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CAPE TOWN – Cape Town will host the finest young stars from both the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour in this week’s Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open which is the second of a run of seven co-sanctioned tournaments, and with recent champion Alexander Knappe declaring these events as a real gamechanger for their careers.

Knappe, the winner of last week’s Dimension Data Pro-Am, forms part of a strong field gathered at both Royal Cape Golf Club and Rondebosch Golf Club this week.

There are six former champions in the field this week including defending champion JC RitchIe as well as Jaco Ahlers, Rhys Enoch, Jake Roos, Benjamin Follett-Smith and Anton Karlsson.

There are also a host of players hungry to go one better than their second-place finishes in this tournament such as Jacques Blaauw, Zander Lombard, Peter Karmis, Ockie Strydom, Steve Surrey, Hennie Otto, Michael Hollick and Jaco van Zyl.

But as Knappe has pointed out, there is a greater benefit for every single player in terms of the opportunity created by this series of tournaments.

“These seven tournaments in Africa to start our season with are really important. We would usually start in May, and that is half a year off if we didn’t have these tournaments with the Sunshine Tour,” said Knappe.

“We’re grateful to the Sunshine Tour for co-sanctioning these tournaments with the Challenge Tour and putting up such great tournaments. The golf courses here are always great and the tournaments are so well run. And most importantly, it keeps us playing because we have a long season with a great schedule and increased prize money. It means a lot to us as players.”

Knappe’s view aligns perfectly with sponsor Bain’s Whisky’s philosophy for this tournament.

“Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky is expertly crafted in South Africa and celebrated internationally for its fresh approach on traditional whisky making, which has included winning the world’s best single grain whisky twice in the last decade. Similarly, we are proud to support a tournament in Cape Town that resonates with a global audience. Opportunity is a key ingredient to success and we’re delighted to support both the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour players with yet another opportunity to develop their careers,” said Kavir Gangiah, Distell Group Media, Sponsorship and Events Lead for Southern Africa.

The Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open celebrates its 10^thanniversary this week, marking a decade of the city of Cape Town’s proud support of international golf on local fairways.

“I am delighted to welcome the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open and its participants to the Mother City. The Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open has remained one of the mainstays of the city’s annual events calendar over the last decade and has consistently increased in popularity,” said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

“Council recently approved a new three-year agreement with the Southern Africa PGA Tour for the City of Cape Town to continue sponsorship of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open.”

The tournament will be played on both the Royal Cape Golf Club and Rondebosch Golf Club courses. The first two rounds will be played on both golf courses, and the final two rounds will be played solely at Royal Cape Golf Club.

A maximum of 2 000 fully vaccinated spectators will be allowed per day.

Following this week in Cape Town, the remainder of the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour co-sanctioned schedule is as follows:

24-27 February – $250 000 Jonsson Workwear Open (Durban CC and Mt Edgecombe CC)

3-6 March – $250 000 Mangaung Open (Bloemfontein GC and Schoeman Park GC)

24-27 March – $250 000 SDC Open (Zebula Golf Estate & Spa and Elements Private Golf Reserve)

31 March – 3 April – $250 000 Limpopo Championship(Euphoria Golf & Lifestyle Estate and Koro Creek Bushveld Estate)

7-10 April –  $275 000 Mount Kilimanjaro Klassic (Kilimanjaro Golf & Wildlife Estate)

Michael Vlismas

GEORGE, Western Cape – Germany’s Alexander Knappe broke down in tears after winning the Dimension Data Pro-Am by a single stroke over South Africa’s Dean Burmester at Fancourt on Sunday.

After a final-round battle that saw him and Burmester tied for the lead for most of the day, Knappe birdied the par-five 18^th on the Montagu golf course for a 68 that earned him victory on 23 under par. Burmester took second place on 22 under par with a closing 68 of his own.

For Knappe, this was an emotional victory at a place he calls his second home and where he spends the European winters practicing.

