What is a golf travel enthusiasts dream? Great golf, Great weather, Great Value! Now where does one find this heady mix? Try South Africa for size and youd be surprised at the choices. South Africa, one of the most beautiful countries on Earth is not just about wild safaris and great beaches; it is also an incredible golf holiday destination. South Africas golf is blessed by the presence of 300 plus sunny days, beautiful landscapes and courses designed to challenge players of all skill levels. With such ingredients the golf soup can only be delicious as golf tours to South Africa quickly find out.

Although South African boasts of over 500 courses laid out on such diverse terrains as coastal plains to mountains, the country is still a secret few golf holiday makers know about. But more and more people are getting in on it mainly due to the interest generated by world class courses like The Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, home to the Nedbank Golf Challenge, the worlds richest golf tournament.

The Gary Player Country Club built in the crater of an extinct volcano, boasts of one of the finest and challenging courses in the world. Rising like an Oasis from the bushveld around it, Sun City is home to this premium course that plays 6,938 meters for a par of 72. Start off your South Africa golf tour with this gem for its wide fairways of Kikuyu grass that make for a harrowing time on the greenside rough, slick, kidney-shaped greens which require patience and physical endurance and the cunningly placed water hazards that ensure your game is played more between the ears than on the ground. The signature ninth, more than the rest of the holes, totally justifies the green fees of just $39 didnt we say it was affordable?

While at the Sun City Resort, also add the Lost City Golf Course to your golf package for just R385. The verdant fairways and the dramatically placed bunkers make this Gary Player layout intriguing and testing at the same time. At 6,983 meters, this track is probably most famous for its 13th hole where water hazards inhabited by crocodiles come into play!

South Africa is an expansive country and your golf travel would leave you jaded if it werent for invigorating courses like Leopard Creek, ranked 25th on Golf Digests Top 100 Courses outside America. Bordering the Kruger National Park, Leopard Creek is an 18-hole championship course designed by Gary Player. For R1300 you must play this captivating course as a fantastic addition to your golf package.

South Africa offers stunning courses in almost every part of the country but your golf tour would be incomplete without playing courses like the Robert Trent Jones designed Wild Coast Country Club, set against a backdrop of the Indian Ocean (R350 R330), The Durban Country Club, Arabella Country Club and the Glendower Golf Club, host of The Transvaal Open.

The sheer quantity of courses in South Africa makes it impossible to swing away at all of them in just one golf tour, but do try to include The River Club Golf Course in Sandton, Johannesburg , George Golf Club near Fancourt and The Pecanwood Golf & Country Club Estate bordering the Hartbeespoort Dam.

Rory Mario Trevor Sabbatini (born April 2, 1976) is a South African professional golfer.

Rory Sabbatini was born in Durban, South Africa. He started playing golf at age 4, but concentrated on it from age 12. He was recruited by the University of Arizona, turned professional in 1998 and joined the PGA Tour in 1999. He was the youngest member of the tour that year. He has four career wins on the PGA Tour and finished 2006 placed 12th on the money list. In September 2007, he reached the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time.

Sabbatini tied for second at the 2007 Masters Tournament and the 2007 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Sabbatini made waves at the Wachovia Championship in May 2007 when, after leading the field by one stroke after day three and then giving up five strokes to Tiger Woods to lose the tournament on Sunday, he proclaimed that Tiger was “more beatable than ever.” Rory went on to lead the field by one after day three at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August 2007, but ended eight strokes behind Tiger Woods.

Sabbatini has represented South Africa in the World Cup four times and won the event with Trevor Immelman in 2003.

In his first Presidents Cup appearance in 2007, Sabbatini had a dismal 0-3-1 record, as the International team was defeated by the United States team.

He currently resides at Southlake, Texas, United States.

PGA Tour wins (4)
No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of Victory Runner(s) up
1. Sep. 3, 2000 Air Canada Championship -16 (68-68-67-65=268) 1 stroke Grant Waite
2. Jun. 9, 2003 FBR Capital Open -14 (68-66-68-68=270) 4 strokes Joe Durant, Fred Funk, Scott Hoch, Duffy Waldorf
3. Feb. 19, 2006 Nissan Open -13 (67-65-67-72=271) 1 stroke Adam Scott
4. May 27, 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial -14 (70-67-62-67=266) Playoff Jim Furyk, Bernhard Langer

Team appearances
World Cup (representing South Africa): 2002, 2003 (winners), 2004, 2006
Presidents Cup (International Team): 2007

Retief Goosen (born February 3, 1969) is a South African professional golfer who has been in the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings for several years.

