Month: March 2021

Jaco Prinsloo claimed his second Sunshine Tour victory in three tournaments when he won the Serengeti Pro-Am Invitational at Serengeti’s Jack Nicklaus Signature Design Championship course on Sunday.

Prinsloo finished the five-round tournament on 15 under par 327 with a closing 68, giving him a two-stroke victory over Jaco Ahlers who closed with a 71.

MJ Viljoen and Neil Schietekat shared third place on 11 under par with respective final rounds of 70 and 67.

This was Prinsloo’s third individual career title on the Sunshine Tour, but more significantly his second in his last three tournaments following his win in The Players Championship hosted at Dainfern Golf Estate.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m very pleased to have done so well these last few weeks,” he said.

“I started the tournament really well and then kind of just clawed my way up the leaderboard from there, and luckily today I managed to shoot four under and it was good enough to win by two shots.”

Prinsloo has been in the best form of his career thanks to a decision before these past four tournaments to revert to his more natural game rather than the swing changes he’d been working on. Although he admits the work he’s been doing on his swing has not been entirely in vain and has played a part in his recent success.

He is now top of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit and over R200 000 ahead of his nearest challenger in Schietekat.

“It’s kind of hard to grasp, really. I mean, you always hope something like this will happen. This is what we all play for and practise for. That’s why you hit golf balls every day of your life, and I feel like I’m reaching my true potential at the moment.”

The pro-am was won by the team of Fairway Ninjas comprising Riekus Nortje, Ruan Korb, Jacques Nel and Dries van Schalkwyk on 51 under par.

The Sunshine Tour now takes a brief break before a run of three tournaments that will be co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour, starting with the Limpopo Championship from 22-25 April at Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate, and followed by the Cape Town Open from 29 April to 2 May at the Royal Cape Golf Club and then the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt from 6-9 May. – Michael Vlismas

Photo Credit: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

The tougher test of a Serengeti Jack Nicklaus Signature Design Championship course armed with a stiff breeze suited Jaco Ahlers as he played his into a one-stroke lead going into Sunday’s final round of the Sunshine Tour’s Serengeti Pro-Am Invitational.

Ahlers signed for a four-under-par 68 on Saturday to move to 12 under par in this five-round tournament. He is one stroke clear of the group of Lyle Rowe (67), Riekus Nortje (70) and Jaco Prinsloo (71).

Ahlers says he’s enjoyed the challenge that Serengeti has presented this week, especially after the most recent tournaments where the cuts were well under par.

“This is a tougher golf course and with the wind today it was an even tougher test, and I like that. I play better in tougher conditions. I’ve always felt very comfortable on this course,” said Ahlers, who is hunting his 10^th victory on the Sunshine Tour.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in this position. Over the last few weeks I’ve played nicely but just couldn’t get the putter going. I missed two of the last three cuts, but only by one shot each. It was nice to finally see a few putts drop this week.

“The goal on this golf course is to try and minimise mistakes, especially with the flag positions on these greens. You can very easily short-side yourself with your approaches if you’re not careful.”

Apart from his aspirations on the Sunshine Tour, Ahlers is also sitting with a newly-minted Asian Tour card in his pocket, and which he cannot wait to use. He qualified for his Asian Tour privileges shortly before lockdown last year, and played one tournament over there before the Tour was suspended as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. It hasn’t resumed since.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there as soon as they start playing again. I’m also into The Open this year, but we’re also waiting to hear whether that’s going ahead. So for now the focus is just here on the Sunshine Tour.”

And it’s as good a place as any to keep his game sharp.

“It feels like the young guys out there and just making birdies from everywhere. We have a lot of youngsters on our Tour who are all really good golfers. The up-and-coming talent in South Africa is just unbelievable. The standard has really gone up, and it’s good for our Tour.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo Credit: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

The Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA) has once again thrown its full support behind this year’s Limpopo Championship, seeing it as a vital component of their goal to drive tourism to the province.

The Limpopo Championship is co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour and will be played from 22-25 April at Euphoria Lifestyle Golf Estate.

