Golf News, Source Nedbank Challenge.- Ernie Els Thursday entered the Nedbank Challenge at Sun City, South Africa.The event will be played the first week of December and will be Els' return to competitive golf. He suffered a knee injury after the British Open and has been sidelined ever since because of arthroscopic surgery.

Tournament director Alistair Roper announced Els' return."We could have announced six weeks ago that Ernie would be playing, but we decided to give him time to evaluate his fitness and make 100 percent sure he would play," Roper said. "We agreed that he would undergo an evaluation by his doctors on Sept. 30, and then we would sign the contracts. I spoke to Ernie yesterday and he was playing golf." Els is a three-time champion of the event. Originally, he had targeted the South African Open, which starts on Dec. 15 for his return. By playing in Sun City, he beats the target date by two weeks.