The race concludes at the end of October with the season-closing Platinum Classic when the Merit winner will be rewarded with a coveted spot in the $5-million HSBC Champions Tournament in Shanghai, co-sanctioned by the European, Asian, Sunshine and Australasian Tours.

This year, however, the stakes are even higher with the recent announcement of the R500,000 Coca-Cola Charity Championship ahead of the Nelson Mandela Invitational at Arabella in late November.

The new event, hosted by Gary Player, is to be limited to the leading 30 available players on the Order of Merit list after the Platinum and has certainly increased the sense urgency in the 132-man field gathered in Windhoek.

Heading the charge for Windhoek glory is the reigning No 1 money winner, Alex Haindl, who claimed his first title at the Suncoast Classic in May and has finished in the runner-up spot in his last three successive starts.

But less than R28,000 separates Haindl and the leading Rookie this year, Rossouw Loubser, who is in fifth place on the money list and like Steve Basson in second place, Thomas Aiken in third and Brazilian, Adilson da Silva, in fourth, remains a strong contender for the Winter Swing crown

Basson topped the rankings from the season-opening Stanbic Zambia Open and was only dethroned by Haindl's runner-up finish at last week's Bearing Man Highveld Classic and won't give the title away without a fight.

Aiken, trailing Haindl by just over R27,000, is probably the big danger man, though,

This week's defending champion, he is definitely a strong challenger having already proved himself by winning the Winter Swing Order of Merit titles n 2004 and 2005.

Darren Fichardt, the back-to-back winner in the past two Sunshine Tour events, did not play Windhoek last year due to his obligations in Europe, but the back-to-back winner of the last two tournaments has to be another of the favourites this week.

He may not have cracked the top-5 yet in his short spell back from the European Tour, but the six-time Sunshine Tour winner has already climbed to 11th on the money list after just four starts and certainly has the game to win again.

On the local front, the good news for Namibian nationals is that they'll have Trevor Dodds to support.

The Namibian veteran, a US PGA winner, is back from America and will feature in the line-up at the Windhoek Country Club this week when the championship tees off on Thursday.