Players lineup for Dunhill Championship in South Africa

BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2004 dunhill Championship | Preview | 22 Jan 2004

The Houghton Golf Club in Johannesburg is again the venue for the Alfred Dunhill Championship and, as was the case at last week’s South African Airways Open, the tournament is co-sanctioned with the European Tour.

Trevor Immelman coming off his fine win last week is the favourite to repeat the dose but previous winner Justin Rose and a resurgent Lee Westwood may also dispute favouritism with Immelman.

Rose won here two years ago but the defending champion this week is England’s Mark Foster.

Designed originally by the Club professional A.M.Copland in 1926, the Houghton Golf Club’s course underwent significant remodelling in 1993 then again in 1996 by the South African design firm of Matkovich and Hayes, the Hayes being the brilliant South African golfer Dale Hayes who disappeared from the tournament scene in the eighties.

Australasia is represented by Brett Rumford, Brad Kennedy, Jarrod Moseley, Daniel Gaunt, Wade Ormsby, Stephen Scahill and Marcus Fraser. Fraser was fifth last week at the South African Open while Rumford, who led after the first round, was 9th along with Scahill and Kennedy in 16th place.

Ormsby played in the recent New Zealand Open where he tied for 7th.

This event concludes the South African stage of the 2004 European Tour following which the tour heads for Thailand for the Johnnie Walker Classic which is co-sanctioned with both the Asian PGA Tour and the Australasian Tour.