Els leads SA charge of Major players for Alfred Dunhill Championship

Ernie Els will lead a strong contingent of South African Major champions and former Alfred Dunhill Championship winners for this year’s tournament at Leopard Creek from 13-16 December.

Els, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Brandon Stone have all confirmed their participation in this championship, which is co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and European Tour.

The championship makes its return to the schedule for the first time since 2016 following the extensive improvements to this internationally acclaimed golf course.

Els, a four-time Major winner, returns as the 2005 Alfred Dunhill Championship winner and also the runner-up in 2007, but to a Leopard Creek golf course that has had several enhancements made to it, in particular to the bunkering and certain tee boxes.

Schwartzel, the winner of the 2011 Masters, will also encounter a Leopard Creek course that is different to the one upon which he has won a record four Alfred Dunhill Championship titles and also finished second four times.

Fellow Major winner Oosthuizen, who triumphed in the 2010 Open, has twice finished runner-up at Leopard Creek.

Grace returns as the 2014 champion and also the only golfer to have won both this championship and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

And Stone is back as the defending champion following his impressive six-stroke victory in 2016, after which the tournament was removed from the schedule for a year to allow for the course changes.