Goosen was born in Pietersburg (now Polokwane), South Africa. His amateur career was briefly interrupted when he was struck by lightning twice at a young age. He turned professional in 1990, following a win in the South African Amateur Championship of the same year. His main achievements since have been two U.S. Open wins (in 2001 and 2004), and heading the European Tour Order of Merit (money list) in 2001 and 2002.

Early Life
Retief was born in Pietersburg, South Africa. Retief was the son of Theo Goosen, a local real estate agent and amateur golfer. He introduced the game of golf to Retief at an early age. Theo took a strict approach to parenting. “Look, I never made life easy for my kids,” said Theo “We never spoiled them. We never pleasurized them.” Goosen even admits that his father put pressure on him. When Goosen was fifteen he was golfing with his friend Henri Potgieter at Pietersburg Golf Club. They were playing through a small dizzle when lightning struck. Henri was knocked from his feet and when he stood back up saw Retief lying on the ground on his back. Henri retold the story to GolfWorld “I wanted to know his reaction. What I did see was his golf clubs and his golf bag. Then I saw him lying on his back. His tongue was down his throat and his eyes were backward, and he was breathing weird. He had no clothes on; they’d been burned from his body. I remember picking up his spectacles. I didn’t know what to do. It looked like he was dead. I was screaming for help. Fortunately, there were guys teeing off on the 12th hole. They came running toward us. From then on, I can’t remember much. They picked him up and put him in a car.” Goosen’s shoes had disintegrated from his feet, his underwear and watch band had melted to his body. He was unable to put his shoes on for weeks afterwords. He recovered enough to grab another set of clubs and take up the game a few weeks later. Goosen’s doesn’t remember the events that happened, but his father took his son’s survival as a sign from God as good things to come.

Career summary
Goosen had enjoyed success on the European Tour but it wasn’t until 2001 where he made his name in America with a U.S. Open win on a very tough Southern Hills Golf course. Goosen nearly lost his chance at victory after missing a short putt on the final green but managed to recover to make a play-off with the 1996 PGA Championship winner Mark Brooks. Goosen dominated the next day’s 18-hole playoff winning by two shots. He finished 2001 with three wins, 11 top-tens and the European Tour Order of Merit and followed it up with another in 2002. After his third win of the 2001 season, Goosen rose to a career-high 11th in the world.

Goosen’s second major championship and second U.S. Open title came in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. The USGA had prepared extremely tough conditions which were later argued by players as “unfair.” Goosen won the U.S. Open by two strokes over fan favorite Phil Mickelson. Goosen had 24 putts in the final round and 11 one-putts.

In 2005 Goosen was in pursuit of his third U.S. Open and his second in a row. Goosen led by three strokes after three rounds of golf at the Pinehurst No. 2 course. However Goosen disappeared in the final round with a score of 81 and he ended up finishing in 11th place. In an interview after his round Goosen said “I messed up badly. I obviously threw this one away.”

Goosen has been a consistent player: he has won internationally every year since 1995, and also won a PGA Tour event every year from 2001 to 2005. Additionally, he has spent a long period of time in the top 5 of the Official World Golf Rankings, and in 2006 reached a career-best third place, but since late 2006 he has had a dip in performance.

2007 was an average season for Goosen’s standards. A victory at the Qatar Masters in January - when he finished birdie-eagle for the win, looked to be a sign of things to come along with being the European Tour player of the month in January. Goosen posed a threat on the final day at The Masters. He held the lead till a bogey on the par-three twelve, Goosen failed to rebound paring each of his six remaining holes including two short par-fives. He finished tied for second, two behind Zach Johnson. However after this Goosen’s best finish throughout the rest of the year was a tie for 15th at the BMW Asian Open, and he ended 2007 having slumped down to 26th in the world rankings.

