2006 World Golf Championships

Let's hope the rest of the world is prepared for total onslaught when a double dose of R&S - or rather RS Squared - arrive in Barbados for the 2006 World Golf Championship - Barbados World Cup next month.

Rory Sabbatini and Richard Sterne will be representing South African among the 28 countries who have combined for 21 wins around the world over the course of the past season the 52nd playing of the World Cup from 7 to 10 December.

Under the World Cup criteria, the leading 18 available players of different nationalities in the world rankings automatically qualified their countries for this year's event at one of the most desirable holiday destinations in the world.

Each of those players can select their partner, as long as they are also ranked in the world's top 100 and, should that not be possible, the next highest-ranked golfer will be offered the spot.

This year the mantle fell on Sabbatini, who chose Sterne after Retief Goosen (6th), Ernie Els (7th), Trevor Immelman (13th), Tim Clark (21st) and Charl Schwartzel, ranked 72nd in the world, had to decline due to commitments in the Nelson Mandela Invitational, Nedbank Golf Challenge and Alfred Dunhill Championship back home.

You can bet your bottom dollar, RS Squared are going to be a dangerous combination to beat.

Both men are relatively small in stature, but huge on grit. They are tenacious competitors with never-say-die attitudes. Combining a similar style of game, Sabbatini and Sterne will compliment each other perfectly in the Foursomes and Fourball formats.

Sabbatini is an old hand at the pressure, having represented South Africa from 2002 to 2004. In 2003, he triumphed alongside Trevor Immelman at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.

He has enjoyed one of his best seasons on the PGA Tour this year, finishing 12th on the final money list and taking his winning tally to three with victory at the 2006 Nissan Open.

The 25-year old Sterne was long hailed South Africa's next golfing prodigy, having established his credentials by dominating South Africa's amateur scene. He became the first South African to win both the junior and senior national Strokeplay and Matchplay titles, came second in the 1999 World Junior Championships and won the 2001 Indian Amateur.

Sterne debuts in Barbados owning victories on three Tours, his first at the age of 20 in the Rye Hill Championship on the PGA Europro Tour.

He confirmed his potential by winning his maiden European Tour title at the
2004 Open de Madrid and capped a superb season with his first victory in home soil when he claimed the 2004 Nashua Masters title on the Sunshine Tour.

Barbados annually attracts the rich and famous, but when the South African flag is hoisted at the Sandy Lane's Resort Country Club in St. James, RS Squared will care less about the glitz, celebrities, the cuisine or the hotspots.

Their only aim: to bring home World Cup Title Number Six.