Category: Uncategorized

The Sunshine Tour has appointed 30South Eyewear as the official eyewear supplier to the Tour for 2021.

The Proudly South African company was founded in 2017 with the goal of providing high quality yet affordable eyewear made with the same materials as the world’s leading eyewear brands.

It has now added golf to its steadily expanding eyewear offering that supports a variety of sports such as cricket, rugby, sailing, running, rowing, fishing, mountaineering, climbing, skiing, kayaking, kitesurfing and mountain biking.

30South Eyewear currently has Sunshine Tour and European Tour champions Darren Fichardt and Dean Burmester as its leading golf ambassadors, as well as Sunshine Tour winners Merrick Bremner, Thriston Lawrence, Jacques Kruyswijk and Hennie du Plessis, rising Sunshine Tour stars Luca Filippi, Dylan Naidoo and Deon Germishuys, Big Easy IGT Challenge Tour winner Vaughn van Deventer, and South Africa’s number one ranked amateur Casey Jarvis.

“We’re absolutely delighted to be named the official eyewear supplier to the Sunshine Tour and to be able to support South African professional golf and its incredible golfers as they proudly fly the country’s flag on the fairways,” said Richard McEnery, who co-founded 30South with his childhood friend Jamie Cockayne.

“South African golfers are amongst our country’s greatest ambassadors as they compete all over the world and are regularly at the top of leaderboards. This is an amazing opportunity for us to partner with the world-class brand that is the Sunshine Tour and bring a Proudly South African product to the success story that is South African professional golf.”

Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour, welcomed 30South Eyewear as a partner to the Tour.

“We’re very pleased to have 30South Eyewear as a partner on the Sunshine Tour, and as a company which shares our vision of being a local brand with a global impact. Our members are equally excited to partner with a company that is investing in South African professional golf and which recognises the value our professionals offer as arguably South Africa’s most consistently successful sportsmen week in and week out around the world.”

Brandon Stone was delighted with his performance as he showed all his battling qualities to finish second at the 2021 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Richard Sterne turned the form book on its head to reach the top of the leaderboard after a brilliant round of 64 on the opening day of the 2021 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

The Sunshine Tour has announced the postponement of its 2021 schedule by one month in light of the current nationwide rise in COVID-19 cases and in support of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call for all South Africans to work together to help curb the spread of the virus.

Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour, announced on Wednesday that the planned February start of the Sunshine Tour’s 2021 schedule has now been postponed until March this year.

The schedule will still begin with the new Kit Kat Group Pro-Am, which will now be played from 5-7 March, and will still include three consecutive tournaments co-sanctioned with the Challenge Tour.

The Challenge Tour’s “South African Swing” will begin in the week of 22-25 April. An announcement will be made shortly regarding this tournament and its venue. This will be followed by the Cape Town Open at Royal Cape Golf Club from 29 April – 2 May, and then the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt Golf Estate from 6-9 May.

The new dates and venues of the other tournaments on the schedule will be confirmed in due course.

“In light of the current increase in COVID-19 cases and after consultation with our own health experts and in partnership with GolfRSA and its Risk Mitigation Strategy team, we believe it is the most responsible course of action to postpone the start of our schedule,” said Abt.

“From the start of this virus, South African golf has worked very closely with government to ensure compliance of all health protocols, and most importantly to be seen as a sport that is acting in a safe and responsible manner. The safety of our members as well as our staff is our primary concern.

“I’d like to thank our Chairman, Johann Rupert, our Executive Director, Selwyn Nathan, our Board of Directors as well as our members and sponsors for their continued guidance, patience and understanding amidst what remains a very fluid situation for our game. I would also like to thank our partners at the Challenge Tour for their understanding.

“We are in constant communication with all of our stakeholders and will be ready to resume playing as soon as we believe it is safe to do so.”

The Sunshine Ladies Tour will also be postponing their 2021 season. The first event is planned for the week after Easter and all six events will be played at the same venues as last season. The season will once again culminate in the Investec South African Women’s Open at Westlake Golf Club in May. The full schedule will be released shortly.

The inaugural R1-million Kit Kat Group Pro-Am will tee off the Sunshine Tour’s 2021 schedule at Houghton Golf Club this February, ushering in a run of seven tournaments including three that will be co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour.

The 54-hole Kit Kat Group Pro-Am makes its debut on the Sunshine Tour’s calendar from 5-7 February with a field of 72 professionals competing alongside 60 invited amateurs in a two-day in-tournament pro-am, and with the final round reserved for the professionals.

The final three hours of the final round of the tournament will be live streamed on DStv Now.

As with all Sunshine Tour events, the Kit Kat Group Pro-Am will be played according to strict government COVID-19 health protocols and follow the same highly successful health protocols employed by the Tour during last year’s Rise-Up Series.

“We welcome the Kit Kat Group to our Sunshine Tour family and are delighted that this new tournament will tee off what we believe is a strong start to our 2021 professional golf year,” said Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.

