Month: May 2023

The Sunshine Tour is deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Brian Henning, a man who stood as the cornerstone upon which the Sunshine Tour was built and a pioneer of the success it now enjoys.

Brian was instrumental in the founding of the Sunshine Tour and served as our first Commissioner.

He worked tirelessly to grow the Sunshine Tour, and to this end convinced some of the world’s leading professional golfers to compete here in the early days of the Tour, including Tom Weiskopf, Lee Trevino, Hale Irwin, Lanny Wadkins and Lee Elder.

Brian was himself a competent professional golfer and hailed from the famous family of Henning brothers including Harold, Allan and Graham, and who all played the game professionally.

But it was in the administration of professional touring golf that Brian found his true calling and passion.

Having established the Sunshine Tour, Brian emigrated to the United States and worked with Deane Beman in founding the extremely successful senior tour there, now called the PGA Tour Champions.

Brian’s contribution to the Sunshine Tour has been invaluable, and his contribution to professional golf is another proud moment in the history of the South African game.

The Courier Guy has delivered an exciting new partnership in South African professional golf, with the Sunshine Tour’s season points ranking now to be known as the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

The new partnership brings together South Africa’s leading courier service provider with a Sunshine Tour that is a leader in its field, in the shared pursuit of greatness.

The partnership will showcase this continued pursuit for excellence throughout the season. The leading three professionals on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy will have the official logo displayed next to their names throughout the season on the official SuperSport broadcasts, and their caddies will also wear bibs displaying the logo and their players’ positions of first, second or third on the ranking.

A further incentive this season will be that the top three professionals at the end of the season will receive an added bonus, with R500 000 going to the first-placed finisher, followed by R200 000 for second and R100 000 for third place. This will be on top of their season’s earnings.

“We’re all about excellence and that’s exactly what the Order of Merit is – a recognition of consistent excellence. In the fast-paced world of logistics you have to be on your game and it’s exactly the same with professional golf. The standards are so high, the competition so stiff and the margin for error so small that you just can’t afford to have a bad day. We can totally identify with this, which is why we’ve decided to come on board with the Sunshine Tour,” said Simon Hill, head of Marketing for The Courier Guy.

“Much like the Sunshine Tour, The Courier Guy is one hundred per cent homegrown and very proudly so. We also believe in the pillars of golf – honesty, trust, integrity. These are fundamental when it comes to running a business and it’s precisely how we run ours. So it makes sense on a number of levels, and the fact that we’re keen golfers ourselves doesn’t hurt either.”

Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour, welcomed the new partnership at the start of the Tour’s 2023/24 season.

“The Courier Guy is such a well-established brand and we’re delighted to have such a passionate business as a partner. The Sunshine Tour has always aligned itself with the very best brands in our own pursuit to deliver the best product we can in professional golf. The Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy is a valuable addition to our Tour, and we cannot think of anybody better to help us deliver greatness on our fairways than South Africa’s leading courier services company.”

With a passion for golf and an equal passion for always pushing the boundaries to do new and exciting things in their own industry, The Courier Guy has hinted at further possible enhancements of their relationship with the Sunshine Tour in the future.

“We’re a brand that likes to do things differently. Like the Sunshine Tour, we’re expanding on and embarking on new and exciting things all the time. So watch this space,” said Hill.

Beloved South African professional golfer John Bland, who won 36 titles in a celebrated career, passed away shortly after 6am on Tuesday 9 May 2023.

Bland (77) passed away in a hospital in George after a battle with cancer, with his family and his bulldog Handsome by his side.

“As a family we are relieved that John’s suffering is over,” said his wife, Sonja.

“I met John 25 years ago and I knew immediately what a special man he was. The support and loving we have received from his lifelong friends during this time has been incredible and we are all grateful that John is now at peace.”

Bland began his professional career in 1969 and was one of the leading golfers and most loved figures on the Sunshine Tour and international circuit for decades.

He followed in the footsteps of some of South Africa’s greatest ever golfers by winning the 1970 Transvaal Open, joining a list of champions that included Sid and Jock Brews, Bobby Locke and Gary Player. In 1977 Bland beat Player to win the South African PGA Championship. He also won the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit title four times.

Bland was a two-time winner on the DP World Tour (European Tour) and achieved a career-high ranking of 48^th on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Bland’s senior golf career was equally impressive as he won five times on the PGA Tour Champions and three times on the Legends Tour.

Tributes have poured in worldwide for one of the most loved and respected South African sportsmen.

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Neil Schietekat won the FBC Zimbabwe Open by four strokes at Royal Harare Golf Club on Sunday, his successful foray to South Africa’s northern neighbour bringing him his first Sunshine Tour title since 2018 and an ideal start to his season before he heads off even further north to play in Asia.

The experienced Schietekat had started the final round with a seven-stroke lead following his brilliant 66 on the third day, and although he did not pull any further away from the chasing pack, his final-round 75 was still good enough for him to win comfortably on 11-under-par.

