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The Big Easy Tour, the official development tour of the Sunshine Tour, has announced that leading technology company Altron will be its new title sponsor as part of a substantial investment in the next generation of South African professional golf talent, including more tournaments and greater prize money.

The Altron Big Easy Tour will feature 10 tournaments in a schedule that will run from May to September, and which will also include record prize money for the final two tournaments of the season.

The prize money for each 36-hole tournament will be R150 000, which is an increase of R50 000 per tournament from the 2021 season. But the final two tournaments of the season – The Playoff and The Final to be played over 54 holes – will offer record prize money for the Tour of R250 000 and R300 000 respectively.

Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour, said: “We are delighted to announce this new era for the Altron Big Easy Tour which represents significant growth for our main development tour, and which offers incredible playing opportunities for those golfers wishing to graduate to the Sunshine Tour.”

“The Altron Big Easy Tour is the first step that an aspiring South African professional golfer will take on the global pathway that includes the Sunshine Tour and our associations with the Challenge Tour and DP World Tour.”

Matthew Klaas, Acting Managing Director of Altron Systems Integration, said: “As Altron we are passionate about our communities and the potential of all our people. We are, therefore, proud to be able to create the opportunity for a rising young South African professional golfer to be able to aspire to a place on the Sunshine Tour and a successful career in the game.”

The Playoff will feature the top 50 players on the Altron Big Easy Tour Order of Merit competing for R250 000 in prize money.

The top 30 players on the Order of Merit after The Playoff will qualify for The Final during which they will compete for R300 000 in prize money.

All of the tournaments will be played in Gauteng.

The Big Easy Tour was founded in 2011 with support from Ernie Els and counts current international star Christiaan Bezuidenhout amongst its former Order of Merit winners.

The Sunshine Tour has announced a bold start to 2022 with a schedule including two new tournaments co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour, and seven tournaments co-sanctioned with the Challenge Tour including a new event in Tanzania.

The opening four months of the New Year will see South Africa’s professional golfers competing for almost R80 million in total tournament prizemoney in what is an extremely strong and lucrative start to the Sunshine Tour season.

“A tremendous amount of work together with the ongoing support of our Chairman Mr Johann Rupert, our Executive Director Selwyn Nathan, our Board of Directors, our partners and sponsors has allowed us to announce what we believe is a fabulous Sunshine Tour schedule to start the year with,” said Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.

“We are delighted to be able to grow our relationship with the DP World Tour and the Challenge Tour with the offering of even more opportunities for our member professionals to secure a place on an international tour while playing at home. This significantly enhances what has always been our global pathway to success for our professionals.

“We also have several new sponsors on board that have recognised the value professional golf offers. I’d also like to pay tribute to our existing sponsors – Dimension Data, Bain’s Whisky, City of Cape Town, the Limpopo Tourism Authority, Vodacom and the Kit Kat Group – many of whom have been with us for a very long time and who continue to give us the means to build on a Sunshine Tour brand that is globally recognised as a place of opportunity and reflective of our slogan that ‘GreatnessBeginsHere’.”

The Sunshine Tour’s 2022 schedule tees off in the final week in January with the Vodacom Origins of Golf Final at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City.

February, March and April include the Challenge Tour’s Southern African Swing, which has now grown from three tournaments to seven.

The first new event is the Jonsson Workwear Open, which will be played at both Durban Country Club and Mt Edgecombe Country Club.

“Creating opportunities for passionate people to perform at their peak is the common thread that ties the Sunshine Tour to Jonsson Workwear. We are proud to introduce the Jonsson Workwear Open, a flagship event that will support our continuous efforts in building Durban as a city and KwaZulu-Natal as a region of endless possibilities,” said Nick Jonsson, Chairman and CEO of Jonsson Workwear.

This is followed by the Mangaung Open at both Bloemfontein Golf Club and Schoeman Park Golf Club.

The SDC Open also joins the Challenge Tour co-sanctioned schedule and will be played at the Zebula Golf Estate & Spa and Elements Private Golf Reserve in Limpopo.

“As an organization passionate about developing others in their personal and professional life, we took up this opportunity as a means of getting a greater awareness around what the SDC Group does to develop and grow the skills and wealth of people in South Africa. We are honoured to be associated with the prestige that comes with the tournament,” said Daniel Gibhard, CEO of the Skills Development Corporation (SDC).