“Fancourt is like a home for me. I live here on the estate. The three courses here are so good to practice on and get ready for tournaments. South Africa is really lovely, and George is special to me,” said a delighted Knappe, who last won in 2016.

This was indeed a special victory forged as the mixture of a dream and intense hard work.

“In 2015 I saw this tournament, and in 2016 I played in it for the first time and finished third. I’ve just always wanted to win this tournament.”

Burmester pushed as hard as he could and his birdie on 16 drew him level with the German, and with the par-five 18^th to come. But the South African could only manage a par at the last, opening the door for Knappe playing behind him and who had a short putt for birdie and the title.

The emotion he showed was the result of the countless hours he has spent practicing on these three golf courses, the intense work he’s put in on the mental side of his game over the past few months, and the added work he’s done physically with his South African trainer Garth Milne. And it all came together in a week in which he didn’t make a single bogey in 72 holes.

“It was good competition with Dean, and four rounds bogey free on these golf courses is an unbelievable feeling for me. I just love this place so much. I’ve spent so many hours on these courses – in the rain, when there’s been a threat of lightning, when nobody has been out here I’ve been working on these greens, and when it happened now all that hard work just came out in tears.

“I really wanted it, and now it’s a reality.”

The Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour travel to Cape Town this week for the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open at Royal Cape Golf Club and Rondebosch Golf

By Michael Vlismas

GEORGE, Western Cape – Dean Burmester has aspirations of becoming South Africa’s next Major champion, and on Saturday in the third round of the Dimension Data Pro-Am he showed the kind of game and mental strength that will get him there.

Burmester signed for a 63 on the Montagu course – including three eagles, with two of them coming on a back nine of 29 and on the par-four 11^th and 16^th holes – to put him only one shot off the 19-under-par lead of Germany’s Alexander Knappe going into Sunday’s final round. The German posted a 66 on the same course.

“That was fun. It’s turned out pretty good. It was a good moving day. It was kind of surreal standing on the 17^thtee and thinking I’ve had three eagles in this round, and after the start I had on Thursday here I am now in with a chance,” he said.

Indeed, it’s a remarkable turnaround for Burmester after he made a triple bogey seven on the first hole on Thursday when he hit two tee shots out of bounds.

“I was still half asleep coming in jet-lagged from America (where he played in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA Tour). Playing with Retief Goosen that first round certainly helped. He’s got one of the best mental games out there. He’s always had that. I fed off that and managed to keep grinding and finished that round under par.”

After turning in two under for his round on Saturday, Burmester says he knew he needed something special to put him in with a chance of winning a tournament he’s always cherished and where he finished second in 2016.

“I thought I was going to have to have a good back nine to stand a chance in this tournament and I managed to throw in a 29 there.”

It was a back nine underpinned by those two eagles. On the par-four 11^th he chipped in with a lob wedge, and on the par-four 16^th he drove the green and holed a 25-foot putt.

“This is a tournament where I made my first cut as a professional, so I have great memories of this and hopefully on the back nine on Sunday I’ve got a chance.”

He currently shares second place with New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier, who signed for a 63 on the Outeniqua course.

And ahead of them, Knappe is equally driven to claim a title in a part of the world he calls his second home.

“Fancourt is my home base in the winter. I practice here and I love it,” he said.

By Michael Vlismas

GEORGE, Western Cape – Inspired by becoming a father for the first time, Frenchman Adrien Saddier hummed the same melody he uses to put his baby boy to sleep throughout his second-round 66 as he opened up a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt on Friday.

On a magnificent day on The Links, Saddier built on the shared lead he enjoyed overnight and pulled away from this field with a round in which he dropped only one shot and birdied four of his last six holes.

“I’m really happy. It was a great day. The conditions were perfect,” said Saddier, who has Germany’s Alexander Knappe as his nearest challenger on 13 under, followed by South Africans Jaco Ahlers and Jacques Blaauw as well as Spaniard Ivan Cantero Gutierrez on 11 under par.

Saddier has spent the last two months immersing himself in the joy of being a new dad with the birth of baby boy Nathan, and this is his first tournament back.

“I’m just enjoying my golf. If you enjoy it the result will come automatically. When I wait on the golf course I find myself singing the same melody I sing to my baby boy when I help him to fall asleep,” he said. He also has a tattoo on his left forearm of three bears. Or rather, pappa bear, and then mamma bear with baby bear on her back and looking up to the stars.

Saddier and his amateur partner, former Springbok rugby player Odwa Ndungane, also share the lead in the amateur team competition on 18 under par.

“I enjoyed having Odwa as my amateur partner. I asked him a few questions about the mental side of the game and how he handled it when he was at the top of his sport, and he was really nice about the advice he gave me,” said Saddier.

Behind him, Ahlers has worked himself into a promising position going into the weekend of a tournament he won in 2018 and finished 10^th in last year. He posted a solid second round of 69 on The Links, even though he was less impressed with the two bogeys he made on the par fives.

“I’ll take it, but I just didn’t feel it was good enough with the weather being as good as it was, and two sixes on par fives is just not going to cut it,” he said. “I made some silly mistakes, so we’ll go fix that. I didn’t see anybody getting to 16 under already so that’s good golf, and I’ll just have to put the foot on the gas and just keep going and hopefully not make silly mistakes.”

GEORGE, Western Cape – For double US Open champion Retief Goosen, the hardest part of his 67 to place the 53-year-old only four shots off the first-round lead in the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt was the 5am wake-up call on Thursday.

Goosen, who just happened to be in George for a charity golf event when he was invited to play this week, turned back the clock with a round on the Outeniqua that puts him well in the chase for a title he won back in 2002.

New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier and Frenchman Adrien Saddier are the men he is chasing at the top of the leaderboard on nine under par. Saddier shot 63 on the Outeniqua, while Hillier produced a magnificent 64 on the treacherous Links which he described as one of the best rounds of his life. They are one clear of the field, with 2018 champion Jaco Ahlers just two off the lead.

Goosen takes on the Links for his second round, but for now, he’s more than happy with his start to this prestigious pro-am tournament and against the brightest young stars of both the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour.

“It wasn’t easy getting up this morning. A 5am call is not really a PGA Tour Champions wake-up call. We’re normally kind of 11am for a 1pm start. But the conditions were perfect early in the morning and I started off nicely with a couple of birdies. I had a lot of birdie chances but left them short. It could’ve been a lower round, but I played well today,” he said of a round that started with two consecutive birdies and included a 30-foot putt for eagle on the 17^th.

“Not bad for my second event of the year and after should surgery last November, which put me out for seven weeks. The shoulder feels good so that’s pleasing,” he said.

At the top of the leaderboard, Hillier – who finished eighth here in 2020 – was understandably delighted with his 64 on the Links. “I wanted to make the most of the benign conditions. It was just one of those days where everything just seemed to go my way. But a 64 on the Links, that’s right up there with my best rounds – definitely. I just made sure I was in the right positions and managed to execute. But it’s probably one of the better rounds of my life,” he said.

And co-leader Saddier is loving his first trip to Fancourt.

“It was a good start. Everything clicked today. I started with birdies at the first and second and I played really solid on the back nine. I hit it close, made the putts, and it was a great day of golf.”

GEORGE, Western Cape – Fancourt was bathed in sunshine on Wednesday and with its three golf courses in immaculate condition against the backdrop of the Outeniqua mountain range as the Dimension Data Pro-Am, one of the showpiece tournaments of the Sunshine Tour, welcomed a stellar field of professionals and amateurs for this week’s tournament.

The 2022 edition of this historic tournament – which has been won by stars of the game such as Mark McNulty, Nick Price, Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout – has drawn a world-class field of sports stars that will compete alongside the finest young professionals on the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour from Thursday to Sunday.

Springbok rugby’s finest in Francois Pienaar, John Smit, Schalk Brits, Schalk Burger Snr. and Schalk Burger Jnr., Jean de Villiers, Odwa Ndungane and Nick Mallett are joined by cricket greats Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith as well as Bafana Bafana great Jimmy Tau as amongst the glittering array of amateurs in the field.

