As the only township in South Africa to consistently host a professional golf tournament, the Soweto Golf Cup has made more history this year. For the first time it has been won by a professional golfer from outside Soweto.

Pieter Kruger, who runs the Colbyn Golf Park in Pretoria, won the recent 54-hole tournament with rounds of 68, 66 and 68 for a total of eight-under-par 202 on the par-70 Soweto Golf Club course.

Kruger beat Musiwalo Nethunzwi by seven strokes. His victory ended the dominance of the Soweto golfers over their tournament for the past three years. Nethunzwi won the first two Soweto Golf Cups, and last year Sipho Bujela took the title.

The tournament is supported by the PGA of South Africa, which invites its member professionals to compete.

A total of 25 PGA members and five Soweto professionals took part this year, including Theo Manyama, a Soweto local and the only rules official in Africa to have been invited to officiate at all of the four Majors.

For Jimmy Headbush, the promoter of the tournament, the greater significance of the tournament is its ability to grow the game in Soweto and support the local community.

Soweto has consistently produced professional golfers that have qualified to play on the Sunshine Tour, from the days of pioneers such as Cox Nhlapho, Vincent Tshabalala, Derrick Lekomo and Norman Mashaba to the younger generation of Bafana Hlophe, Mawonga Nomwa, Thabang Simon, Bujela and Nethunzwi.