Norman to play South African Open
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2007 South African Airways Open | Preview | 12 Dec 2007
The South African Airways Open brings the 2007 year on the European Tour to a close this week when the event is staged at the Pearl Valley Golf Estate in Paarl in the province of Western Cape and about an hour by road from Capetown.
The Pearl Valley Golf Estate layout is Jack Nicklaus designed layout bordering the wine growing district of Franschhoek and featuring a backdrop of the Simonsberg and Drakenstein Mountains. It was opened in 2003 and stages the South African Open for the first occasion this year.
While the event is the 6th tournament of season 2008 on the European Tour, it is the last event of the calendar year for 2007. The field is headed by last week’s runner up Ernie Els who surprisingly self imploded at the final hole of the Alfred Dunhill Championship providing the opportunity for John Bickerton to win his third European Tour event.
Els is hardly likely to make the same mistake again but he has more than Bickerton to worry about this week as the 2007 US Open Champion Angel Cabrera and locals, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman and Tim Clark add significant strength to the field.
Also and perhaps surprisingly in the field is Australian Greg Norman, who is playing the South African Open in preference to his own National Open in Sydney. It would appear that Norman is using this trip in combination with his golf course design business activities. Having finished joint runner up last week at the Merrill Lynch Shootout, Norman has once again shown that age shall not weary him in terms of his capacity to perform.
Norman has designed a golf course in Dubai for Dubai World, the parent company of the new owner of Pearl Valley, Leisurecorp. It would seem there is some relationship between his being in South Africa and ongoing work he might acquire with the group.
While Norman is a surprise inclusion in the field, Rory Sabbatini is perhaps a surprise omission. Sabbatini is playing in this week’s Tiger Challenge in California after having played in Australia last week.