The Tour then branches out into Tanzania for the first time for the new Mount Kilimanjaro Klassic at the Kilimanjaro Golf & Wildlife Estate in Tanzania.

“Tanzania’s Tourism is one of the main pillars of our economy. Golf has been identified as a major catalyst for tourism development globally. The launch of the Challenge Tour tournament will go a long way in developing golf tourism to showcase our unparalleled natural attractions,” said the Hon. Dr Damas Ndumbaro, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism in Tanzania.

These new Challenge Tour events join the existing Dimension Data Pro-Am (Fancourt), Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open (Royal Cape Golf Club and Rondebosch Golf Club), and the Limpopo Championship (Euphoria Golf & Lifestyle Estate and Koro Creek Bushveld Estate).

March features the two new tournaments co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour, the $1.5 million Pecanwood Classic at the Pecanwood Golf Estate and the $1.5 million Steyn City Championship at Steyn City.

This takes to a total of five the number of tournaments the Sunshine Tour hosts on the DP World Tour, adding to the Joburg Open, South African Open and Alfred Dunhill Championship.

The Kit Kat Group Pro-Am (Irene Country Club), Players Championship (Dainfern Golf Estate) and Tour Championship (Serengeti Estates) round off the new schedule.

And the country’s next generation of stars will have the opportunity to play their way onto the Sunshine Tour through either the Sunshine Tour Qualifying School or the Vusi Ngubeni Tournament for transformation golfers.

Sunshine Tour 2022 Schedule

17-20 January – Sunshine Tour Qualifying School First Stage (Maccauvlei GC and Benoni CC)

28-30 January – Vodacom Origins of Golf Final R1 000 000 (Gary Player CC, Sun City)

4-6 February – Kit Kat Group Pro-Am R1 000 000 (Irene CC)

10-13 February – Dimension Data Pro-Am $375 000 (Fancourt)

17-20 February – Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open $250 000 (Royal Cape GC and Rondebosch GC)

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

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

8-9 March – Vusi Ngubeni Qualifying Tournament (Modderfontein GC)

10-13 March – Pecanwood Classic $1 500 000 (Pecanwood Golf and Country Club)

17-20 March – Steyn City Championship $1 500 000 (Steyn City)

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

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

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

21-24 April – The Players Championship R2 000 000 (Dainfern Golf Estate)

28 April – 1 May Tour Championship R1 500 000 (Serengeti Estates)

26-29 April – Sunshine Tour Qualifying School Final Stage R100 000 (Gauteng – Venue TBC)

26-29 April – Vusi Ngubeni Tournament R100 000 (Gauteng – Venue TBC)

Louis Oosthuizen will take a one-shot lead into Sunday’s final round of The Open as he seeks to claim the second Major of his career at Royal St George’s.

Oosthuizen signed for a third round of 69 to climb to 12 under par, one stroke clear of Collin Morikawa and three ahead of Jordan Spieth.

The South African now has the chance to join an elite club of outright wire-to-wire winners of The Open. Since World War II, only three players have managed to win The Open by leading on their own from start to finish. They were Tom Weiskopf in 1973, Tiger Woods in 2005 and Rory McIlroy in 2014.

The rest of the South African challenge also still looks good, with Dylan Frittelli tied sixth on seven under par, and Justin Harding tied ninth on six under par.

“Finishing second isn’t great, so I will play my heart out and see if I can lift the Claret Jug again,” said Oosthuizen, who has a Grand Slam of runner-up finishes in the Majors, and who has finished second in the last two Majors this year alone.

“I think all of us are just human to think of lifting the trophy, and that’s going to be in your mind. But I think you just need to know it and how to handle it. Once we get on the golf course, it’s all golf. You need to believe that you can lift the trophy, as well, and if you think about it beforehand that you might win this championship, I think that’s great, and you have to believe you can do it.” – Sunshine Tour/European Tour/The Open

Louis Oosthuizen moved into a share of the lead alongside clubhouse pacesetter Russell Henley as darkness saw play suspended on day one of the 2021 US Open Championship.

