, given that this is the last tournament of the Sunshine Tour.
The first-ever Nelson Mandela Championship will be held at Royal Durban Golf Club. The course seems to be very straightforward in the first instance but it is a very tricky course nonetheless.
The golf course is not newly built and many South Africans have a vast experience on the magnificently-designed Royal Durban Golf Club.
There are not many high trees and there is not much undulation, however, the fairways are very narrow, which makes it tougher for the players.
With a terrible rough alongside the fairways, golfers need to time their shots to perfection in order to avoid the deadly rough patches.
One advantage for the local golfers will be that they have the experience of playing on this golf course before. The likes of Branden Grace and George Coetzee are both the men in form as they have been playing at this course.
Andrew Curlewis is one such man who will be looking to shine at the Royal Durban Golf Club. Andrew has been in terrific form on the Sunshine Tour this season, and more importantly, he has been playing at this golf course for a long time now.
“Going back to junior days, the first time I played the course was back in 1996,” said Curlewis. “There was a tournament here almost every year, and I’ve played a lot of social games with friends over the last little while”.
He knows the course inside out and that will be a major factor in his success at the first-ever Nelson Mandela Championship.
Weather will surely play its part in this tournament, and there have already been some heavy showers. Only those golfers who have the experience on playing at this locality will find success.
The course seems to be very straightforward but it is not like that the moment players tee off.
“In general, it’s a long course, and it will be especially so this week with it is being so wet,” said Curlewis. “It’s going to be a long, straight-hitters’ course this week.
“There are a few of the par-fours which are short enough to be tempting, but they are risk-and-reward, so you can make birdies on them, but you could just as easily make bogey,” he added.
This is the best chance for a South African, especially Curlewis, to win Nelson Mandela Championship.
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