Jorge Campillo received a call this Monday from the DP World Tour informing him that he had been placed as the first reserve for the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player. Being the first reserve does not mean he will play the tournament, but at least he has some chance. If someone withdraws due to injury in the coming hours, the Spaniard would be their replacement. For this reason, Jorge has packed his bags at full speed and is travelling today to Johannesburg. It also helps in making this decision that a week later he will play again in South Africa at the Alfred Dunhill Championship. This way, if in the worst-case scenario he doesn’t get into the Nedbank, at least he is already in South Africa to play the next tournament.
Campillo’s journey puts a couple of records within reach. The first is the record for consecutive editions actively playing this tournament since it became part of the DP World Tour calendar (year 2013). Right now, he shares that honour with Pablo Larrazábal. As curious as it is true. Two Spaniards are the ones who have played the most consecutive editions of the Nedbank actively for 12 years. Both have seven consecutive participations. Thus, Campillo needs that extra bit of luck for a withdrawal to occur to stay at the top with Larrazábal, as the Barcelona player is one hundred percent going to play the tournament.
In this regard, it should be noted that Larrazábal, in addition to adding eight consecutive editions of the Nedbank starting Thursday, will become the player with the most overall participations since the tournament was integrated into the DP World Tour calendar. It will be a total of nine, leaving behind Branden Grace, who remained at eight and will not play this year.
The other record hanging by the same thread for Campillo is the number of Spaniards present at this event. The record to date is six, achieved on two occasions, 2016 (Alejandro Cañizares, Nacho Elvira, Pablo Larrazábal, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Adrián Otaegui and Jorge Campillo) and 2019 (Jorge Campillo, Nacho Elvira, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Álvaro Quirós, Adria Arnaus and Pablo Larrazábal). This year we already have six confirmed and it could be seven if Campillo ends up getting in.
The more Spaniards we have at the event, the more chances there are of achieving a victory that has been stubbornly elusive since the tournament became part of the DP World Tour. It will be the eleventh edition with a balance of 0 wins and 2 second places. However, in the 32 previous editions when the tournament was not part of the European circuit, Spain achieved four victories (two by Seve and two by Sergio García) and another two second places (one by Seve and another by Olazábal).
The Nedbank Golf Challenge, known in its early days as the million-dollar tournament, began in 1981. In that edition, Seve lost in a playoff against Johnny Miller. The other three participants were Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Lee Treviño. Quite something.
The six Spaniards already confirmed to play this year between Thursday and Sunday, coinciding with the Australian Open, are Ángel Hidalgo, Eugenio Chacarra, Pablo Larrazábal, Nacho Elvira, Alex del Rey and Ángel Ayora. Three are making their debut in the tournament this year: Chacarra, Del Rey and Ayora.
The Nedbank will be the third tournament of the DP World Tour season following the BMW PGA Australian Championship won by David Puig on Sunday and the Australian Open which, although also held this week, is the second as it starts earlier.
