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On the toughest day yet at Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate, Daniel van Tonder signed for a round of two-over-par 74 that was still good enough to earn him a two-stroke lead heading into Sunday’s final round of the Limpopo Championship.

That battling third-round 74 puts him on eight under par for the tournament after a day of strong winds which blew straight into the golfers for most of the holes on this Annika Sorenstam-designed golf course.

“It was a battle. The wind was quite strong. I’d say it was either a two- or three-club wind. The greens were also tough to read. Some were firm and fast and others were slow. I managed to shoot two over par, which sounds bad, but I’m still leading by two,” said Van Tonder.

But there were some who were able to take advantage.

Brandon Stone posted a 69 that puts him on six under, where he is one of four players who are Van Tonder’s nearest challengers going into the final round.

“For the last couple of days there’s been no breeze, and I felt like something was missing. When we play on the European Tour we’ve also got a two- or three-club wind blowing. So when I saw the flags were fluttering this morning I knew it could be a potentially good moving day in my favour,” said Stone.

Germany’s Marcel Siem also had a good day with his 68 to join Stone on six under. Oliver Bekker carded a 72 to add his name on six under, and Norway’s Kristian Johannessen battled his way to a 74 to complete the chasing quartet.

But Van Tonder did enough in the difficult conditions to give the rest of the field a concern that his good form of late is possibly not going to end anytime soon. And he once again paid tribute to his wife and caddie Abi for the role she played in Saturday’s 74.

“If it wasn’t for Abi with her reading of the wind and club selection it would’ve been worse. She plays a big role in keeping me calm by making me think about different things to take my mind of golf during the round. But her reading of the wind direction is very good. There were times out there when I was a bit confused, but she was really on the ball with that.”

It was the first time this week that Van Tonder’s game has come under pressure, and he’ll be pleased to have come through that still at the top of the leaderboard.

“I like the pressure. In the final round, I’ll do what I always do. I try and just play the golf course.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour

The power of a European Tour victory is seen not only in the confidence of Daniel van Tonder’s play, which shone through in his first-round 66 for the clubhouse lead in the Limpopo Championship at Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate on Thursday, but also in his words.

Van Tonder, who is still enjoying the momentum of his breakthrough European Tour win in the Kenya Savannah Classic in March, holds a one-stroke lead over fellow South African Neil Schietekat and Denmark’s Niklas Moller after an incomplete first round of a Limpopo Championship co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour. Darkness meant the round will have to be completed on Friday morning before the start of the second round.

But with a European Tour card now in his pocket, Van Tonder’s words resonate beyond just this week and a desire to win here. They now also include talk of world rankings and Majors.

“Kenya definitely changed a few things for me,” he says while standing in the shade of a sprawling maroela tree.

“I’m currently waiting for my UK Visa to come through, then after that it’s off to play in the PGA Championship and then full European Tour from there.”

For the next three weeks in South Africa, when he’ll also play in next week’s Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open and the following week’s Dimension Data Pro-Am, Van Tonder is also hoping to improve on his current world ranking of 80^th.

“Playing these three events brings with it world ranking points, and I want to try and get into the top 60 in the world by the end of these three tournaments and try and make it into the US Open. That’s the plan.”

It’s a vastly different approach to when Van Tonder last won a tournament at Euphoria, in the 2014 Vodacom Origins of Golf, and it shows how far he has come.

“Before a win like that, you’re playing week to week for the money to keep on living. But when you win on the European Tour, then you don’t care so much about the money anymore and you start caring about tournaments. It’s all about confidence.”

And perhaps the biggest indication of just how much his life has changed is where he now calls home.

“I used to live in Fourways, and now I’ve moved to Serengeti Estates where I’m an ambassador for them. I’m very grateful to all of my sponsors who’ve supported me to get to this point in my career.”

Van Tonder is also well aware of the pitfalls that come with success, and plans to avoid those as much as he plans to avoid errant tee shots at Euphoria this week.

“The trick is to keep on practising. The mistake is to think you’ve made it and now you don’t need to practice anymore. You need to keep putting in the hard work.”

