WINNING PARTNERSHIP

Golf fans and supporters in South Africa are spoilt for choice when it comes to players to follow, locally and internationally, at all levels of the game – from amateur to professional, to all-abilities.

It makes our job at The Golf Mag very easy as we are never short of South African golfers to feature in the magazine. In fact, one could say it actually makes it quite difficult because we have so many to choose from!

We proudly live the term “Local is lekker” as we feel our golfers deserve the coverage, as not only do they perform superbly on the course, they are also top ambassadors for this country, be it on the professional Tours or the amateur circuit. This is thanks largely to the guidance they receive and the systems that prepare them for the professional circuit and then to provide them with the best possible opportunities on the pro Tours in this country.

The Golf Mag is therefore very proud and excited to announce our official partnership with The Sunshine Tour, which will strengthen our relationship and local golf even further.

I regard the Sunshine Tour as one of the most professionally run golf Tours, because the administrators continuously look for innovative ways to grow and develop the Tour, and the players’ needs are high on the list of priorities.

This is reflected in the number of Sunshine Tour players who have gone on to excel on the world stage, including the more recent Major winners Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen and Ashleigh Buhai, along with Erik van Rooyen, Thriston Lawrence, Garrick Higgo and Paula Reto. The list is much longer, and this year we can look forward to even more players flying the flag overseas, including our cover star Wilco Nienaber who will be back on the DP World Tour.

What stands out, though, is how many of these players return to play at least some Sunshine Tour events each year, even though they don’t have to. They’ve made a name for themselves on the world stage and could easily abandon the Tour because of their busy schedules. But they have spoken about how they value the Tour and what it has done for their careers.

After his win at the SunBet Challenge Time Square Casino in August last year, Lawrence said: “It’s awesome, every victory is still insane to pull off. I haven’t won a normal Sunshine Tour event since 2019, and I haven’t had a win anywhere since last year, so this is nice. You never know when you’re going to win again, so I am very grateful. I will always support this Tour because it gave me my start.”

We are certainly looking forward to featuring many Sunshine Tour stars in The Golf Mag and to sharing this year’s Tour highlights with our readers!

Philippa Byron

Editor

IMAGE: TYRONE WINFIELD/SUNSHINE TOUR