At the official launch of this year’s tournament at Euphoria on Thursday, the LTA declared its excitement at the growth of this tournament in partnership with Sunshine Tour since it first teed off in 2019, and also announced the return of their popular “golf passport”.

“This year we wish to also resuscitate the golf passport both for professional and recreational golfers in the country and beyond to enjoy some of our pristine golf courses found in Limpopo. We see this as an opportunity for both parties to popularise this initiative to drive domestic tourism in the province. The Limpopo Golf Passport will give golfers an opportunity to play some rounds of golf on any of the participating golf resorts over a given period. The vision is for this golf event to grow annually and to attract the highest level of professionals from South Africa and abroad,” said LTA Board Chairperson, Andrew Dipela.

“The tournament compliments our brand offering and promotion of diverse tourism experiences. This we do not do alone as we collaborate with the private sector organizations to drive for sector transformation. The Waterberg region where this tournament takes place has a myriad of tourist destinations like the Nylsvley Nature Reserve, which is a RAMSAR Site with over 400 bird species, the Waterberg Biosphere, Makapans Valley World Heritage Site, Welgevonden Private Game Reserve with its approximately 65 lodges, Waterberg Meander, Marakele National Park and many private game reserves, to name but a few.”

Ludwick Manyama, the Sunshine Tour Tournament Director, said they were equally pleased to continue their partnership with the LTA and the Limpopo Championship.

“We are excited to partner with organizations like the Limpopo Tourism Agency, which has helped us grow the Limpopo Championship to its current international status. We hope to sustain this partnership as it is adding value to the sport tourism profile of the country but most importantly using golf as the vehicle to showcase to the world the amazing tourism treasures that exist within South Africa.”

The thousands of golf balls used on driving ranges throughout the Sunshine Tour season all go to a very good cause, with the Tour and partner Titleist donating them to the South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) to assist with their nationwide development programmes.

At Serengeti Estates on Thursday, during this week’s Serengeti Pro-Am Invitational, the Sunshine Tour and Titleist donated 18 000 golf balls to the SAGDB.

“We are extremely grateful for the golf balls from Titleist and the Sunshine Tour. It goes a long way to helping us run the SAGDB programmes. I’d like to thank all involved for the terrific support,” said Grant Hepburn, CEO of the SAGDB and GolfRSA.

Jaco Prinsloo is hunting his second victory in three tournaments after opening with an eight-under-par 64 to lead the first round of the Serengeti Pro-Am Invitational at Serengeti Estates on Tuesday.

Prinsloo, the winner of The Players Championship hosted at Dainfern Golf Estate earlier this month, surged into the lead with a round that saw him birdie two of his first three holes, make an eagle and two birdies over the turn, and close with three straight birdies. His card included one more birdie and two bogeys on Serengeti’s Jack Nicklaus Signature Designed Championship golf course.

He leads by one shot over James Hart du Preez while Jean-Paul Strydom, the winner of the 2019 Tour Championship at Serengeti, Anthony Michael and Daniel Greene finished the first round on six under par.

Prinsloo certainly got the most out of his first round, and is definitely getting the most out of his season on the Sunshine Tour with a run of good form that he says is down to his new approach of playing like he did when he was a kid.

“I had tried to change my swing and while it looked better visually, it didn’t feel right. I couldn’t play with it. So before the Tour resumed this month I went back to my old game. I literally went back to how I used to play as a kid – just aim and hit. And it’s working,” he said.

Behind him, Du Preez also took full advantage of a golf course that played to his strengths on Tuesday.

“It’s a long course off the back, and I’m enjoying playing a course where I can make use of my length,” he said after his opening seven-under-par 65.

“The way the course is set up for this week certainly helps me. The rough is down and the greens are soft because of the rain, so I can afford to take some aggressive lines off the tee. I’ve been playing well the last few events but I’ve just had lapses in my decision making. It was good to have a mentally sharp round today.”

Jbe’ Kruger, last week’s winner of the Gauteng Championship presented by Betway, is back in the hunt again after opening with a 67 on his home course.

And South Africa’s number one amateur and GolfRSA National squad member Christiaan Maas started well with a 70 that puts him in the top 20 after day one. – Michael Vlismas

Photo Credit: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour