Zwartkop Country Club, with its longstanding tradition of hosting the world’s golfing legends, set the perfect backdrop for the Gauteng regional elimination in the country’s premier amateur golfing tournament, the World Golfers Championship, last week.
This year the tournament celebrates its 20th Anniversary of World Finals, which will make it even more special for Team South Africa to hold onto the title after winning the championship for the first time last year.
With this in mind, the dream of making the team was fiercely contested by local amateur golfers and by some who had travelled from as far afield as KwaZulu-Natal after missing the cut at the previous week’s elimination there.
Their determination was evident from tee-off to the final putt as they played their way through the fairways, bunkers and greens with the hope of clinching a top three winning score within their flight. However, after the scores were tallied, only 15 dreams of making the cut could be realised as the Gauteng regional winners were announced by PGA Master Professional, Dale Hayes. He is also the Technical Director for the regional eliminations and the Master of Ceremonies for the regionals, national final and World Golfers Championship.
“This elimination marks the second event in a series of four South African regional elimination’s being played in three provinces – Gauteng, KZN and the Western Cape. Similarly, countries all over the world are following the same elimination process to select their national team for the 20th commemorative World Final. As the host country, we will be entering two teams, which means that 10 amateur golfers will have the opportunity of realising their dream to compete in an international championship and possibly win a world golfing title and trophy,” said Craig Clay-Smith, spokesperson for World Golf Events South Africa, local organisers of the event.
Any amateur golfer over the age of 16 whom holds an official handicap can still enter the second Gauteng regional elimination at Houghton Golf Club on 16 August. To win an all-expense paid trip to the National Final, golfers must finish in the top 3 of their flighting (0-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25). If they finish in the top 2 of their flighting at the National Final, they qualify for Team SA and win an all expense paid trip to the World Final, which is being played from 1-8 November in KwaZulu-Natal.
Entries can be done online at www.wgesa.co.za