Top SA golfers hope to bring SA Open title home

Big names in South African golf will aim to ensure that the BMW SA Open trophy remains on SA soil.

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Themed under ‘The boys are back’, the 107th BMW South African Open Championship hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni will feature one of its strongest local challenges in recent years.

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South Africa’s top professionals seek to return the title to home soil.

The January 11 to January 14 edition of the second oldest National Open in golf, co-sanctioned by The Sunshine Tour and The European Tour, was officially launched at Glendower Golf Club on Monday last week.

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Ernie Els, the host player of the R15-million championship, leads a strong South African challenge including double US Open champion Retief Goosen, 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, 2016 champion Brandon Stone, and European Tour winners Branden Grace, George Coetzee, Haydn Porteous, Dean Burmester, Darren Fichardt and Dylan Frittelli.

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The South African professionals remain fiercely patriotic about their National Open.

Four of the last six editions of this championship have been won by foreign golfers.

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Els has five South African Open titles behind his name and said he is delighted with the response from the leading South African professionals who support the championship’s continued growth.

The 2017 BMW South African Open Championship was highlighted by one of the world’s best players in the field, Rory McIlroy.

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The 2018 tournament will highlight some of the best local professionals who will make sure that this title comes back to South Africa.

Goosen has twice won the National Open, while Stone returns as the last South African to have won the championship in 2016.

England’s Graeme Storm took the title in January 2017 following a thrilling play-off with McIlroy at Glendower Golf Club.

Schwartzel has as much incentive as the rest of his fellow South Africans to add this title to his list of global victories, having been beaten by England’s Andy Sullivan in a play-off in 2015.

“BMW has a long history of involvement with the sport of golf. Golf, like our other major sporting sponsorships, has an inherent synergy with the BMW brand. We are pleased to be entering the third year of the BMW South African Open Championship proudly hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni,” said Alexander Baraka, general brand manager of BMW’s marketing services.

“The tournament has always featured prominently in the careers of South Africa’s greatest golfers. It is the common thread running through all of their careers.

“To have such a strong local contingent going up against the European Tour’s finest professionals is a true celebration of what this championship stands for and the South African pride associated with it,” Baraka said.

“We look forward to welcoming the international golfers to Ekurhuleni once again and to placing our full support behind our South African professionals as they seek to return this historic title to its home,” said City of Ekurhuleni executive mayor Clr Mzwandile Masina.

“The record attendance and interest we had in the 2017 BMW South African Open Championship, hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni, was another resounding endorsement of Ekurhuleni’s status as a municipality focused on its people and able to deliver on our growth and development targets.”

Selwyn Nathan, executive director of The Sunshine Tour, praised the support of the country’s top golfers for the flagship tournament on The Sunshine Tour calendar.

“The BMW South African Open Championship, has a rich history with our tour and has been the foundation upon which many of our country’s leading professionals have built their illustrious careers.

“This has been a title that our South African golfers have always defended with great pride, and we look forward to one of our homegrown stars adding their name to its incredible history.”

The BMW SA Open Championship will be the first tournament on the 2018 calendar year of The European Tour.

“We are delighted our members will return to the City of Ekurhuleni and Glendower for the first tournament of the year,” said European Tour CEO Keith Pelley.

“The 2017 BMW South African Open Championship is setting a thrilling tone for the rest of the season. I have no doubt that South Africa and the support of our partners – The Sunshine Tour – and sponsors BMW and the City of Ekurhuleni, will again make for the start of another exciting year on The European Tour in 2018,” he said.