A challenging month lies ahead for South African golf, starting with tomorrow?s Gary Player Invitational at Fancourt: slashed budgets, scheduling conflicts and the draw for a rather large football tournament, mean that the annual summer celebration of the game has had a tough time readying itself for the season. But while there might not be quite as much glamour as usual in terms of the marquee names being paraded across South African fairways, this could just turn out to be the most exciting month of golf we?ve ever had.

The players have a pro-am day at The Links at Fancourt today, a chance to get a feel for a course that?s both beautiful, and plain nasty, with some of the most punitive rough in the game; then tomorrow, the tournament that emerged out of the wreckage of the Nelson Mandela Invitational begins proper. The celebrity list is a little more muted than in past years, perhaps, but an event headlined by the eternally youthful Player himself, and with a supporting cast led by Major winners Retief Goosen and Angel Cabrera, is going to offer some stellar golf; it might be a celebrity event played in the spirit of philanthropy, but golfers the calibre of Player, Cabrera and the Goose ? along with Louis Oosthuizen and Thomas Aiken, who both played in last week?s Race To Dubai finale ? will ensure a fierce vein of competition beneath the veneer of cheery camaraderie.

And for Cabrera and Goosen, it?s a warm-up for a tournament that has an unexpected silver lining to the dearth of regular cast members. The clash this year with Tiger?s tournament in America has meant a very different field for 2009 at the Nedbank Golf Challenge (17 of the world?s top 20 are playing in The Striped One?s fundraiser), but the upshot of that is fresh young talent determined to perform, where in the past many of the bigger names have visibly gone through the motions at Sun City. Watching Cabrera launch golf balls close on 400 metres through the Highveld air is always a breathtaking sight, and Goosen will remain an enduring attraction for home fans, but it?s the new wave that makes this year?s pilgrimage to the Gary Player Country Club so enticing.

Rory McIlroy?s year has more than justified the hype that?s followed the little Hobbit lookalike for the last couple of years, yesterday?s sublime World Cup performance further indication that we?ll be in the presence of a special talent this time next week. McIlroy?s remained remarkably grounded for a man generally hailed as Tiger?s eventual successor, and watching him for four days is reason enough to get to the tournament. Add Nick Watney, Ross Fisher, Richard Sterne (at the World Cup in China this week with Rory Sabbatini) and Hunter Mahan, and the golf?s new generation has a healthy representation that suggests we could be in for the most competitive tournament we?ve had in some time.

From there it?s up to Leopard Creek, Johann Rupert?s private slice of golfing heaven, and an event that has a habit of introducing us to talent primed for an impact on the European Tour. McIlroy played a year ago, and will probably stay on after Sun City for the dunhill championship, and there?s a good chance that Tim Clark will do likewise, making for a powerful trio of favourites with one Ernie Els, who has some demons to slay at Leopard Creek after some nightmare moments in the last couple of years. The established names are finishing another manic year, while the new additions to the Tour are chasing an early impact on the 2010 season, which will be officially underway when the dunhill is contested.

And finally, the most intriguing of the year?s tournaments. After the glamour of last year?s field, the South African Open will be comparatively muted, the planet?s economic health having hit hard at the tournament?s Dubai backers. But an exquisite Pearl Valley layout will still have a healthy sprinkling of established names and precocious youth, with European Tour points again at stake. The marketing focus has been on the new crowd of local stars ? defending champion Sterne, Oosthuizen, Aiken, James Kamte, Charl Schwartzel ? and as with the Nedbank Golf Challenge, ferocious competition is on the cards for a title that still has significant meaning for South African golfers.

The golf doesn?t quite finish there, as Ernie Els?s Invitational and the launch of the Golf Hall of Fame wrap a packed month on the fairways; it?s a month that should overcome initial wariness, and emerge as a strong endorsement for a sport that?s had a tough year all over the world thanks to the economy. Gary Player will kick it all off with his usual blend of enthusiasm and infectious patriotism; by the time McIlroy and the new generation of golfing talent have finished the key leg of the local summer, Player?s sentiments should have extended to the rest of a golf community that?s set to be pleasantly surprised. December won?t just be about the draw for that rather large football tournament.

  • A packed summer means conflicted schedules, and so I?m reluctantly skipping this year?s Gary Player; instead, I?ll be at the Golf Show at the World of Golf in Woodmead, Johannesburg to launch my new summer range of Hazard Golf Clothing. Florals, polka dots, pin stripes, fluorescent camo: the new trousers (in men?s and women?s ranges) are as colourful as anything I?ve produced. All the big golf players will be out, armed with some space age new equipment, so if you?re at a loose end today, tomorrow or Sunday, then swing by ? and make sure you drop in at the Hazard stand for this year?s definitive golf Christmas present...

  • Jacques Kallis has received all manner of awards, broken countless records, and been acclaimed across the planet as a modern great; but it?s a rather modest endorsement of his cricketing achievements that has probably meant more to him than any other he?s received in his rock star career. Kallis is an enormously proud Wynberg old boy, and the school plays a key role in his Jacques Kallis Foundation; the school has paid tribute to arguably it?s greatest ever student by naming the first team field as the Jacques Kallis Oval. A small gesture on the scale of the international game, perhaps, but one that Kallis will take enormous pride from.

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  • Contact Dan at dan@metropolis.co.za