Trevor Immelman

The Cape-bred young gun has won the championship, the world's second oldest Open after the original itself, for the past two years, both times at his home club in South Africa, the Erinvale Country Club near Cape Town.

To get his hat-trick, though, he'll have to win this time in the back yard of fellow South African Tim Clark, the US based winner of the SA Open championship when it was last played at Durban CC in 2002.

He'll also have to hold off Darren Clarke, Northern Ireland's Ryder Cup star, and for some years now, one of Europe's finest golfers.

The cigar-puffing Ulsterman missed some golf at the end of last season to be with his wife Heather at the start of her treatment for cancer, but now that her response to her treatment has been good, a relieved and rejuvenated Clarke can be expected to hit Durban for the European Tour's opening event of the year with much of his old drive and vigour.

And the fact that he has promised to denote all of his prize money from the South African Open to the Tsunami Relief Appeal will only help spur him on.

South Africa's highest ranked players, Ernie Els, the last SA Open winner at Durban CC before Clarke, and Retief Goosen, who has never won the event, are heavily committed to US Golf at the moment and sadly won't be playing in the event.

Nor will the European Tour's highest world ranked players, Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, who won four European Titles last year, and Colin Montgomerie are others giving the Durban heat and humidity a miss this year

But Immelman, Clark and Clarke certainly won't have things all their own way.

Not with former SA Open winner David Frost, fresh from his 1st round course record and his victory in the British Open qualifier at Atlantic Beach near Cape Town last week, playing in a field that also includes English Ryder Cup star David Howell.

Charl Schwartzel, this season's dunhill Championship winner at Leopard Creek and one of Immelman's toughest opponents at Erinvale two years ago, is another who should not be left out of the equation.

Nor should last year's winner at dunhill winner at Houghton, Marcel Siem.

Together with a host of other European Tour winners including Phillip Golding, Kenneth Ferrie, Darren Fichardt and Richard Sterne, the slim German is quite capable on his day of mounting a formidable challenge.

The tournament favourites might also find it worthwhile to keep a beady eye on European Tour young guns of the calibre of England's Nick Dougherty and South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen.

If you have noted his maturity out on the course you might never guess that Oosthuizen, along with Schwartzel, is barely out of his teens and one of the youngest golfers on the European Tour.