SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA – DECEMBER 03: A view of the golf course prior to the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player 2026 at Gary Player CC on December 03, 2025 in Sun City, South Africa. (Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images)
Getty Images
In the most action-packed weekend of the DP World Tour’s Opening Swing, we get a true two-continent doubleheader.
Though the calendar has yet to officially flip the page, the DP World Tour’s 2026 Race to Dubai is already gathering steam. The Nedbank Golf Challenge and the Crown Australian Open now share the spotlight, splitting fan focus between the richest event of the Opening Swing and a national championship offering coveted Open Championship berths.
After an aperitif in Brisbane got the ball on a new season trickling, this weekend picks up the pace with simultaneous action taking place at Royal Melbourne and Gary Player GC. The top three finishers in the Melbourne event, who have not yet qualified, will punch a ticket to the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Meanwhile, the Sun City South Africa event shines just as brightly with a $6 million purse, the heftiest prize fund of the Opening Swing. Sandwiched together as they are, the two events showcase the DP World Tour’s global breadth and early season stakes.
Africa’s ‘Major’
The field at the Nedbank Challenge is comprised of global headliners alongside a cadre of local up-and-comers, in what is, in every meaningful way, Africa’s Major.
Norway’s Viktor Hovland, the marquee man in the field who is making his Nedbank debut, had his “welcome to South Africa” moment during the Pro-Am when his peanuts were pilfered by the local wildlife. Also making his first start in the tournament is Canada’s Nick Taylor, a five-time PGA Tour winner. Another intriguing storyline is Will Zalatoris’ return to action. The former major-championship fixture—who had a memorable cameo in Happy Gilmore 2—has been out since May after undergoing disc-replacement surgery (his second major back procedure in three years). Willy Z arrives in Sun City looking like a picture of health and brimming with optimism.
As he told the DP World Tour of his recovery, “this one was almost like a rebirth, where I’m waking up feeling taller, feeling more structured in my back.”
Since its inaugural edition in 1981, only half a dozen South Africans have lifted the trophy at their home tournament. That list is unsurprisingly helmed by Ernie Els who tasted victory here on three occasions with Branden Grace who now plays for LIV’s all Rainbow Nation Stinger squad the most recent local light to top the leaderboard.
Of the baker’s dozen countrymen in the field this week, there’s a particular foursome fully capable of making a leaderboard push: Garrick Higgo, Aldrich Potgieter, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Christo Lamprecht, who received his invite personally from Gary Player, all have the requisite game.
Royal Melbourne
Meanwhile Down Under, Royal Melbourne brings its own heft, with the aforementioned Open berths up for grabs. World No. 2 Rory McIlroy has been avidly collecting wins on storied stages, with this past year’s victories at Augusta National and Pebble Beach adding new notches to his belt, and he’d love to add Royal Melbourne to the list.
“There are a few venues in our game that maybe mean a bit more than some of the others” McIlroy said in a pre-tournament presser. McIlroy last played in Australia’s national Open in 2014 and he won it the year prior at Royal Sydney GC.
Following the first round of the Crown Australian Open, three players share the lead after Elvis Smylie, Carlos Ortiz and Ryan Fox all shot 65. Meanwhile in Sun City, Kristoffer Reitan leads the Nedbank Golf Challenge.