Riaz Gani, CEO of the Kit Kat Group, said: “We are extremely pleased to partner with the Sunshine Tour, which is a brand that aligns perfectly with our own. The Kit Kat Group has been built on a foundation of trust and with a focus to offer real value to our customers. The Sunshine Tour and South African professional golf presents a similar value offering. Golf also represents the kind of focus you need to succeed in life, and we feel strongly that the game of golf needs all the support it can get as it plays a vital role in developing important life skills amongst our youth.”

The Kit Kat Group Pro-Am will be a vital tournament for the Sunshine Tour professionals as not only their first tournament of the new year, but also the first tournament before the three-week stretch of the Dimension Data Pro-Am, the Cape Town Open and the Limpopo Championship which will be co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour.

“We had a very positive finish to what was a difficult 2020 with our three European Tour co-sanctioned tournaments. To now be able to welcome a new sponsor and tournament to our schedule continues the excellent momentum we built up at the end of 2020 as we continue our drive to offer our members greater playing opportunities,” said Abt.

Photo (From Left to Right): Nabeel Gani (COO), Riaz Gani (CEO), Ahmed Gani (Chairman) and Junaid Gani (CFO) of the Kit Kat Group, the sponsor of the new R1 million Kit Kat Group Pro-Am on the Sunshine Tour that will be played at Houghton Golf Club from 5-7 February.

By Trevor Immelman (courtesy of www.presidentscup.com)

December 12^th marked one year since the first day of competition of the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne and somehow it feels like a lifetime ago and just yesterday all at once. Looking back, we arrived in Australia with high hopes but low expectations. We were a very young team – the youngest ever with seven rookies – but were filled with excitement at the opportunity to compete against one of the strongest American teams ever assembled.

We had a lot of belief in our leader Ernie (Els) and drew confidence from his stature, his standing in the game, his record at Royal Melbourne and throughout his career. In a certain sense you could see how excited the youngsters on our team were just to have access to him and to be in his presence. When you consider the struggles the International Team has endured throughout the years, to get that close to re-entering the winners circle was a great feeling.

Ultimately, we came up short but our team as a unit took a giant step in the right direction. (Note: The U.S. Team won 16-14)

We wanted to keep that momentum going and immediately began meetings in January of 2020 regarding the future of our team and the blueprint we saw going forward. We made plans, put together puzzle pieces for what we thought would be the 2021 Presidents Cup. Then the pandemic hit, and we had to hit the pause button.

As Captain, there were two ways I could look at the postponement. I could look at it as a disadvantage, that we lost momentum we’d felt we gained in Australia. We wished we could have played the following week in 2019 and instead it will be three years between Cups. But that is just one side of the coin. The side which I chose to focus on and what I think will be good for us considering we had seven rookies is that an extra year gives them a much greater opportunity to compete in the biggest events and gain more experience against the best players in the world. They’re going to bag that extra experience and then come to Quail Hollow and draw from that. That’s what I think is important and the lens through which I chose to view this challenge.

I look back to the Masters Tournament in November as a great example of experience gained. To see those players step up gave me a sense of pride. Cam Smith shooting four rounds in the 60s en route to a runner-up finish has never been done before. Between Sungjae Im, who finished tied second at Augusta National, and Joaquin Niemann you have two 22-year-olds that have become consistent forces on the PGA TOUR. Dylan Frittelli and C.T. Pan also recorded their first top 10 in a major championship and Abraham Ancer played in the final group on Sunday. I don’t think those performances would have happened without the lessons they learned at Royal Melbourne. I was also delighted to see my countryman Christiaan Beizundenhout win back-to-back European Tour titles in South Africa these past few weeks. Already ranked inside the world’s top-40, this young man could be another strong contender to make the International Team. If you add those names to the nucleus of our team that I believe will still be there – Matsuyama, Scott, Oosthuizen, Leishman and Day – you can start to assemble a squad that has a really good feel about it.

Nine months has passed since we first hit the pause button. We have regained our momentum since the PGA TOUR’s Return to Golf, and I am excited about the talent being built upon this season. Looking ahead to the coming months, I look forward to announce the criteria for players to qualify to represent the International Team at Quail Hollow Club in 2022. It’s time to plug back in.

Note: Trevor Immelman is captain of the International Team for the 2022 Presidents Cup and is a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR.

The Sunshine Tour has announced that it will tee off 2021 with a strong run of seven tournaments, including three which will be co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour.

The local golf year will begin with the R1 million Kit Kat Group Pro-Am at Houghton Golf Club from 5-7 February.

This will be followed by the three Challenge Tour co-sanctioned tournaments of the R6 million Dimension Data Pro-Am, the R3 million Cape Town Open and the R3 million Limpopo Championship.

The Dimension Data Pro-Am, won by South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout in 2020, will take place at Fancourt Golf Estate, George, from 11-14 February where each player will be paired with an amateur and play one round on each of the venue’s three courses – The Links, Montagu and Outeniqua – before a third round cut leaves the leading players to compete for the title in the final round.

