Year: 2022

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15th October 2022

Ferreira breaks through in Blue Label Challenge

SUN CITY, North West – Stephen Ferreira claimed his maiden victory on the Sunshine Tour when he won the Blue Label Challenge by a single point at the Gary Player Country Club on Saturday.

Ferreira finished on a total of 38 points under the modified Stableford scoring system used for the tournament, just one clear of Luca Filippi who pushed him all the way to the final hole.

It was Ferreira’s first victory on the Sunshine Tour since he turned professional in 2011, and after a second-place finish in the SunBet Challenge at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club recently, there were signs that he was on the brink of a breakthrough.

“I’m still a bit speechless,” said an emotional Ferreira who struggled to speak during the prizegiving ceremony.

“I’m glad to finally get the win. I love the Gary Player Country Club course. I come here a lot and have finally managed to tame the beast.”

Ferreira’s victory comes at a timely point in the Sunshine Tour season as it moves towards the big summer tournaments.

“It’s huge,” he said of this first win and its significance.

“I’ve been on the Sunshine Tour for a while and have come close a few times. You know, you doubt yourself, but I finally got the win and I’m ecstatic. Luca (Filippi) fought hard today and there were a lot of players close to me going into the final round. I knew I had to go low and make a lot of birdies, which I did. Luca pushed me over the last hole. It was nice to hole that big putt for the victory.”

Pieter Moolman, who was another maiden winner on the Sunshine Tour recently, finished third on 36 points.

 

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14th October 2022

Ferreira still the man to beat at Blue Label Challenge

SUN CITY, North West – Stephen Ferreira held on to the top spot on the leaderboard after the third round of the Blue Label Challenge at Gary Player Country Club on Friday, once again not paying for a couple of late bogeys.

Ferreira, who began the penultimate day leading by two points in the modified Stableford event, produced another solid round of golf with a pair of birdies on each nine, taking him to eight points for the day, but then he dropped shots, and points, with bogeys on the last two holes. That left the Zimbabwe resident who plays under the Portuguese flag with six points for his round, taking him to a total of 30 points, still renting out that two-point lead.

Last week’s winner of the Fortress Invitational at Ebotse Links, Pieter Moolman, enjoyed a fantastic day with five birdies and an eagle on the par-five fifth giving him 13 points and vaulting him into second place on 28.

Jaco Prinsloo, who is second on the Luno Order of Merit, had an even better day with five birdies and an eagle, and no dropped shots, giving him 15 points for a total of 26 heading into the final round. Jbe’ Kruger, second overnight, had a tough front nine, scoring minus-three, but bounced back after the turn with three birdies to finish with 24 points in total.

The 30-year-old Ferreira hails from Borrowdale Brook Golf Club in Harare and has 10 top-10 finishes from 136 Sunshine Tour events. With more than R1.6 million in prizemoney from those performances, Ferreira will nearing the R2 million mark if he can hold off what are bound to be stiff challenges from Moolman, Prinsloo and Kruger, and perhaps even youngsters Jayden Schaper and Luca Filippi, who are both on 23 points.

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13th October 2022

Ferreira leads Blue Label Challenge with aggressive but smart shots

SUN CITY, North West – Finishing with two bogeys in the last three holes normally goes against the grain for golfers, but the nature of the modified Stableford scoring system means it was worth the risk for Stephen Ferreira and did not cost him the lead at the end of the second round of the Blue Label Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club on Thursday.

Ferreira still posted an excellent 13 points on Thursday, via a five-under-par 67, and he is two points clear of Jbe’ Kruger.

Up until his dropped shots on the par-three 16th and the par-five 18th, the 30-year-old Zimbabwe resident, who plays under the Portuguese flag, was unstoppable with five birdies and an eagle-three, worth five points, on the fifth hole.

“I’m very happy, I felt good today and played really solid golf and sank a few putts,” Ferreira said. “I was aggressive and smart.”

