Bjorn out, Molinari in at Sun City
Francesco Molinari has been brought into the 12-man Nedbank Golf Challenge as a late replacement for injured Thomas Bjorn.
Italy’s Francesco Molinari has been brought into the 12-man field of the Nedbank Golf Challenge as a late replacement for injured Dane Thomas Bjorn.
Bjorn has not yet recovered from the neck injury that kept him out of last week’s World Cup at Mission Hills and has once more been forced to sideline himself.
“We are very disappointed that Thomas will not be joining us at Sun City at the end of one of the best seasons of his career,” said Alastair Roper, the Tournament Director of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
“He has conveyed to us how disappointed he is and how much he was looking forward to playing in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, but we completely understand his situation and hope that he recovers soon.”
Molinari, a member of the 2010 European Ryder Cup team who is currently ranked 39th in the world and 23rd on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai, has never before played in the Nedbank Golf Challenge and this will be his debut in this late season Invitational
“Francesco is a wonderful player who will definitely bring something special to the Nedbank Golf Challenge,” said Roper. “His brother Edoardo made his debut at Sun City last year, so I’m sure Francesco will be looking forward to this opportunity.”
No late changes have been made to the Nedbank Seniors field which in Nick Price, Tom Lehman, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam includes major winners who have each been the World Number one at various times in their distinguished careers
The fields for the Nedbank Golf Challenge and Senior Golf challenge are as follows:
2011 Nedbank Golf Challenge:
Luke Donald (England)
Lee Westwood (England)
Martin Kaymer (Germany)
Charl Schwartzel (South Africa)
Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland)
Kim Kyung-Tae (South Korea)
Robert Karlsson (Sweden)
Simon Dyson (England)
Francesco Molinari (Italy)
Anders Hansen (Denmark)
Jason Dufner (United States)
Darren Clarke (Northern Ireland)
2011 Nedbank Senior Challenge Field:
Jeff Sluman (USA)
Mark Calcavecchia (USA)
Nick Price (Zimbabwe)
Tom Lehman (USA)
David Frost (South Africa)
Mark O’Meara (USA)
Bernhard Langer (Germany)
Ian Woosnam (Wales)
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