A week later, the Cape Town Open will return to King David Mowbray Golf Club and Royal Cape Golf Club from 18-21 February. Sweden’s Anton Karlsson secured his first Challenge Tour victory in the 2020 edition of the event against the iconic backdrop of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.

The Challenge Tour’s South African Swing will conclude with the Limpopo Championship, won by South Africa’s JC Ritchie in 2020, from 25-28 February at Euphoria Golf Club and Koro Creek Golf Club as members of both Tours compete for early season Road to Mallorca Rankings points.

The Sunshine Tour will then continue with The Players Championship (offering a minimum purse of R1 million) from 11-13 March at a venue still to be announced, the R1 million Gauteng Championship presented by Betway from 18-20 March at Ebotse Golf and Country Estate, and the R1.5 million Tour Championship from 25-28 March at Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate.

Thomas Abt, the Sunshine Tour Commissioner, said: “We’re delighted to be able to announce our early 2021 schedule, which makes for a strong start to the year for our members. I’d like to thank our Chairman, Johann Rupert, our Executive Director, Selwyn Nathan, as well as our Board of Directors, sponsors and partners for their support as we’ve worked on a schedule that gives us a very healthy base from upon which to build the rest of our 2021 schedule.”

“I’m very pleased that we can tee off these seven tournaments with a new tournament and a new sponsor in Kit Kat Cash and Carry for the Kit Kat Invitational, and we welcome them to the Sunshine Tour schedule. It’s also a great pleasure to welcome back the Challenge Tour to South African fairways. The Sunshine Tour is a tour of opportunity and we’re focused on providing our members with as many opportunities as possible to realise our vision that GreatnessBeginsHere. The partnership with the Challenge Tour provides us with yet another level in the game whereby our members can gain access onto the greater international stage.”

Christiaan Bezuidenhout added his name to the greats of South African golf as he claimed a five-shot victory in the South African Open at the Gary Player Country Club on Sunday.

Bezuidenhout signed for a final round of 69 to win on 18 under par, with Jamie Donaldson taking second place on 13 under par after also closing with a 69. Dylan Frittelli was third on 11 under with his final round of 71.

The win earned Bezuidenhout back-to-back victories on the Sunshine Tour and European Tour following his triumph in last week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek.

“It feels amazing. It wasn’t easy out there and the first nine didn’t go my way, but I hung in there. To stand here as the SA Open champion is unbelievable. This is massive for me. It’s always been a dream and I wasn’t sure when, or if, I would achieve it,” said Bezuidenhout.

Bezuidenhout was never really under any pressure on the final day. He took a five-stroke lead into the final round, and even when Jamie Donaldson made an early charge with two birdies in his first three holes to cut that lead to three Bezuidenhout’s composure never wavered.

He parred his way through the opening seven holes, and then suffered his first bogey when he hit his approach on the eighth into the water. But a run of three birdies from the 10^th hole was the final push he needed.

“When you go into the final round with a five-shot lead you are expecting to win it, so I did put a bit of pressure on myself. When things didn’t go my way on the front nine my caddie just kept me calm, and we did a great job coming in.”

South African Casey Jarvis claimed the Freddie Tait trophy as the leading amateur, finishing tied 25^th on one under par with rounds of 73, 74, 71 and 69.

“This means a lot to me and I’m very honoured to have won this trophy. There are some great names on this trophy. It’s a goal I set for myself and I’m just very honoured to have achieved it,” he said.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout has the chance to join South African golf royalty as he takes a five-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the South African Open at the Gary Player Country Club.

Bezuidenhout signed for his third consecutive 67 to top the leaderboard on 15 under par, with Dylan Frittelli and Jamie Donaldson his nearest challengers on 10 under.

The South African now has the chance to become the first golfer since Justin Rose in 2017 to win back-to-back tournaments on the European Tour after he won last week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek.

But more significantly for him, he has the chance to add his name to the trophy of the second oldest national Open in golf, and one that bears all of the legends of the South African game.

“I’m really happy to be in this position. I’ve played three solid rounds of golf and have stuck to my gameplan by not taking the golf course on and just keeping it in play,” he said.

“This is my fourth week in a row, but  I’ve been sleeping well and my body is holding up quite well. I’m just trying to manage myself. I just need to hold up for another 24 hours. But it’s amazing to be in this position.”

Behind him, Frittelli will be pushing hard on the final day as he’s well aware that Bezuidenhout is not making too many mistakes out there at the moment.

“I’m going to try and go as low as I can, so it will take something around there to catch him because he’s not going to shoot anything less than 70 the way he’s playing,” he said after his round of 70.

Frittelli was only three shots off the lead playing the 18^th, which this week is the par-five ninth. The nines have been swapped for this tournament.

But he pulled his drive left and had to take a penalty drop on his way to making a bogey for a 70, and on a hole that Bezuidenhout later birdied.

“I struggled a bit down the stretch. The conditions weren’t that difficult and I felt like I left two or three shots out there. But I’ll have to go out and shoot five, six or seven under on the final day and try and put some pressure on Christiaan.”