Sun City — Gusting winds and the "brutal" rough at the Gary Player Country Club could be the biggest obstacles for the 12 golfers vying for the $1,2m winner's cheque at the Nedbank Golf Challenge starting today.

Heavy, soaking rain could also play a role in the golfers' performance if the predicted thundershowers persist in the Pilanesberg vicinity.

While rain has its advantages, such as softening up the greens -- which would allow the golfers to attack the usually fast greens -- it could disrupt the golfers significantly if play is called off during their rounds.

Lightning and rain forced the Pro-Am to be called off yesterday afternoon after play had been suspended twice during the day. A similar situation today could prove to be disruptive for the golfers as it will undoubtedly break their concentration.

SA's highest-ranked golfer Ernie Els, fifth on the official world rankings, will start the tournament as a favourite, with England's Justin Rose, ranked eighth in the world, and Australia's Adam Scott, the second-highest ranked player in the field at sixth, following closely.

SA's other top golfers, Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini, were further down the list of favourites with odds at 10-1, while SA's Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner Charl Schwartzel -- the lowest- ranked player in the field at 81st -- was rock-bottom on the list with the odds at 25-1.

The Gary Player Country Club is a happy hunting ground for Els, in particular, as he has won the title three times -- a feat only achieved by Nick Price and David Frost in the tournament's 27 years.

But the "Big Easy", who recently won the HSBC World Match Play Championship, should not be too confident going into the tournament as Rose -- who has also been in good form this year -- comes fresh off a victory in the Volvo Masters and will be determined to continue this form over the next few days. Sabbatini has also had a good year, with six top-five finishes and 11 top-10 finishes to his name.

In fact, the golfer who has been playing the course since Sunday finished in the top 10 in the past five tournaments he played. Given the fact that he will be making his debut at Sun City, he will want to prove a point to his more popular countrymen Els, Goosen and Immelman.

The other golfers making their first appearance at the tournament are Rose, Australia's Geoff Ogilvy and Sweden's Niclas Fasth -- who replaced defending champion Jim Furyk in the field following Furyk's withdrawal because of a recurring neck injury.

Sabbatini was wary yesterday of entering the tournament with too much confidence and said he would take it easy rather than put too much pressure on himself.

Sabbatini warned that the unforgiving rough and the wind could complicate matters.

"The rough is pretty brutal," said Sabbatini. "So the key is to keep the ball on the fairways and to get it into the right position on the greens... the greens are shaped differently to the last time I played here eight years ago and the course plays a lot longer.

"It is a tough course."

About the wind, he said: "The wind is changing direction all the time, which makes the course a little tougher to play. If the wind continues the way it is over the next few days it will influence our club selection and will make it tougher to get the ball below the pin."

Commenting on his chances of winning, Sabbatini said: "I'm feeling pretty good. I'm ready for the tournament to get going. The course just started to dry out today (yesterday) and started playing like it usually does. But the rain changed things around.

"It might be my first tournament over here but I am not going in with a set game plan. I prefer to keep my options open and see how things progress. If I get too aggressive, I'll back down. But we'll see how things go."

Pairings: Trevor Immelman and Justin Rose, Retief Goosen and Luke Donald, Henrik Stenson and Geoff Ogilvy, Charl Schwartzel and Adam Scott, Rory Sabbatini and Niclas Fasth, Ernie Els and Stewart Cink.