“My first bogey was because I took the wrong club on the par-three and was in the wrong place in the bunker and couldn’t get up-and-down. On the last hole, I had 230 to the flag and had a go because a bogey is only minus-one. It was a risky shot and I didn’t quite pull it off, but in this format, every now and then you have to take a risk.

“But on five I hit a good tee-shot in the middle of the fairway, had 237 to the flag and knew exactly which club to use, a nice floating five-wood to 10 feet and then I made the putt,” Ferreira said.

The runner-up three weeks ago in the SunBet Challenge Wild Coast event said he was grateful for Zambian golfer Madalitso Muthiya bailing him out of a putting problem he had.

“I’ve felt I’ve been playing really good golf but I just haven’t been getting a score, and that’s down to not making putts. We’re all good golfers out here, we all hit the ball well, all hit good irons, so putting is what makes the difference,” Ferreira said.

“My friend Madalitso helped me tweak something small with my putting and now I’m putting nicely.”

Kruger also notched 13 points, via seven birdies, on Thursday, only once landing in trouble when he bogeyed the par-four fourth hole.

First-round leader Brooklin Bailey dropped out of the leadership race as he scored minus-nine on Thursday, with three double-bogeys and just two birdies on his card.

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European Ryder Cup Captain returns to Nedbank Golf Challenge

European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald has confirmed his participation in the milestone 40th anniversary edition of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

The former World Number One will tee it up in ‘Africa’s Major’ from November 10 – 13, 2022, returning to Sun City’s Gary Player Country Club for the first time since December 2014.

Donald has appeared in the Nedbank Golf Challenge twice since it was included in the DP World Tour schedule in 2013, when the event opened the 2014 season, finishing 19th and following that up with a third place finish 12 months later.

The seven-time DP World Tour winner was named Ryder Cup Captain as Europe bid to win the trophy back from Zach Johnson’s United States side in Rome next September.

He joins a field that includes the defending champion and two-time Ryder Cup star Tommy Fleetwood, who lifted the trophy in 2019 – the last time the event took place due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and South African DP World Tour winners Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Dean Burmester and Thriston Lawrence.

The Nedbank Golf Challenge has been a highlight of the South African sporting calendar since its first edition in 1981, with an impressive list of former winners that includes the legendary Seve Ballesteros, South African golfing icon Ernie Els and Major Champions such as Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Trevor Immelman and Danny Willett.

Donald said: “I’m delighted to be able to play the Nedbank Golf Challenge in this landmark year for the event. It’s such a unique tournament and I have fond memories of my past visits to Sun City.

“It certainly doesn’t seem like eight years since I last teed it up there, and I’m very much looking forward to returning, both as a player and in my capacity as Ryder Cup captain, as the season draws to a close.”

The 2022 Nedbank Golf Challenge will once again be included on the DP World Tour schedule in partnership with Nedbank and Sun International, this season as the penultimate event before the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. The $6,000,000 will also carry an increased number of DP World Tour Ranking Points, with 7,000 points available.

The winner of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit will also receive a place in the 64-player field at Gary Player Country Club.

The last edition of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 2019 delivered record attendance figures and sold-out hospitality. Ticketing information for the milestone 40th event will follow in due course.

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12th October 2022

Bogey-free Bailey leads Blue Label Challenge

SUN CITY, North-West – Like a smooth-running car, American Brooklin Bailey felt that all the different parts of his game were in sync on Thursday as he raced into the lead after the first round of the Blue Label Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club.

Bailey, who began his round on the 10th hole, collected five birdies and an eagle for a bogey-free 65, that translated into 15 points in the modified Stableford scoring system. He was four points ahead of Portugal’s Stephen Ferreira, who had six birdies and a bogey, while the leading players under the South African flag were Ockie Strydom and Jaco van Zyl in third place on 10 points.

“It was nice, hot weather so the body got loose early and I felt super-comfortable after making a great start with birdies on my second and fourth holes,” Bailey said. “I played really well, it just felt fluent in terms of what my swing, my body and the ball were doing.”

Coming from Texas, a typically hot October day in the Pilanesberg, with the temperature reaching 36°, was no bother for the 28-year-old Bailey, who has played the famous Gary Player Country Club layout a couple of times before and embraces the challenge rather than being daunted by it.

“I haven’t gone on very well here before, although I feel like I played good golf but did not get much out of it,” Bailey said. “But it’s a venue I really like, a real test of golf, it tests every facet of your game.

“A lot of credit must go to my caddy George, who made a lot of great decisions and kept me patient. It was a great decision to lay up on 18 and make birdie, and then I holed out from the bunker on the first hole for eagle. Then I hit it to a foot on the next hole for another birdie,” a delighted Bailey said.

Picking up nine points around the turn really knocked the other contenders out of the first-round race, and Bailey is now focused on backing up Thursday’s marvellous score with another low one in Friday’s second round.

“My game has been there this season, just not necessarily full-time,” Bailey admitted. “You’re not going to win or finish top-10 every week, but making cuts is important and in my last seven events I’ve had three top-10s and missed four cuts.

“So I’m really focusing on my consistency. I’m playing well when I’m on form, but there are little parts of my game that need improving, especially in putting and finding the fairways, those are certainly the two key areas.

“I felt like I’ve found my Driver, and after having a putting lesson this week and working on it for three hours one morning, I was really feeling comfortable on the greens as well,” Bailey said.

ROUND 1 SCORES

15 – Brooklin Bailey

11 – Stephen Ferreira

10 – Ockie Strydom, Jaco Van Zyl

9 – MJ Viljoen, Ryan Van Velzen, Jbe’ Kruger

8 – Stefan Wears-Taylor, Louis Albertse

7 – Doug McGuigan, Jayden Schaper, Luca Filippi, Wynand Dingle, Joe Long

6 – Christiaan Basson, Jaco Prinsloo, Peter Karmis, Pieter Moolman, JJ Senekal, Lyle Rowe, Steve Surry

5 – Jared Harvey, Rhys West, Anthony Michael

4 – Matthew Spacey, Christiaan Burke, Rourke van der Spuy, Combrinck Smit, Keith Horne, Keenan Davidse, Jean Hugo

3 – Neil Schietekat, Tristin Galant, Dan Erickson

2 – Michael Kok, Jaco Ahlers, Hayden Griffiths, Dylan Naidoo, Kyle McClatchie, Martin Rohwer, Martin Vorster

1 – Estiaan Conradie, Merrick Bremner, Herman Loubser, Jake Redman, Makhetha Mazibuko

0 – Madalitso Muthiya, Casey Jarvis, Richard Joubert, Hennie O’Kennedy, Dean O’Riley, Sean Bradley

-1 – Ryan Tipping, Luke Jerling, Erhard Lambrechts, Keagan Thomas, Malcolm Mitchell, Thabang Simon, Rupert Kaminski

-2 – Jean-Paul Strydom, Danie Van Niekerk, Adam Breen, Gerard du Plooy, Therion Nel

-3 – Dylan Mostert, Clinton Grobler, Hennie Otto, Jacques P de Villiers

-4 – Riekus Nortje

-5 – Albert Venter, Kyle Barker, Heinrich Bruiners, Jacques Blaauw

-6 – Ruan Conradie

-7 – Ruan Korb

-9 – Andre De Decker, Luke Brown, Bradley Bawden, Ricky Hendler

-12 – Dwayne Basson

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SA stars back and chasing glory in Investec South African Open Championship

South African golf’s biggest stars will be back on local fairways this December as they unite in their quest for Investec South African Open glory and the chance to claim what they’ve called “our fifth Major”.

Charl Schwartzel, Dean Burmester, Dylan Frittelli, MJ Daffue, Brandon Stone, Erik van Rooyen, Thriston Lawrence, Oliver Bekker, Shaun Norris and defending champion Daniel van Tonder have all confirmed their participation in the second oldest national Open in golf at the Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate from 1-4 December.

