European Golf Tour Golf Top Story News Leaderboard Player Bios Schedule Statistics Results Recap Field Tee Times Preview Money Leaders PGA European - The Nelson Mandela Championship From The Sports Network DATES: Thursday, December 6th through Sunday, December 9th SITE: Royal Durban Golf Club, Durban, South Africa COURSE ARCHITECT: Bob Grimsdell (1932) PAR: 70 YARDAGE: 6,704 Hole-By-Hole: 1 - Par 5 528 Yds 10 - Par 4 418 Yds 2 - Par 4 304 Yds 11 - Par 3 153 Yds 3 - Par 3 190 Yds 12 - Par 4 429 Yds 4 - Par 4 481 Yds 13 - Par 4 412 Yds 5 - Par 3 176 Yds 14 - Par 5 509 Yds 6 - Par 4 447 Yds 15 - Par 3 189 Yds 7 - Par 4 468 Yds 16 - Par 4 382 Yds 8 - Par 4 406 Yds 17 - Par 4 424 Yds 9 - Par 4 305 Yds 18 - Par 4 483 Yds ------------- ------------- 35 3,305 Yds 35 3,399 Yds Annual:  1st Television:  Golf Channel - Thursday/Friday -- 6:30-10:30 a.m. (et),   - Saturday/Sunday -- 5:30-9:30 a.m. (et) Total Purse:  $1,309,014 Share:  1st Place - $205,038; 2nd Place - $148,766; 3rd Place - $89,518 Past Nelson Mandela Championship Winners Year Winner (Score) -- Runners-Up 1st Year of the Event Top Players in the Field Gregory Bourdy 3 European Tour wins, Won 2009 Hong Kong Open Tim Clark 3 European Tour wins, Won 2010 Players Championship on PGA George Coetzee 8 top-10 finishes in 2012, World No. 49 Ignacio Garrido 2 European Tour wins, Won 2003 Volvo PGA Championship Branden Grace 4 European Tour wins in 2012, World No. 36 Gregory Havret 3 European Tour wins, Won 2008 Johnnie Walker Championship Peter Hedblom 3 European Tour wins, Won 2009 Johnnie Walker Championship David Horsey 2 European Tour wins, Won 2010 BMW International Open David Howell 4 European Tour wins, 2-time European Ryder Cup player James Kingston 2 European Tour wins, Won 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championship Jose Manuel Lara 2 European Tour wins, Won 2010 Austrian GolfOpen Pablo Larrazabal 2 European Tour wins, Won 2011 BMW International Open Hennie Otto 2 European Tour wins, Won 2011 South African Open Richard Sterne 5 European Tour wins, Won 2009 Alfred Dunhill Championship Marc Warren 2 European Tour wins, Won 2007 Johnnie Walker Championship Steve Webster 2 European Tour wins, Won 2007 Portugal Masters Sports Network Selections Pick to Win - George Coetzee Darkhorse - Magnus A. Carlsson   Last Week's Pick to Win (Louis Oosthuizen) - Finished 4th Last Week's Darkhorse (Charl Schwartzel) - Finished 2nd   NOTES: The European Tour opens the 2013 season this week in South Africa with the inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship at Royal Durban Golf Club. Two of the top 50 players in the world are in the field - South Africans Branden Grace (36) and George Coetzee (49). South African Tim Clark, the 2010 Players Champion on the PGA Tour, is also in the field. The 24-year-old Grace is coming off a breakout season in 2012, which saw him win four times on the European Tour and jump into the top 40 of the world rankings. He was the only player with more than two victories on the European Tour last year. Grace graduated from the 2011 European Tour Qualifying School and became the first European Q-School graduate to win four times the year after graduation. This tournament will be the first of six European Tour events to be held in South Africa during the 2013 season, the most ever staged in the country in one year since the first European Tour event in South Africa in 1995. This championship is one of four new events on the European Tour schedule for the 2013 season. The other three are the Tshwane Open in South Africa, the Russian Masters and Turkish Open. The European Tour remains in South Africa next week for the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club in Malelane, where South African Garth Mulroy will defend his title. 12/04 13:59:03 ET As of December 4, 2012, at 01:59 PM ET