Most importantly, he played the front nine under-par, birdies on the second, third and fifth holes offsetting dropped shots on the first two par-fours – the first and the fourth holes. Schietekat reached the turn with an eight-shot lead, which he needed because the tough back nine caused him problems.

“I’m really happy that I managed to pull through because today was a much tougher day for me. I haven’t won before with such a big lead, so I didn’t really know how to go about things. I wasn’t trying to play safe, but there were some shots I did not commit to and some shots I did really go for.

“I had some unlucky breaks out of the rough, but that’s been the same for everybody this week. But I made a couple of really good saves and par-putts.

“I was bleeding on the back nine, starting on 10 where I hit a good shot off the tee but it just rolled into the water and I made double-bogey. But I made some clutch par-saves as well, especially on 14 where I sank a big putt. That settled everything and I knew that only I could lose it then. It feels really good that I managed to hang in there,” Schietekat said.

Having conquered the testing, prestigious parkland layout at Royal Harare, Schietekat knows his game is in good shape before he heads off in a few weeks for his second season on the Asian Tour.

The 39-year-old Schietekat, who was educated and played his early golf in KwaZulu-Natal, praised the course that gave him his fifth Sunshine Tour title.

“There are a couple of holes you can go for it, the reward is big, but if you don’t pull it off then you are in big trouble. I missed a few fairways and greens today and if you miss the greens, then it becomes really tough to get up and down because the greens are so quick. They’re probably the best greens we play on all year,” Schietekat said.

Jacques P. de Villiers fired a four-under 68 on Sunday to lift himself to second place, his highest finish on the Sunshine Tour, alongside Peter Karmis and Jaco Ahlers, who both shot 70s, on seven-under for the tournament.

Ryan van Velzen also shot a 68 to claim fifth place on six-under-par, while Kieran Vincent was the leading Zimbabwean, on three-under-par with Danie van Niekerk.

The experienced Neil Schietekat has put aside the disappointments of the previous season and will go into the final round of the FBC Zimbabwe Open at the Royal Harare Golf Club with a seven-stroke lead after he dominated the third round on Saturday with a six-under-par 66, the lowest round of the day.

The 39-year-old Schietekat has been a consistent contender on the Sunshine Tour for the last half-dozen seasons, but in 2022/23 he finished 47^th in the Luna Order of Merit. The Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club representative put it down to the challenges of competing both at home and on the Asian Tour for the first time. But the new season has started in the best way possible with the fifth win of his Sunshine Tour career beckoning in Harare.

“It was my first year out in Asia and I was trying to juggle playing on both tours,” Schietekat said after his bogey-free round on Saturday. “But by the standards I have set myself, I wasn’t great on either tour and I just kept my Asian Tour card.

“I struggled with the travel, being away from home for five or six weeks in a row, with a time-difference of seven hours sometimes, which makes it difficult to chat to your family.

“I haven’t really changed anything in my game, I’ve just been working hard and I’m taking a bit of a break from playing in Asia, before heading out in a couple of weeks. It’s about giving myself a better schedule this year.

“So now I have a nice gap going into the final round and it will just be about sticking to my guns and keep playing the way I have been,” Schietekat said.

While Schietekat is lord of all he surveys at the top of the leaderboard on 14-under-par, his 66 being two strokes better than the next best round on Saturday, he modestly said he had made several lengthy putts for par to keep his momentum going.

“I’m pretty chuffed with my score because the wind was swirling and the greens quickened up and became quite crusty towards the end of the day. So it was great to keep bogeys off my card because that allowed me to keep the momentum going. I made a lot of clutch putts for par,” Schietekat said.

Last year’s South African Strokeplay Championship winner Jonathan Broomhead, in his first season in the professional big time, shot a marvellous three-under-par 69 to land himself in second place on seven-under, alongside first-round leader Wynand Dingle (71).

Second-round leader Adam Breen is in the tie for fourth on five-under, having hit tough times on Saturday as he shot a 76. The experienced duo of Jaco Ahlers and Peter Karmis both shot 71s to also finish on five-under, while Robson Chinhoi is the leading Zimbabwean golfer as his 68 lifted him into a share of seventh place with Trevor Fisher Jnr on four-under-par.

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Adam Breen is in just his second season as a Sunshine Tour professional, but he has handled the challenges of the Royal Harare Golf Club course better than any of his more senior colleagues as he will head into the weekend leading the FBC Zimbabwe Open by one stroke.

In Friday’s second round, Breen fired a composed four-under-par 68, which included six birdies. Combined with his 67 on the first day, it lifted the Country Club Johannesburg golfer to nine-under for the tournament, one ahead of the experienced Neil Schietekat (69).

Breen began Friday’s round on the 10^th hole and the 25-year-old said one of the hardest challenges posed by the classic parkland layout is how differently the two nines play, with the back nine being much more difficult.