“I can’t wait to get there and compete in such an iconic event and try I put my name on that trophy alongside the greats like Ernie Els and Gary Player and so many others. For us as South Africans it’s our fifth Major and we all want to win it so badly. For me personally, I’ve won the South African PGA Championship, so to get my name on the Investec South African Open trophy as well and have done the double would be very special,” said PGA Tour campaigner Dean Burmester.

Fellow PGA Tour star Dylan Frittelli said he’s returning to challenge for a title he feels is essential to his career.

“The Investec South African Open is the biggest tournament in the world for me right now besides a Major. It means so much to me. It was the first professional tournament I ever played. I qualified when I was 16 years old. I definitely want to win my national Open before my playing career is over. I think my career will be incomplete if I don’t do that.”

DP World Tour campaigner Oliver Bekker said he is back to try and go one better than his runner-up finish to Daniel van Tonder in last year’s Investec South African Open.

“It’s our home Open and I would really like to have my name on that trophy with the likes of Ernie Els and Gary Player and all of the South African golf legends. After coming so close last year I’m really looking forward to playing well on home soil and hopefully to have a chance of lifting that trophy.”

Shaun Norris said he’s particularly excited about competing on home fairways again.

“It’s always great to play back home, and so much more in your national Open. It’s every golfer’s dream to win his national Open. It will mean the world to me to add my name to that trophy with all of the great players who’ve done it before.”

Thriston Lawrence is also returning home to compete in a championship he’s been watching since he was a young golfer.

“I can’t wait for this year’s Investec South African Open. What an historic event. It’s a tournament I’ll always support because I grew up watching it on TV and have always wanted to win it, especially with all the names on that trophy and the history behind it. I’d obviously love to win it and will give it my all.”

The Sunshine Tour this week launched its ticketing package for this prestigious Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour co-sanctioned tournament aimed at maximising value and the overall experience.

Ticket prices range from R150 for the Thursday or Friday to R300 for the Saturday or Sunday, with a 50% discount if purchased before the end of October. Tickets can be purchased at www.sunshinetour.com.

The world-class action inside the ropes will be matched by a festival of golf for the whole family at this year’s tournament.

The festivities will include a big screen in the tournament village for sports fans to be able to keep up with the latest FIFA World Cup action. There will also be a Golf Expo Centre featuring the very latest in golf equipment. Fans will be able to have their photo taken with the iconic Investec South African Open trophy, and the youngest golf fans will have their own dedicated kid’s area to keep them entertained. The tournament village will include a food and drinks market as well as a Stella Artois beer garden. And a Saturday afternoon music concert will provide the perfect way to relax after the third-round action and prepare for an epic final round.

It will also be more than just the professionals who will have the chance to win big at Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate.

From the Thursday to the Saturday of the world’s second oldest national Open, three lucky fans will be selected to prove they have the nerves of steel of the professionals and will win the chance to putt for R10 000 on the 18th green after play. On the Sunday of the final round, three fans will have the chance to also putt for glory, but for R100 000.

It’s the biggest week in South African golf, and it’s live on the Sunshine Tour.

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9th October 2022

Maiden win for Moolman in Fortress Invitational playoff

BENONI, Gauteng – Pieter Moolman claimed his maiden victory on the Sunshine Tour when he beat Jayden Schaper in a playoff to win the inaugural Fortress Invitational at Ebotse Links on Sunday.

Moolman started the final round three shots behind Schaper. As he reached the final hole in regulation play, he was three-under for his round, having mixed five birdies with two bogeys, and looked like falling just short on 12-under-par as Schaper was already on 14-under-par.

But the 31-year-old Moolman hit an excellent drive and a superb approach shot on the par-five 18th to 10 feet from the hole, and nailed the eagle putt to vault to 14-under.

Schaper then bogeyed the par-four 17th but made birdie at the last to force a playoff with an excellent up-and-down after short-siding himself.

Moolman again hit a brilliant second in the playoff, finishing just off the green after being in the semi-rough on a mound. He would chip and sink a four-foot putt for birdie, while Schaper was unfortunate that his approach shot took a hard first bounce and ran through the green. The 21-year-old then missed his 10-footer for birdie, handing Moolman the win.

“I’ve lost a few times in these situations, but I’ve played better golf a few times than I did today,” Moolman said. “So to get over the line is really special and it shows that it does not take a perfect performance to win. It’s more mental, about believing you can still put a score on the board if you’re playing average golf, when your swing is not really there. I just had to stay in the moment and commit to what I was doing, take it shot-for-shot.”

Schaper will look back on a level-par back nine, which featured bogeys at the par-three 11th and the penultimate hole, as having cost him, but he showed tremendous determination and character in birdieing the last hole to get into the playoff.

For Moolman, who like Schaper is based in Benoni and knows the Ebotse Links well, the win will give him great confidence heading into the big summer events. He has finished runner-up twice before this year, including at the Tour Championship at nearby Serengeti Estate.

“I’ve been playing solid golf for a while and I played solid enough the whole week, I was just trying to give myself opportunities, keep the ball in play and give myself a chance,” Moolman said.

“Finishing second at the Wild Coast a few weeks back, I made some mistakes down the back nine, but I learnt from that and how to stay strong. Now that I’ve won, you start believing you can win again and that you belong here. I’m looking forward to the summer events,” said Moolman, who will go down in Sunshine Tour history as the inaugural Fortress Invitational champion.

“Firstly, a huge congratulations to Pieter Moolman on his first win. The level of play has been brilliant. It’s been so impressive to watch the professionals shoot the low scores we have seen over the last three days on such a challenging course. Ebotse Links have been great hosts throughout the tournament and nothing has been too much trouble. We have thoroughly enjoyed our first year of sponsorship of the Fortress Invitational and helping to power growth in golf in South Africa,” said Steven Brown, CEO of Fortress Real Estate.

Although he finished fourth, two shots off the pace, Sean Bradley will remember the final round for a long time as he began with a double-bogey at the first hole, but then made a hole-in-one at the par-three eighth. He then rounded off his round with a massive eagle putt, from off the green, on the last hole, finishing with a 63 that put him right into contention.

American Dan Erickson claimed third place on 13-under, signing for a 67 after he could only make par on the last three holes.

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8th October 2022

It’s shaping up well for Schaper at Fortress Invitational

BENONI, Gauteng – Jayden Schaper enjoyed a three-shot lead, but Makhetha Mazibuko was building a strong challenge, when dangerous weather caused the second round of the Fortress Invitational at Ebotse Links to be suspended on Saturday afternoon.

Schaper, who was in a three-way tie for the lead after a first-round 65, separated himself on Saturday with another fine round, a five-under-par 67 lifting him to 12-under for the tournament, going into Sunday’s final round.

Two birdies and a bogey on the front nine saw Schaper reach the turn just one-under, but he blossomed on the back nine with four birdies to pull away from the field.

“I had a steady start, I was hitting the ball well and I just left a couple of putts in the jaws of the hole. But I just stayed patient and it was pretty much another solid all-round game. It was more difficult today, the wind was up and that makes the course a lot tougher,” Schaper said.

But Mazibuko is on nine-under-par, tied in second place with Richard Joubert (69), and he still has six holes to play when the second round resumes at 7am on Sunday.

The 34-year-old from Bloemfontein Golf Club is three-under for his round, all three birdies coming on the front nine.

Schaper will be chasing his first Sunshine Tour title on Sunday, with the final round being played to a two-tee, three-ball format. The 21-year-old enjoyed a prolific amateur career and it will be remembered that he was touted as South African golf’s next big thing when he finished second in the 2020 Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek.

“I guess there will be some added pressure, but I’ll be saying to myself that there is no difference between a Sunshine Tour event or an amateur tournament. It’s the same as any round of golf.

“Playing at my home course at Ebotse will also keep me calm because I know the course well. I’m looking forward to it, I’m going to enjoy it and if it’s my day then I’ll take it,” Schaper said.

The other first-round leaders went backwards on the second day, with Ockie Strydom shooting a level-par 72 and staying on seven-under, which is now in a tie for fifth, while Clinton Grobler is four-over-par through 12 holes, having double-bogeyed his last two holes to be nine shots off the pace.

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7th October 2022

Local knowledge helping Schaper at Fortress Invitational

BENONI, Gauteng – Jayden Schaper enjoyed an excellent day on his home course of Ebotse Links as all aspects of his game came through for him in a seven-under-par 65 that gave him a share of the lead with Clinton Grobler and Ockie Strydom after the first round of the Fortress Invitational on Friday.

The highly-promising Schaper began his round on the 10th hole with a birdie, and followed that up with consecutive gains on the 12th and 13th holes. A marvellous outgoing nine holes was capped by birdies at the par-three 15th and par-five 18th, seeing him go to the turn in just 31 strokes.

Schaper picked up three more birdies in four holes from the fourth, and even a bogey at the par-three eighth could not put a damper on a superb round of golf.

“Playing on my home course is a bit of an advantage because I know where certain pins are, where to miss and which bunkers to avoid,” Schaper said after his best round of the Sunshine Tour season so far.

“But you’ve still got to hit the ball well, hit the shots and make the putts. In the last couple of weeks, my tee-to-green play has been solid and I’ve been slowly getting better on the greens too.

“Today I just played really solid golf, I made good decisions and hit some really good shots. I was consistent today,” Schaper said.

The return of long-time coach Grant Veenstra from the United States may also have played a role in the impressive showing, with Schaper saying “it was the first week I’ve seen him in the last couple of months and it was really good to have him back to help out.”

Grobler, the 28-year-old Krugersdorp golfer, also started on the 10th and began the round with three straight birdies, while bogeying the 17th and fourth holes on the way to his 65. The highlight of his round was his eagle-three on the 18th.

The in-form Strydom, from the nearby Serengeti Estate, cruised through the front nine in four-under-par, but then the rollercoaster began: The 37-year-old bogeyed the par-four 10th, then grabbed a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th, dropped a shot at 17, but then finished spectacularly with an eagle on the last hole to vault into a share of the lead.

The leaderboard is congested, with five golfers shooting 66, including the veteran Hennie Otto, the American Dan Erickson, the amateur Kyle de Beer, as well as Makhetha Mazibuko and Richard Joubert.

Wynand Dingle, the winner of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series San Lameer event three weeks ago, is in the group on five-under-par.

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Sunshine Tour to ensure water is not a hazard

The Sunshine Tour is taking another major step towards environmental sustainability through a partnership with Bluewater that will significantly reduce the presence of single-use plastic water bottles at its tournaments, and with a long-term plan to become one of the first major tours worldwide to incorporate this throughout its entire schedule.

Bluewater is a world leader in clean water technology and solutions. The company already collaborates with The R&A to provide its free-standing outdoor and indoor hydration stations for The Open.

As the first step in its long-term sustainability plan, a Sunshine Tour Bluewater hydration station will be in use at this week’s new Fortress Invitational at the Ebotse Links, which tees off on Friday.

“As a golf tour we are in the business of working together with nature to ensure a successful product, and as such it’s imperative that we do this responsibly,” said Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.

“To achieve this we are actively putting in place a full sustainability programme and seeking world-leading partners for this that will incorporate our entire schedule as well as on the Sunshine Ladies Tour. The first step in this process is a water sustainability programme that we can roll out to all our tournaments, beginning with the Fortress Invitational.”

The hydration stations will be open to all golfers and members of the public who simply need to bring their own reusable bottles to the golf course in an effort to not only protect the environment, but also their own health.

“Microplastics have been found in both bottled water and tap water as well as in the bodies of adults and babies. Bluewater water purifiers have been shown to remove microplastics from water, thereby reducing risk of human contamination,” says Janneke Brasecke, General Manager: Bluewater Africa.