Spain's Martin seeks Alfred Dunhill hat-trick

Spanish ace Pablo Martin will be eyeing an historic hat-trick when he returns to the Leopard Creek golf course on Thursday for the Alfred Dunhill Championship. Last year Martin, 25, won by two over Anthony Michael, Thorbjorn Olesen and South Africa's Charl Schwartzel, after defeating Schwartzel by one stroke in 2009. Should he win, Martin would join Ian Woosam (1990-92 Monte Carlo Open), Sir Nick Faldo (1991-93 Irish Open), Tiger Woods (1999-2001 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Ernie Els (2002-04 Heineken Classic), as the only players to win the same European Tour event three times in a row. "It would be great to win it again. Three times would be special and if I do it, I will be taking that trophy home, even if they won't let me," Martin told media. The Spaniard has hardly set the tour alight this season with a best placed finish of second coming back in April in the Volvo China Open, while he finished fourth in the Nordea Masters in Sweden in July. South Africa will pin their hopes on George Coetzee, Jaco van Zyl and Thomas Aiken, and Asian Tour campaigner Jbe Kruger, with Schwartzel away competing for the International Team in the Presidents Cup in Australia. Coetzee and Van Zyl will head to Leopard Creek on the back of their most successful international seasons to date, with both enjoying a host of top-ten finishes in Europe. Kruger has had a successful season on the Asian Tour including six top-10 finishes. A total of 12 players will compete for a one million euro prize on the idyllic course which is located in an African bush, near the world famous Kruger National Park. The golf course is the brainchild of South African legend Gary Player and winner of a record nine Majors for a South African and billionaire businessman Johann Rupert. As the golfers tee-off, animals such as eagles, antelope and buffalo can be spotted around the creek while crocodiles and hippos frolick in the lakes dotting the course. "I have been lucky enough to see quite a few lions but the only leopard I have seen is the trophy," said Martin. "Maybe I shouldn't complain about that because it has been a great trophy for me for the last two years. Hopefully I can do it again."