Behind Van Tonder are two particular fellow Sunshine Tour professionals who will certainly keep him focused for the remaining three rounds.

Schietekat has come close enough to a win in recent Sunshine Tour events to make him even more hungry for success. “If I get the putter going there’s definitely a low one out there,” he said.

And Jaco Prinsloo is just two shots off the lead and looking to turn the form of his two Sunshine Tour victories in March into a win on the European Challenge Tour and the next step in his own career. – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour

Winning is the only goal in the mind of Wilco Nienaber at the moment, and this week’s Limpopo Championship at the Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate seems as good a place as any to make that a reality, and in a tournament he finished second in last year.

“Winning is the thing I want. Whatever I need to do to get myself in that position to win is what I need to do, and do so more often,” Nienaber said ahead of Thursday’s first round of the R3 million Limpopo Championship, which is co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour.

Nienaber, who finished second in this event last year, is part of a strong field gathered for what is the first of three weeks of European Challenge Tour events being played on the Sunshine Tour.

The global travel restrictions and general uncertainty from country to country has made planning a playing schedule extremely difficult. So these next three weeks offer a golden opportunity of competitive stability.

“Traveling is tough at the moment. That’s the reason I didn’t go to Austria and Spain for the European Tour events there. You can’t really plan anything at the moment. Countries change their restrictions almost weekly, so that makes it tough to know where you’re going to play two weeks from now. But I love playing at home on the Sunshine Tour. I know the golf courses we’ll be playing, and it’s going to be good to get the confidence up and get on a bit of a roll for the European Tour after this,” said Nienaber.

His confidence will certainly be high for this week on a golf course where he came close to winning last year, eventually finishing two shots behind the champion JC Ritchie.

“I like the golf course. It has some very long par threes, and the par fives have some good scoring opportunities if you hit a good tee shot.”

After coming close in this tournament and then finishing second in the Joburg Open last year, Nienaber is certainly eager to get a win under his belt.

But he’ll be up against a field just as eager for competitive action, with fellow competitor Brandon Stone describing this as a week when there will be, “A lot of hungry wolves out there eager to compete”. – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour

Brandon Stone heads into this week’s Limpopo Championship with a very clear goal of using these next three European Challenge Tour events being hosted on the Sunshine Tour as preparation for next month’s PGA Championship.

Stone forms part of a strong South African field gathered at Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate for the R3 million Limpopo Championship, which tees off on Thursday as the first of a three-week stretch of European Challenge Tour co-sanctioned events also including the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open and the Dimension Data Pro-Am.

Wilco Nienaber is back in South Africa for this event, as well as new European Tour member Daniel van Tonder, top GolfRSA amateur Casey Jarvis, defending champion JC Ritchie, rising star Jayden Schaper and recent South African Senior Open champion James Kingston. They will all be joining the international contingent from the European Challenge Tour.

And it’s to the local Sunshine Tour professionals that Stone says he’ll be looking to help get his game in top shape before he tees it up in the year’s second Major, the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in May.

“The golfers on the Sunshine Tour are incredibly good, and in my opinion we have some of the best golfers in the world playing here. So these next three weeks playing against our best will stand me in good stead before the PGA Championship in just over a month. It’s definitely something to get me ready for that,” said Stone.

The multiple European Tour winner is looking forward to competitive golf again following a frustrating period in which the travel issues surrounding Covid-19 have kept him at home.

“I’m just really looking forward to playing again. I haven’t played in a while because of a few visa issues and the travel restrictions around the world at the moment. I have played a lot of social golf and the game feels fantastic. I’m very eager to get some competitive golf going again.

“I think a lot of players this week will also be hungry to compete. These next three weeks are a definite opportunity for the Sunshine Tour professionals. We have three fantastic tournaments in a row at home and on golf courses the Sunshine Tour professionals are familiar with, and that’s a massive opportunity to earn a European Challenge Tour card. I’ve also never won on the European Challenge Tour, and that’s something I’ve always wanted to do.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Carl Fourie

The Sunshine Tour returns to action next week with the first of three tournaments co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour, each of which offers the chance for a career-changing week for South African professionals.