The Mother City’s finest rugby players arrived at the Royal Cape Golf Club on Tuesday to personally welcome the Sunshine Tour professionals competing in this week’s Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open in the only way they know how – with a match.

After the official pro-am of the tournament, DHL Stormers stars Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Scarra Ntubeni and Neethling Fouche challenged Sunshine Tour professionals Brandon Stone, Daniel van Tonder, Keenan Davidse and Benjamin Follett-Smith to a par-three contest on Royal Cape’s fourth hole.

Playing as a team against each other, the Sunshine Tour professionals were handicapped by having to play from their worst tee shot and each pro also had to play each of their shots or putts twice before they could score, while the Stormers could play from their best shot and only needed one shot or putt to score.

The result was a convincing 4-0 victory by the Stormers.

“Going 0-4 against four big rugby players on home turf was a tough pill to swallow. I would say we’ll meet them in the car park, but looking at the size of them probably not,” said Stone, who captained the Sunshine Tour professionals for this challenge.

But although pleased with the victory, the rugby players were simply delighted to have played a hole with the Sunshine Tour pros and seen, from “inside the ropes”, another side of them from what they follow on television.

“It’s so great to have a Sunshine Tour event in Cape Town and we’re looking forward to watching them on TV. I think for the whole of Cape Town it’s quite an exciting event,” said Kitshoff.

Fouche was just as delighted with the experience. “What a privilege to have played with these pros. I’m a massive golf fanatic, and to play with them and see that they’re just human beings like us was a privilege. What a day.”

And Ntubeni, who holed the winning putt for his team, admits to never having been this nervous before.

“There’s a lot of banter until you stand over that ball. It’s quite stressful. I can imagine how hectic it is for them in a tournament. It was so good to meet them. To have them in our city is so important for other aspiring young golfers out there, and even for us as keen golfers. We look up to them, and we wish them the best of luck for this week.”

Malherbe was also full of respect for the pressure the pros face during competition.

“There’s a lot more pressure on individual sports. It’s only up to them. In a team you have the safety of your teammates. So it was awesome to see how they go about it. What a nice experience. I wish the guys all the best this week.”

Professional Van Tonder said he’s ready for a return match against the rugby players. “I would’ve liked to have taken them on over a par five where I can intimidate them a bit with my driver. But it was great fun. They’re a great bunch of guys.”

The Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open is a tournament co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour and tees off at Royal Cape Golf Club with the first round on Thursday.

Photo: Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour

It was another calm stroll in the bushveld for Daniel van Tonder on Friday as he maintained his place at the top of the leaderboard through two rounds of the Limpopo Championship at the Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate.

Van Tonder signed for a bogey-free 68 to climb to 10 under par thorugh 36 holes of this Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour co-sanctioned event.

His nearest challenger is Norway’s Kristian Johannessen on eight under par but with two holes of his second round still to complete as darkness once again caught the field and forced the round to be carried over.

But whatever is going on behind him hardly seems to trouble Van Tonder at the moment, whose overall game is as smooth as one of the golden sunsets out here.

“It went well again,” he said of Friday’s second round. “The wind was blowing a bit out there and it’s stronger than you think, so that was a bit tough in the afternoon. Most of the holes were into the wind. But if I missed a shot, then it was in the right places and I was able to chip it close. I made four birdies and 14 pars so I’m happy,” he said.

Van Tonder has made an art form of keeping his approach as simple as possible, and he plans to continue doing so over the weekend.

“I have two days to go and will just take it hole by hole and enjoy it. As far as I’m concerned it’s 18 holes on Saturday again, and then on Sunday the same thing. I just keep it as simple as possible.”

Johannessen could still have a say on Van Tonder’s lead as he completes his second round on Saturday morning.

Tristen Strydom, MJ Viljoen, Jaco Prinsloo and Jake Roos are all on seven under. Of that quartet, Strydom, Viljoen and Prinsloo all signed for second rounds of 69, while Roos posted a 68.

Strydom in particular is looking forward to the challenge of the next 36 holes.

“I’ve made a lot of good changes with my swing, body and mindset. I’m just having fun and not putting too much pressure on myself. I’m just going to keep enjoying myself, play good golf and control what I can,” he said. – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour