Nedbank Golf Challenge special

Coming up on HooperstarGolfer this week a special blog covering the Nedbank Golf Challenge. The invitational event is celebrating the start of a new era being co-sanctioned by the European Tour and Sunshine Tour and this blog will bring you in-depth features and news ahead, during and after the 2013 tournament.

Check back Tuesday night for more.

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"American Johnny Miller subdued Seve Ballesteros of Spain with a routine par on the ninth hole of a sudden-death playoff Sunday and won the biggest prize ever offered in the history of golf in one of the game's great showdowns."

In 1981 the prizes for winning The Masters ($60,000), US Open ($55,000), Open Championship ($50,000) and PGA Championship ($60,000) was a combined $225,000 so the excitement that the Sun City Million Dollar Challenge raised by providing $500,000 was huge. It was easy to see why 5 of the world's greatest players made the long trip south to Sun City in the winter of 1981. The event continued to evolve with an expanded 10-man field from 1982 and in 1987 the entire purse of $1million was made available to the winner in a winner-takes-all edition of the championship. In 2000 the winner's share was increased to $2million and official world golf ranking points were awarded as the tournament sought to increase its significance with the introduction of the $5million World Golf Championship events.

And now, in 2013, the tournament has evolved again to retain its relevance and place among the world's great tournaments by co-sanctioning with the European Tour and expanding to a 30-man field. $6.5million is on offer this week and $1,250,000 will be won by the champion. In a world of golf which is dominated by tournaments with prize funds of $5million and higher it is difficult for the tournament to keep its place as the richest in golf, especially in a country which has struggled to attract the sufficient funds to host a World Golf Championship.

12 months ago the International Federation of PGA Tours announced the Tournament of Hope was to be sanctioned by all the tours, initially it was believed it would be a World Golf Championship with the richest ever prize fund of $10million. But WGC status never came and in the end the tournament never came to fruition. This left a void and created an opportunity for the Nedbank Golf Challenge to raise its status by becoming an official event on the European Tour rather than an end of season money grab.

Of course there are still problems in recruiting the best possible field for this week's tournament, with Tiger Woods' Northwestern Mutual World Challenge taking place in California at the same time. But it will be interesting to see how the tournament evolves in its new era and whether the likes of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott can be lured back to Sun City over the next few years.

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Sun disappears on day one at the Nedbank

Luke Donald leads after 11 holes of the 2013 Nedbank Golf Challenge on a day when play was suspended twice due to the threat of lightning in South Africa. The first stoppage came at 12.12pm local time and play was suspended for nearly three hours, prior to and following the suspension Luke Donald played nicely to reach -5 through 11 holes, but his progress was halted once again when play was called for the day at 4.18pm local time.

Defending champion Martin Kaymer sits at -2 with former champion and 2013 Race to Dubai winner Henrik Stenson a shot further back on 1-under-par. Ernie Els and Justin Rose have made disappointing starts and are 8 and 9 shots back of Donald respectively.

Play will resume at 7.30am local time on Friday.

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