World number five Ernie Els is not expecting to hit peak form at this week's Dunhill Championship (live Sky Sports 12.30pm), his second tournament since returning from knee surgery.
The South African played in the Nedbank Challenge at Sun City last week, finishing in ninth position on two over par on his return after 20 weeks of rehabilitation.
"I made a lot of very soft errors last week and I am not quite comfortable with the short game. But the long game feels good and I'm hoping for a much better week," Els said yesterday after a practice round at the Leopard Creek Country Club near Malelane, which borders the Kruger National Park.
"The knee is still not 100 per cent and it will take a while. I did a lot of walking last week so I had to put a lot of ice on it. You can do as much gym training and physiotherapy as you like, but you still have to go out there and walk the course."
Els is one of eight golfers in the world's top 200 playing in the Dunhill, with fellow South African Trevor Immelman the next highest at 64.
Defending champion Charl Schwartzel, who won with a seven-under-par total of 281 last year, said success would be all about course management. "It's not a very long course and there's hardly any rough, so I think the scores will be a lot lower. But it's a thinking man's course, you can't just get on the tee and hit it," he said.
Schwartzel has had his most successful season yet in 2005, finishing 52nd on the European Order of Merit, and is looking to once again use the Dunhill Championship, and next week's SAA Open at Fancourt, as a springboard to further success.
"My ultimate goal is to make the top 50 in the world rankings, so two good finishes in South Africa can set that up. I feel I'm close to the top of my game and I don't feel under pressure because I'm the defending champion. You've still just got to get the ball into the hole," the world number 160 said.
As far as the European contingent is concerned, Englishmen David Lynn and John Bickerton, France's Jean Remesy, Marcel Siem of Germany and Swede Joakim Haeggman head up the list.
"I'm really looking forward to this event - Leopard Creek is an excellent course and it's always in great nick," said two-time Challenge Tour winner and regular at the dunhill challenge, Jean Remesy.
Other European players include Englishmen Jonathan Lomas, Mark Foster, and David Carter, with Scotland's Andrew Coltart, Gregory Havret of France and Garry Houston of Wales also in the mix.
Ireland are represented by Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, David Higgins and Stephen Browne.
