Watch cheeky family of mongooses pinch Tommy Fleetwoods golf ball and play with it during Nedbank Challenge at Sun City

TOMMY FLEETWOOD found himself under attack from the local wildlife in South Africa as a family of mongooses started playing footie with his golf ball.

Two of the tiny animals better known as expert snake fighters charged at Fleetwoods ball after it landed in front of them on the 14th fairway, during the first round of the Nedbank Challenge in Sun City.

They both knocked it back a few feet towards the tee, before losing interest and returning to foraging for insects with the rest of their troop.

Fleetwood, who opened with a three under par 69 to trail early first round Louis Oosthuizen by six shots, saw the funny side of the bizarre incident.

He quickly posted a clip of it on his Twitter account, with the message: Anyone know the rule for a mongoose attack on your golf ball? Got to love Sun City!

Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion, certainly loves the course, after recording one of his first victories there while he was cutting his teeth as a pro on South Africas Sunshine Tour.

His opening 63, just one shot off the course record held by defending champion Lee Westwood, was even more remarkable after he pulled out of the Pro-Am 24 hours earlier suffering from kidney stones, and spent much of the day in hospital.

He considered skipping the event after a mostly sleepless night, but was delighted he decided to give it a go.

Oosthuizen commented: Considering that at 3am this morning, I didn’t think I was doing going to tee it up, I’m very chuffed with that round.

I woke yesterday with kidney stones and this morning was very uncomfortable, but it sort of eased at 6, 7am. You could see me walking slower and just going at everything a little slower out there.

But I played good at the WGC-HSBC Champions two weeks ago and I know the swing is there, the putting’s there. I just need to be healthy to play.

And I just love this golf course. One of my first wins on the Sunshine Tour was here, the Dimension Data, and every time I play here, it brings back a lot of good memories.

Westwood, who is bidding for a fourth victory in this 5.8million showpiece event, shot a four under par 68 and was delighted with his bogey-free opener

He said: “Anything under 70 always feels like a great start to this tournament. I played well. I could have hit a few more fairways, which would have made it a little easier.

I was in the rough too often, but no bogeys and 68 was a great start.