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Josh Ball

LIV Golf rolls into South Africa this week with the promise of a record crowd to get the home team fired up and the return of Phil Mickelson to add another subplot to a slowly developing relegation battle.
More than 92,000 people are reportedly expected at The Club at Steyn ‌City in Johannesburg for the circuit’s debut on the continent, a LIV crowd only bettered by the 115,000 that was in Adelaide.
For the home Southern Guards GC team of Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Dean Burmester, it represents a first chance to play in front of some of the most passionate fans around.
“We do have a sport-hungry culture,” Burmester said. “We have a saying down here ‘back your boys’, and that’s what we do. Whenever the Springboks are playing we’re 120 per cent behind them, whenever Bafana Bafana [national team] are playing soccer, 120 per cent behind them.
“Everyone’s up watching our athletes all over the world and it’s nice to know that as golfers we can be part of that conversation.”
After flirting with a win in Hong Kong and finishing in a tie for 10th in Singapore, Burmester is in the kind of form that puts him in the conversation for victory at home.

This only adds to the pressure to perform, although the 36-year-old is well used to that and said it also gave him a little extra motivation.
“There’s definitely going to be that excitement level, some anxiety, some nerves for sure, I think that’s a guarantee that’s going to happen,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, you want to put in your best, so it’ll heighten the focus for sure as well. I played well in Australia in front of those crowds, so it’s gonna be pretty cool for me to see how I handle it in front of home fans.”
Mickelson, meanwhile, will tee it up for the first time this year, and his HyFlyers GC confirmed their captain’s return on Monday with a post on social media that simply said, “Cap is Back.”
The 55-year-old missed the opening four tournaments because of an undisclosed family health ‌matter, and was replaced by Ollie Schniederjans in Riyadh and by Wade Ormsby in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
With a quarter of the season gone, Mickelson is bottom of the individual standings some 23 points from safety and faces a battle to get out of the drop zone, which LIV has already said will show no favours.
Unlike other leagues, there is no medical exemption policy, at least officially, although LIV is believed to be looking at installing one.
With nine tournaments left after this week, there is plenty of golf still to play, which will also be a comfort to the likes of Mickelson’s teammate Michael La Sasso, Cleeks GC captain Martin Kaymer and Fireballs GC’s Luis Masaveu, all of whom need a couple of big results in the months ahead.


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Golf

The tournament marks the circuit’s debut in Africa, while return of Phil Mickelson adds relegation battle subplot for crowd in Johannesburg


The tournament marks the circuit’s debut in Africa, while return of Phil Mickelson adds relegation battle subplot for crowd in Johannesburg.


LIV Golf South Africa: Southern Guards GC excited about playing in front of home fans

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The tournament marks the circuit’s debut in Africa, while return of Phil Mickelson adds relegation battle subplot for crowd in Johannesburg

The tournament marks the circuit’s debut in Africa, while return of Phil Mickelson adds relegation battle subplot for crowd in Johannesburg