“They are completely different nines. On the front nine, the par-fives are more straightforward and the par-threes are easier because there are no elevated greens. But on the back nine, the greens are elevated and it is quite punishing off the tee. They’ve been giving us back pins and the greens slope away towards the bunkers, so it is very hard to get the ball close.

“You feel like you’re holding on for dear life and you want some sort of cushion before you play the back nine. But I actually found it quite nice to start on the back nine today, grind it out, trying to stay cool, and then opening up on the front nine,” Breen said.

And that’s exactly what the second-year pro did. After two bogeys and a birdie in his first four holes, he made important birdies on the par-three 15^th and par-four 18^th holes, setting him up for a bogey-free front nine in which he picked up three more shots, on the third, fifth and sixth holes.

“It’s a challenging course and sometimes par can feel like birdie. You’ve just got to stay patient and set yourself up by being in the right spots. I’m in a nice position for the weekend because scoring is going to be tough,” Breen said.

Citizens of South Africa dominate the leaderboard going into the weekend, with Jacques P. de Villiers (70) third on seven-under-par and first-round leader Wynand Dingle (72) in fourth place on six-under.

Trevor Fisher Jnr is on five-under-par and Ricky Hendler, Jonathan Broomhead, Jaco Ahlers, Jovan Rebula, Lyle Rowe and Sean Bradley, alongside Peter Karmis, who was born in South Africa but plays under the Greek flag, round out the top-12 on four-under.

Stuart Krog, with whom Breen is staying, Shaahid Mahmed, Tonderayi Masunga, Biggie Chibvuri and Kieran Vincent are the leading Zimbabweans, all on one-under-par.

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Wynand Dingle continued the momentum from his best season ever on the Sunshine Tour when he opened the new campaign with a six-under-par 66 for the lead after the first round of the FBC Zimbabwe Open, the first event of the new season, at Royal Harare Golf Club on Thursday.

Boosted by his breakthrough Sunshine Tour win at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at San Lameer last September, Dingle finished 16^th in the 2022/23 Luna Order of Merit, a small matter of a 63-place improvement on his previous best season in 2018/19, when he finished 79^th.

And back in a country he loves and where he has enjoyed success before, finishing in the top-10 in last year’s Zimbabwe Open, Dingle hit the ground running with a birdie at the par-four first hole. Although a bogey followed on the second, he birdied the fourth and then followed a wild run of three successive birdies from the seventh hole as he reached the back nine on four-under.

The 38-year-old’s back nine was more sedate, with the highlight coming on the 604-yard par-five 16^th when his eagle putt disappeared like a shrew into its hole.

Peter Karmis was able to call on his considerable experience and post a five-under 67 to share second place with another seasoned pro in Neil Schietekat and Jacques P. de Villiers and Adam Breen.

“I managed my game well and I was a bit lucky at times, sinking long putts, my short game kept me alive and when I was in the rough I seemed to find gaps between the trees,” Karmis said.

“I’m playing with a lot of control at the moment, hitting the ball where I want to, which leads to a lot of confidence. And the greens are so pure here, it’s crazy how good they are, so you’re always going to make some putts.

“A good dinner and a good night’s sleep will be key to shooting low again tomorrow,” Karmis grinned.

Jovan Rebula was six-under-par through nine holes but then faded on the back nine, finishing with a 68 that left him in sixth place.

The Sunshine Tour tees off its 2023-24 season in Africa this week with the FBC Zimbabwe Open at the Royal Harare Golf Club.

The Tour’s new schedule will start with its African Swing in Zimbabwe and Zambia, and then also includes increased purses for the longstanding Vodacom Origins of Golf and SunBet Challenge series of tournaments.

SuperSport is once again the official broadcaster of the entire season.

The new season begins at Royal Harare Golf Club with this week’s 72-hole tournament, and then travels to Zambia for the Zanaco Masters at Lusaka Golf Club in May.

The four-tournament Vodacom Origins of Golf Series, which first teed off in 2004, will feature increased prize money of R1.5 million and then R2 million for the Vodacom Origins of Golf Final.

The four-tournament SunBet Challenge Series will also feature increased prize money of R1.25 million per event.

The Tour has announced its new schedule up to the Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational in November, and will announce its main DP World Tour co-sanctioned summer tournaments at a later stage.

“We are confident we have put together another robust schedule that reflects the significant growth of the Sunshine Tour over the past few years,” said Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.

“We have moved from a tournament schedule of 24 events before the COVID-19 pandemic to a schedule that is now 32 tournaments strong and with double the prize money. This new schedule gives our members maximum playing opportunities across the spectrum of our local and international events. Our Strategic Alliance with the DP World Tour remains as strong as ever and provides the global pathway for South African professionals to play their way from the Sunshine Tour onto the European Challenge Tour and then ultimately the DP World Tour and beyond.

“There is no doubt that we work in challenging economic times and I’d like to thank our sponsors and partners for their continued faith in the Sunshine Tour as a product that offers unrivalled value through our broadcast partnership with SuperSport and then our international broadcast footprint in our co-sanctioned events.” – Michael Vlismas