Three years ago, the Nedbank Golf Challenge gave away a winner's cheque for $2.5m, the biggest prize in the history of the European Tour. That prize went to Tommy Fleetwood, whose flying final round ended in a play-off victory over Marcus Kinhult, his first in 22 months. No wonder Fleetwood, who had finished second in the Open that summer, was overcome with emotion on the 18th green at Sun City.

"The money's not that important," he told Tim Barter, before reconsidering. "I guess, being a golfer these days, you have the chance at a young age to set your family up for life... I'm just very proud of that really, and everyone who goes on the journey with you constantly. It's just really, really cool when you win a tournament."

At the time, it felt like the Nedbank proved that money isn't the be all and end all for most golfers. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and even rookie Race to Dubai contender Victor Perez chose not to play, and just nine of the world's top 50 were in the field. It might've been impossible to begrudge Fleetwood's overdue second Rolex Series title and fifth overall, but was it a tournament worthy of its history-making purse?

Of course, a lot has changed since, and this is the overdue return of the Nedbank Challenge. The prize fund has dropped significantly, not just because the big names did not come, and the field strength is weaker still. For all the talk about the top-60 Race to Dubai cut-off which would earn players a start here, 76th-ranked Wil Besseling managed to sneak into the field and Thomas Detry, in 60th, had nothing to worry about.

With Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel either uninvited or unwilling to come, the home challenge is also weakened despite the presence of Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, and I can't escape the belief that TOMMY FLEETWOOD is going to take a bit of beating even if he hasn't managed to capture another title since.

Gary Player Country Club is made for Fleetwood at his best. This is a course where Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia have five titles between them, and where long, strong driving has always been the starting point. It's true that we're at altitude at this breathtaking resort, but 7,834 yards makes this the longest course on the circuit and the need to dominate the four-par-fives is clear.

When Fleetwood won, he played those par-fives in 16-under, winning with a score of -12. Westwood had captured the title with a field-leading performance across those scoring holes, too, as had Danny Willett some years before. Above all else though it's always felt like a drivers' golf course, and in the first year of strokes-gained data on the European Tour we were handed a champion who led the field off the tee.

As well as underpinning all of his success, it's driver that explains Fleetwood's struggles. Post-pandemic, if we can say that, his off-the-tee game has dipped and placed too much pressure on a short-game which has arguably never been sharper. It's why he failed to crack the top 125 on the FedEx Cup a year ago, which in turn shows us how far he's come since having finished 49th in 2022.

There's still more to come, and after fourth place at The CJ Cup last time, his third top-five finish in seven dating back to the Scottish Open, Fleetwood explained just why things are on the up.

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Perhaps the biggest threat to Fleetwood is Detry, inside the top 10 on both starts here and never a better player than he is now. Still, the Belgian does arrive on the plane from Mexico and while I believe him when he says he feels like that elusive first win is around the corner, backing him in such circumstances at 16/1 holds very little appeal.

Robert MacIntyre would be next on my list of live threats, the Italian Open champion having produced a sensational weekend to climb from 50th all the way up to eighth on his first start here. The Scot has barely missed a beat, is fully engaged in his quest to make the Ryder Cup side, and should see this as an excellent opportunity to win a high-profile event in which captain Luke Donald is also playing on an invite.

Along with Antoine Rozner, these are three live each-way contenders with thriving long-games at a course which is unrelenting. You simply can't relax at Sun City, where wild drives can equal lost balls as Detry found out when his challenge collapsed three years ago. That requirement for focus and execution has thrown up a list of high-class champions, including when other events have been held here, and it should continue to do so.

As such my next selection is LUCAS HERBERT, despite some trepidation as to his propensity for the odd foul ball from the tee.

Like MacIntyre, the Australian also made his debut here in 2019 and while down the field, a pair of 69s and good scoring on the par-fives should serve as a nice introduction. Since then he's added two DP World Tour titles to his CV along with the Bermuda Championship on the PGA Tour, and we know by now his fondness for tough conditions.

To a large degree that's because Herbert boasts one of the best short-games in the field, and it's his long-game numbers which undermine confidence to a degree. That said, he's been driving the ball well for a long time now, right back to the US Open, and remains a threat when dropping down in grade from the PGA Tour. His form on this circuit in 2022 reads 18-9-MC-15-MC-5, and he's won twice in 19 since the beginning of 2020.