The co-sanctioned series of tournaments tees off with the R3 million Limpopo Championship at Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate from 22-25 April. This is followed by the R3 million Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open at the Royal Cape Golf Club from 29 April to 2 May, and then the R6 million Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt from 6-9 May.

The past history of each of these tournaments is testament to the potential they have to launch the international careers of the competing Sunshine Tour professionals.

JC Ritchie returns as the defending champion in the Limpopo Championship. Ritchie is aiming for a record hat-trick of titles in this event after winning the inaugural tournament in 2019 and then defending in 2020. It played a major part in Ritchie finishing top of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in the 2019-20 season, and this in turn secured Ritchie an exemption into his first Major Championship – the 2020 US Open at Winged Foot Golf Club – and a place in the World Golf Championship-Workday Championship at The Concession Golf Club in Florida.

The Tour then travels to Cape Town for the R3 million Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open. This was where Brandon Stone claimed his breakthrough victory as a professional in 2015. A year later he won both the South African Open and the Alfred Dunhill Championship to finish top of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in 2016. He made his Major Championship debut that same year in both The Open and The PGA Championship, and he secured his place on the European Tour which led to further success when in 2018 he won a major Rolex Series event in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.

Fancourt will host the final stop on this run of co-sanctioned tournaments for the R6 million Dimension Data Pro-Am, one of the longest-running tournaments on the Sunshine Tour and with a history of great champions including Lee Westwood, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, Louis Oosthuizen, Mark McNulty, Nick Price, George Coetzee, Branden Grace, and Paul Lawrie.

Last year, Christiaan Bezuidenhout won at Fancourt as he started his rise up the world rankings. Bezuidenhout ended 2020 with wins in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Open, and has now climbed to 38^th on the Official World Golf Ranking.

These next three weeks on the Sunshine Tour could indeed open the door for South African golf’s next international star.

Schedule:

R3 million Limpopo Championship, Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate : 22-25 April

R3 million Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open, Royal Cape Golf Club : 29 April – 2 May

R6 million Dimension Data Pro-Am, Fancourt : 6-9 May

The Sunshine Tour today announced that Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky, one of the Distell Group’s leading and internationally awarded brands, will become the new title sponsor of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open which will be played at the Royal Cape Golf Club in April.

Bain’s Whisky has for several years been a supporter of the Cape Town Open, which is co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and the European Challenge Tour.

“We’re delighted to join the Sunshine Tour as a supporter of a tournament that is very close to our hearts and aligns perfectly with our Bain’s brand. After all, what better synergy than bringing together Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky, which has been awarded the World’s Best Grain Whisky and is made right here in the Cape, and the Cape Town Open,” said Kavir Gangiah, Distell Group Media, Sponsorship and Events Lead for Southern Africa.

“Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky is a whisky distilled in the Cape and named after the Bainskloof Pass, which is an icon of the region. To associate with a tournament such as the Cape Town Open is the perfect expression of Bain’s as a locally distilled and internationally-awarded whisky, and for a tournament with an international field.”

This year’s Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open, set to be played at Royal Cape Golf Club from 29 April to 2 May and for a prize fund of R3 million, is the ninth edition of a tournament that has played a key role in the development of many Sunshine Tour professionals’ careers, most notably European Tour champion Brandon Stone who won his first Sunshine Tour title in the 2015 edition.

“We are so pleased to welcome Bain’s Whisky as the title sponsor of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open,” said Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.

“Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky prides itself as an innovative brand produced at Africa’s only commercial whisky distillery. Similarly, the Sunshine Tour prides itself on being a Proudly South African Tour and a breeding ground of champions under our banner of Greatness Begins Here. I think the two are a perfect fit.”

Dan Plato, the Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town, said: “As a proud sponsor of the tournament for the last decade, the City of Cape Town is thrilled to welcome Bain’s Whisky on board for a sporting event that has become an integral feature of the City’s annual calendar. With the Mother City being one of the country’s popular golf tourism destinations, the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open represents so much of the uniqueness of the Cape province and we’re looking forward to showcasing this authentic natural beauty to an international audience.”