At the start of 2008 Goosen withdrew from the Qatar Masters as defending champion due to problems with his vision after undergoing corrective laser surgey ten days before the tournament began. He was forced to return to his home in London, England for further treatment.

Goosen is known for his extremely calm demeanor, a trait that has earned him the nickname “The Iceman” on the PGA Tour. He is also affectionately called “The Goose.” The term unflappable is a term commonly connect with Retief because of his attitude on the course. Goosen’s mother attributes her son’s calm demeanor because of the effects left on Goosen after he was struck by lightning.

He is now married with a son and daughter, and has homes in Ascot, Berkshire, England and Orlando, Florida, U.S. as well as retaining residence in Polokwane, South Africa

Major Championships

Wins (2)
Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin Runners Up
2001 U.S. Open Tied for lead -4 (66-70-69-71=276) Playoff 1 Mark Brooks
2004 U.S. Open (2) 2 stroke lead -4 (70-66-69-71=276) 2 strokes Phil Mickelson

1 Defeated Brooks in 18-hole playoff: Goosen (70), Brooks (72)

PGA Tour wins (6)
2001 (1) U.S. Open
2002 (1) BellSouth Classic
2003 (1) Chrysler Championship
2004 (2) U.S. Open, The Tour Championship
2005 (1) The INTERNATIONAL
Major championships are shown in bold.

European Tour wins (14)
Legend
Major Championships (2)
Other European Tour (12)

No. Date Tournament Winning Score Margin of Victory Runner(s) up
1. June 16, 1996 Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge -11 (66-69-70-72=277) 2 strokes Ross Drummond
2. June 29, 1997 Peugeot Open de France -17 (64-67-70-70=271) 1 stroke Jamie Spence
3. May 9, 1999 Novotel Perrier Open de France -12 (69-65-68-70=271) Playoff Greg Turner
4. September 17, 2000 Trophée Lancôme -13 (69-71-64-67=271) 1 stroke Michael Campbell
5. June 17, 2001 U.S. Open -4 (66-70-69-71=279) Playoff Mark Brooks
6. July 15, 2001 The Scottish Open at Loch Lomond -16 (62-69-66-71=268) 3 strokes Thomas Bjørn
7. October 28, 2001 Telefonica Open de Madrid -20 (66-64-66-68=264) Playoff Steve Webster
8. January 27, 2002 Johnnie Walker Classic -14 (70-68-63-73=274) 8 strokes Pierre Fulke
9. September 14, 2003 Trophée Lancôme -18 (63-65-68-70=266) 4 strokes Paul McGinley
10. June 20, 2004 U.S. Open -4 (70-66-69-71=276) 2 strokes Phil Mickelson
11. July 4, 2004 Smurfit European Open -13 (69-66-72-68=275) 5 strokes Richard Green, Peter O’Malley, Lee Westwood
12. September 1, 2005 Linde German Masters -20 (67-68-66-67=268) 1 stroke Nick Dougherty
13. December 18, 2005 South African Airways Open -10 (73-70-69-70=282 1 stroke Ernie Els
14. January 28, 2007 Qatar Masters -15 (65-68-71-69=273) 1 stroke Nick O’Hern

Goosen’s two U.S. Open wins are repeated here because the three major championships played in the U.S. have been part of the European Tour’s schedule since 1998.

Sunshine Tour wins (9)
1991 Iscor Newcastle Classic
1992 Spoornet Classic, Bushveld Classic, Witbank Classic
1993 Mount Edgecombe Trophy
1995 Phillips South African Open
2002 Dimension Data Pro-Am
2004 Nedbank Golf Challenge
2005 South African Airways Open (co-sanctioned with European Tour)

Other wins (4)
2003 Tiger Skins Game
2005 Volkswagen Masters-China (Asian Tour)
2006 Volkswagen Masters-China (Asian Tour), Nelson Mandela Invitational (unofficial money event in South Africa; with Bobby Lincoln)

Team appearances
Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing South Africa): 1995, 1996, 1997 (winners), 1998 (winners), 1999, 2000
World Cup (representing South Africa): 1993, 1995, 2000, 2001 (winners), 2007
Presidents Cup (International team): 2000, 2003 (Draw), 2005, 2007