A new event honouring Nelson Mandela will herald the start of the 2013 European Tour season.
The Nelson Mandela Championship will be a co-sanctioned Euroepan and Sunshine Tour event to be staged from 6th to 9th December, 2012 in either Durban or Humewood, South Africa.
So while the event will be a part of the 2012/13 Sunshine Tour it will be the first event on the 2013 Race to Dubai schedule.
Nelson Mandela to be honoured with new tournament that will herald the start of the 2013 Race to Dubai.
The field of 156 professionals will be made up of equal numbers from both the Sunshine and European Tours and will feature some of the world’s leading and up-and-coming professional golfers.
“We are absolutely delighted to be associated with this prestigious event, which will both add significantly to our fund-raising efforts, as well as give us a worldwide platform through live television coverage to highlight our vitally important work in support of the neediest children throughout South Africa,” said Acting CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, Moipone Buda-Ramatlo.
“We are looking forward to welcoming some of the world’s finest golfers to our shores who will compete with our leading South African golfers in their quest to be the first to lift the trophy at the Nelson Mandela Championship.”
Executive director of the Sunshine Tour Selwyn Nathan added, “We are very honoured to have a new tournament on our Tour that is aimed at advancing the work of Mr Nelson Mandela as carried out by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
“We would like to thank the promoters and sponsors for their vision in supporting this event and look forward to being associated with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in furthering its important aims.”
A second new co-santioned event, the Tshwane Open to be staged from February 28th to March 3rd, 2013.
The City of Tshwane earlier this week launched PGA tournament known as the Tshwane Open in association with Sunshine Tour during the media briefing held at the Copperfield Golf Estate.
The Tshwane Open will be a 72-hole full-field event co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Sunshine Tour and is one of six founding professional golf Tours that make up the International Federation of PGA Tours.
It will be the a record sixth and last co-sanctioned event on the Sunshine Tour during summer 2012/13.
The winner of the Tshwane Open will receive prize money of One Point five million Euros (E1,5 Million) and it will count both to the “Sunshine Tour Order of Merit” and to the “European Tour’s Race to Dubai”.
One of the major benefits of the Tshwane Open is the near R1 billion worth of TV coverage over four days that goes to 350 million homes around the world. This will expose the City to millions of decision makers around the world, encouraging both tourism and investment.
The tournament will create local and international awareness about opportunities that exist in the city and position the city as a preferred golf tourism destination.
Tshwane will also witness the start of the Sunshine Tour’s summer swing, with the R2-million ISPS Handa SA Match Play Championship at Zwartkop Country Club in early November.
The Sunshine Tour’s Summer Swing is the first match play tournament in SA in nearly 25 years.
