The intention was not to come back here – Ericsson

Flash forward to November 2013 and the Durban Country Club is getting ready to host its second successive Champions event after hosting the tournament in January 2013.

Now in it’s third staging in South Africa, organisers were confident the KwaZulu Natal area was the perfect choice for the tournament.

“We did say we want to move this tournament around in the world, coming back to South Africa every third year,” Per Ericsson, president of event management for the Swedish car manufacturers.

Hosting the event in Durban, however, was not Ericsson’s first choice. “The intention was not to come back here, and I’ve been open about that because we had other plans.

“Unfortunately, in the end, the venue we wanted to go to wasn’t ready so we had to go somewhere else.”

The Durban course proved a popular choice among the parties concerned. “The players were very happy with the last event here, and we were very happy.

“So that’s the easiest question we had to ask – ‘was the last tournament here a success?’ And only five or six weeks ago, we made the decision to come back here.”

The 2013 tournament, won by South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, failed to attract top European Tour players as it did not offer an appearance fee.

Acknowledging their failure to attract the bigger names eligible for the event, the organisers vastly increased the prize money, from US2.5-million (about R25-million) to US4-million (about R40-million) for the January 2014 edition.

“The tournament of champions, without the top champions, is not going to work for the European Tour or for us either,” Ericsson said.

“We had a great field last year, but we lacked three or four players. We’re not prepared to pay them personally, so that’s why we decided to make this a huge prize fund.”

The increased money would mean the player who finished last would be guaranteed US44,000 (about R440,000).

The payout worked out to more than current leader of the local Sunshine Tour Darren Fichardt had earned for the entire season.

“This tournament is up there with the top six tournaments on the European Tour with the prize fund. It’s also a limited field event with no cut, so you are assured of earning money when you come here.”

– Sapa