FOUR of Sunshine Tour’s big five — Charl Schwartzel, Thomas Aiken, JBE Kruger and James Kamte — have signed up for the revived Zimbabwe Open to be held in April.

The once prestigious tournament went off the radar in 2001 due to economic meltdown but was relaunched at a glitzy ceremony at the Royal Harare Golf Club last Thursday night. ICT company Africom are the title sponsors.

The tournament with a cash purse of US$160 000 has already generated tremendous interest with professional golf’s big names signing up.

Schwartzel, who is the hottest player on the European Tour early in the season, has already signed up.
The 25-year-old South African won back-to-back tournaments on home turf last month at the Africa Open and the Johannesburg Open. Last Thursday he set an early pace in the Dubai Desert Classic with an opening score of 68.

Those efforts have earned him the accolade of European Tour Golfer of the Month for January, recompense he sees as a “nice achievement” as he prepares to build on the platform he has established inside the world top 50.

The other Sunshine Tour Order of Merit leaders who have entered for the Zimbabwe Open are current number three Thomas Aiken and JBE Kruger.

Southern Africa Tour’s highest earning black golf professional  Kamte has also signed up as has Trevor Fisher Jnr.

The only notable absence is Sunshine Tour’s number two player Keith Horne, who has not yet signed up for the Zimbabwe Open.

The other big names that will add colour and competition are Darren Fichardt and Jean Hugo, who have also thrown their names into the hat. Fichardt won the last Zimbabwe Open at Chapman Golf Club in 2001.

The pair recently emerged the winners in the International Final Qualifier- Africa and will represent the continent at the Open at St Andrew’s in July.

Seasoned Sunshine Tour campaigners Tongo Charamba and Marc Cayeux are some of the local professionals who will make up the field.

Charamba, who also attended the relaunch of the Zimbabwe Open said the tournament was coming at a time when he was on top of his game after an unforgettable 2009 season.

“I bet you the Zimbabwe Open is not going anywhere. We are keeping it. I am on top of my game. I am maturing and I have discovered that in life there are some things that should not distract you,” Charamba said.

The Zimbabwe Open was on the Sunshine Tour last played in 2001.

It was first played in 1984 and was part of what was known as the Safari Tour, a collection of events in Africa that was played by professionals based in Europe during the northern winter.

As a result, it became an event on the European based Challenge Tour in 1991, where it remained for two seasons before moving onto the FNB Summer Tour, which became the Southern Africa Tour and later the Sunshine Tour.

Livingstone Gwata, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Open Golf Committee said their executive was assembled in December to raise the tournament money.

Gwata said they had set a target of US$250 000 and had achieved that.

“We are delighted that sponsors made it possible for the Zimbabwe Open Golf Committee to meet its target. The position of the title sponsor was heavily contested but as a committee we sat down and could only settle for one,” he said.

Gwata said his committee is still inviting more sponsors ahead of the competition running from April 18 to 24.

Sunshine Tour commissioners Gareth Tindall said he was glad that “government officials were realising the power of golf in networking”.

“In cricket you can't play with Jacque Kallis and in rugby you can’t play Schalk Burger but in golf you can play Tiger Woods,” Tindall said.

BY FANUEL VIRIRI

Comments (1)

Show/Hide comments

Show/Hide comment form