So much so that this is one of those rare weeks on the golf calendar when the professionals are the ones who are a little starstruck by their playing partners.

“You can definitely get quite starstruck here with all the sports stars. It’s always a great week to spend with them catching up. It was two years ago that I was paired with Francois Pienaar and we had such a great time together,” said Sunshine Tour professional Anton Haig.

“You really can’t get a more beautiful place in the world to play golf. Dimension Data and all the sponsors always put on a great show this week in what is also an important week for us in terms of some good world ranking points on offer. I’m taking up membership of the Challenge Tour so this starts an important run of Challenge Tour events on the Sunshine Tour for me.”

Fellow Sunshine Tour professional Trevor Fisher Jnr. was equally excited about the week to come.

“It’s one of the best weeks we have on the Sunshine Tour. The golf courses are always great and the setting we have here is world class. It’s also great fun with the amateurs. I’ll take Jacques Kallis this year for sure – he’s quite handy off his handicap.”

Fancourt was bathed in sunshine on Wednesday and with its three golf courses in immaculate condition against the backdrop of the Outeniqua mountain range as the Dimension Data Pro-Am, one of the showpiece tournaments of the Sunshine Tour, welcomed a stellar field of professionals and amateurs for this week’s tournament.

The 2022 edition of this historic tournament – which has been won by stars of the game such as Mark McNulty, Nick Price, Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout – has drawn a world-class field of sports stars that will compete alongside the finest young professionals on the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour from Thursday to Sunday.

Springbok rugby’s finest in Francois Pienaar, John Smit, Schalk Brits, Schalk Burger Snr. and Schalk Burger Jnr., Jean de Villiers, Odwa Ndungane and Nick Mallett are joined by cricket greats Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith as well as Bafana Bafana great Jimmy Tau as amongst the glittering array of amateurs in the field.

So much so that this is one of those rare weeks on the golf calendar when the professionals are the ones who are a little starstruck by their playing partners.

“You can definitely get quite starstruck here with all the sports stars. It’s always a great week to spend with them catching up. It was two years ago that I was paired with Francois Pienaar and we had such a great time together,” said Sunshine Tour professional Anton Haig.

“You really can’t get a more beautiful place in the world to play golf. Dimension Data and all the sponsors always put on a great show this week in what is also an important week for us in terms of some good world ranking points on offer. I’m taking up membership of the Challenge Tour so this starts an important run of Challenge Tour events on the Sunshine Tour for me.”

Fellow Sunshine Tour professional Trevor Fisher Jnr. was equally excited about the week to come.

“It’s one of the best weeks we have on the Sunshine Tour. The golf courses are always great and the setting we have here is world class. It’s also great fun with the amateurs. I’ll take Jacques Kallis this year for sure – he’s quite handy off his handicap.”

MyGolfLife, the digital golf rewards platform of MoreCorp, will be the title sponsor of the new MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood and which will make its debut on the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour at the Pecanwood Golf & Country Club from 10-13 March 2022.

MyGolfLife is South Africa’s leading digital golf rewards platform which connects people around their shared passion for golf, and rewards this community with exclusive offers from Africa’s largest golf retailer, The Pro Shop.

MyGolfLife’s comprehensive offering for the golf community includes access to lastminutegolf and GolfTeeTimes and over 200 000 available tee times at more than 100 golf courses throughout South Africa every month at subsidised rates, online scoring through the ScoreCapture app, game improvement with the Gary Player Golf Experience, and access to any of the three world-class golf leisure parks of the World of Golf in Midrand, the Golf Village in Centurion and the Golf Village at Gilloolys at subsidised rates.

“We’re extremely proud to announce MyGolfLife’s sponsorship of the MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood and to be able to extend our support and passion for golf to both the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour,” Darryl Egdes, CEO of MoreCorp.

