Tournament: Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player
Race to Dubai: Tournament 3 of 42
Opening Swing: Tournament 3 of 5
Venue: Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, South Africa
Prize Fund: USD$6,000,000
Hashtag: #NGC2025 #DPWT
Download full transcripts here…
Tournament Preview
World Number 13 Viktor Hovland is ready to embrace the test presented by Gary Player Country Club – and enjoy ‘incredible’ Sun City – as he revels in his debut appearance at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player.
The European Ryder Cup star is feeling good about his game and fully recovered from the neck injury that interrupted his Bethpage Black experience in September, as he gets his 2026 Race to Dubai campaign under way in South Africa.
The Norwegian DP World Tour and PGA TOUR winner is looking forward to taking on a course that he expects to challenge every part of his game, and in the meantime has been enjoying the Sun City resort, including safaris at the nearby Pilanesberg National Park.
He’ll be looking to take inspiration from a man who certainly made the most of his own Nedbank Golf Challenge debut – defending champion Johannes Veerman.
The American claimed his second DP World Tour title and the biggest win of his career last year, overturning a five-shot deficit in the final round to claim a dramatic one-shot victory as he teed it up at Gary Player Country Club for the first time.
He is proud to be part of an elite roll call of players to have won “Africa’s Major” – including former World Number Ones Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo and Ernie Els – and he is enjoying every minute of reliving the memories of his triumph.
Fellow American Will Zalatoris is also delighted to be returning after an enjoyable debut last year, and has a spring in his step following successful surgery on the back injury that has blighted the past few years of his career.
After a tied 18th place finish last December, Zalatoris says that becoming the third American in three years to claim the trophy – following Veerman and Max Homa – would be one of the most important wins of his career after overcoming his injury problems.
Player Quotes
Viktor Hovland: You can’t really fake it around here. The rough is pretty juicy. Sometimes when you miss it and it sits up, you can kind of get away with it, but the greens are so firm that it’s hard to stop it, even though you can land it on the green, but it’s most likely going to roll over.
Sometimes if the ball’s buried in the rough, I mean, it’s just a chip out. And then even if you do hit the fairway, it’s no cakewalk from there. The greens are tiny, even if you’re going to the middle of the green. It’s small areas, but of course, they’re going to tuck the pins and then you’re looking about just five or six steps around the holes there. So, yeah, it’s going to test every single part of your game.
It’s kind of been a challenging period throughout the last two years, but I think, even though I haven’t been super happy with the way I’ve swung it the past, even couple months, I’ve started to get some consistent results.
Played nicely at Wentworth, even had a nice finish to the FedExCup playoffs in the States, and in India, just about a month ago, another sixth place finish. So, things are trending in the right direction, and hopefully it just continue to build on that.
It’s incredible. The resort is awesome, and we’ve already been on a couple safari trips on Monday night and Tuesday morning, and we’re actually getting ready to go out there in a couple hours time, so, just trying to soak it all in and see as much as I can.
Johannes Veerman: In the Pro Am, walking down hole 9 there is a little walkway that goes up to the green and has all the past champions on that walk down. That one hit pretty good because the first time I played this course years ago, I remember seeing Ballesteros, Westwood, Ernie Els, Goosen.
You know, you see the names and the people that have won this tournament and I remember the first time walking down the bridge, I thought, “Wow, this is an unbelievable list of champions.” And today to walk down hole 9 and see my name as part of that, I mean, that one hit me pretty hard.
When you’re here, it’s stunning, and we’re playing a world class venue. Gary Player, you know, he’s the GOAT right? He’s hosting this event. So, everything added together makes his place just incredibly special.
I think most of us are starting our 2026 season this week as well. To come back out, start a new year, playing an amazing place in an amazing country, it just means a lot.
Will Zalatoris: Last year was special. I’d heard about it since I was a kid, you know, growing up with some legends of the game that have come here through the years. It’s just fun to be back here. You know, doing the safari to start off your week is about as fun as it gets. I brought my wife this year and, seeing a momma leopard with a baby is as good as it gets.
So it’s special off the golf course, but obviously playing in Mr. Player’s event is even more special. The golf course is in phenomenal shape this year, too.
Yeah, it’s feeling great. I had the disc replaced. You know, I battled it for about four years, did every modality that is under the sun to try to get back to being healthy, but essentially, I had gotten to a point where I was bone on bone and needed some help.
Considering everything I’ve gone through the last three years, it would probably be the most important win I’ve ever had. You know, going through those few years that I’ve had, not knowing if I was going to be able to play again, no matter what injury you go through, sometimes that’ll creep into your mind. But the fact that I’m on the other side of it now is so gratifying.
