Pretoria schoolboy invited to take on professional golf stars in SA Open tournament at Sun City
A schoolboy from Pretoria is one of the five amateur golfers who were invited to, with the best professional players on the European Tour, take part in the SA Open at Sun City later this year.
South Africa’s top-five ranked amateur golfers have been extended an invitation to play in the South African Open Championship at the Gary Player Country Club from 2-5 December, an event co-sanctioned by the European and Sunshine Tours.
The quintet, headed by reigning SA Amateur champion and current SA number one Christiaan Maas, will join top European and Sunshine Tour professionals in the R23 million tournament, supported by Nedbank and Sun International.
Maas is still a schoolboy, but this matriculant at the Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool in Pretoria was crowned national senior amateur champion earlier this year.
The remaining four amateurs who will tee it up at Sun City are No 3-ranked Kieron van Wyk, No-4 ranked Casey Jarvis, No 5-ranked Jordan Duminy and No 6-ranked Christiaan Burke.
“We are delighted to be able to offer these five places to the top-ranked amateurs in the country. This is recognition and reward for the hard work and fine performances they have put in over the last year,” explained SAGA Acting President Henk Smith.
As amateurs, they will not be able to earn any of the record prizemoney on offer, but will compete for the coveted Freddie Tait Cup, awarded to the best-placed amateur who makes the 36-hole cut.
Maas earned his place as the winner of the SA Amateur earlier this year, and the remaining spots were allocated according to the amateur ranking. This will be a second SA Open appearance for Maas, who narrowly missed the cut in last year’s event.
Smith said it is an important part of these amateurs’ development to test themselves at the professional level.
“Playing in their national open, on a challenging golf course and against a strong international field, will not only be a wonderful experience for our players, but will also provide a yardstick to test the level of their games,” Smith concluded.
With three qualifying events still to be held later this month, at Modderfontein Golf Club, Irene Golf Club and ERPM Golf Club, opportunities remain for more amateurs to play their way into the 156-player SA Open field.
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