“MyGolfLife is all about rewarding golfers for their passion for the game and enabling them to live that passion even more by connecting every single element of their golf lives.”

“Now we can add a truly international golf tournament on the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour that showcases the best professional talent on both tours, and which further emphasises what we believe is an unrivalled celebration of what the golf life is all about.”

The MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood significantly enhances South African golf’s global footprint and brings international golf back to a venue that opened in 1996 as the country’s first Jack Nicklaus signature golf course.

“Pecanwood Estate was born out of the vision of a community’s passion for the game of golf and their desire to combine this with an unrivalled lifestyle that set the benchmark for golf estates in South Africa,” said Morné Botha, General Manager of the Pecanwood Estate Homeowners’ Association (HOA).

“MyGolfLife has a similar philosophy of a community of golfers living out their passion for the game and being rewarded in the process. Our shared vision and the support of the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour will make for a memorable tournament for every golf fan.”

Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour, said: “MoreCorp and The Pro Shop have long been valuable and loyal partners to the Sunshine Tour, and we’re delighted to grow this partnership through the new MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood.”

“Their passion for the game and their passion for the golf community is without question, and this will be another opportunity for us to showcase the entire golf community to an international audience.”

GEORGE, Western Cape – Wilco Nienaber will make the first title defence of his professional career in this week’s Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt, in a tournament that marks the start of the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour’s run of seven (six in South Africa and a seventh in Tanzania) co-sanctioned events with an international field of golfers from 30 countries, and including double US Open champion Retief Goosen.

“I’m really excited,” said Nienaber as he returns to the scene of his breakthrough victory in the professional ranks.

“The win feels like such a long time ago. In fact, last year felt like a long year. But I’m pretty sure that as soon as I get to Fancourt I’ll relive some of those memories. Having said that, the focus is on this week and not last year. I want to win it again this year and not get stuck in last year.”

While Nienaber returns as the reigning champion of this historic tournament, Goosen is back as the 2002 winner and as part of a strong field also including Dean Burmester, former Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner JC Ritchie, and six former champions of this event.

“It’s a big tournament with a lot of points on offer, so you’ve always got to make sure you’re ready for it. I’ve got a plan for the week and I’m looking forward to it,” said Nienaber.

A large part of that plan is navigating the challenge of three different courses this week – the Montagu, Outeniqua and Links – and the popular pro-am format.

“It’s important to make sure your energy levels are spot-on this week. A lot of the success this week is about getting your preparation right, and then being patient out there. We’re fortunate to have a long run of Challenge Tour events coming up, so I’ve got a good plan in terms of my preparation and making sure I’m ready for every tournament I play in.”

This will also be the second week that Nienaber has veteran caddie Ricci Roberts on his bag. He and Roberts, the man alongside the majority of Ernie Els’s successful career, started working together at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Final at Sun City, and Nienaber says the experience he brings is invaluable.

“It kind of just happened that we started working together. There was no real reason behind it. It’s great to have his experience on the bag. I remember at Sun City, when it came to the first round of the tournament, it just felt like another practice round. He brings that experience and calm to the situation.”

Photo: Wilco Nienaber is back to defend his Dimension Data Pro-Am title at Fancourt this week. Credit: Sunshine Tour.

IRENE – The extreme weather that has hit Gauteng forced the rescheduling of this week’s Kit Kat Group Pro-Am after the Irene Country Club was waterlogged and certain holes severely damaged by a flooding Hennops River.

Following an incomplete first round on Friday because of the weather, the Sunshine Tour had to make the call to cancel the tournament on Saturday as the golf course was unplayable.

The Tour is liaising with the Kit Kat Group in terms of rescheduling the tournament for another date.

“We unfortunately had to cancel play because the course is unplayable. Waterlogged is really an understatement of what we are dealing with here. The river is all over the golf course. We have four holes that are heavily underwater, and others that are severely damaged,” said Tournament Director Ludwick Manyama.

“We are holding discussions with the Kit Kat Group and we are looking at a possible date in June to replay the event.”