South Africa has the weather, the courses ... and the players. The country has produced some of the best in the game, including multiple major winners Bobby Locke, Gary Player, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and a host of others that regularly challenge for titles around the world.
Gary Player, a nine-time major winner, will forever be associated with two of the greatest players in the history of the game, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. Together, those three took golf to another level, pulling millions of new fans to the game with their great battles down the years.
Player's career is an astounding catalogue of successes, with 163 career victories, far more than either Nicklaus or Palmer managed. Player is also probably the most travelled athlete in the history of sport, having flown in excess of 17.5-million kilometres during his career!
Ernie Els is undoubtedly one of the most popular golfers in the world. He is also one of the best. His apparently easy-going demeanour has earned him the nickname "The Big Easy", although Els says that perception is not quite right; he admits to feeling big pressure, just like everyone else.
Another reason for his nickname is the beautiful, lazy-looking swing that somehow propels the ball over 300 metres down the fairway.
Els is regularly one of the top money-winners on both the European and US PGA Tours, but he also plays in Australia and South Africa, and sometimes in Asia.
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