PREPARATIONS at Pearl Valley Golf Estates are in full swing for the 97th South African Airways Open Golf championship which starts next week.
This tournament (first played in 1893) is the second oldest national championship in the world (after the British Open) and is four years the junior of South Africa’s premier rugby competition, the Currie Cup.
Prize money this year will total aproximately R10 000 000 with reigning US Open champion Angel Cabrera set to lead an incredible field that includes four Major winners and two Presidents Cup campaigners.
The three-year deal to host the event at Pearl Valley, the presence of five of the world’s leading golfers and the iconic Norman, offer powerful examples of the growing status the South African Airways Open enjoys on the international golf schedule.
Cabrera will join defending South African Airways Open champion Ernie Els, former champion Retief Goosen and former world number one Greg Norman on the fairways of the Jack Nicklaus-designed Pearl Valley.
Cabrera returns to the Championship having claimed his first Major in the US Open at Oakmont this year, while Els and Goosen bring a total of five Majors between them and Norman brings a record of 88 tournament wins including two Majors.
The world-class field also includes President’s Cup campaigners and former South African Airways Open champions Trevor Immelman and Tim Clark.
In the last five years, Els (2006 champion), Goosen (December 2005 champion), Immelman (2003 and 2004 champion) and Clark (2002 and January 2005 champion) have dominated the Championship, with the winner emerging from South Africa’s leading campaigners on the global stage.
Spectators are welcome to watch players on the practice range from Monday. Access for spectators to the official practice rounds and the Pro Am is complimentary.
The start times for the tournament are Thursday: Pro-Am Shotgun Start 07:30 and 13:30; Thursday/Friday 1st and 10th tees 06:30 to 08:30 and 11:30 to
13:30; Saturday/Sunday 1st tee 07:00 to12:50 TBC.
Tickets are available from Computicket at R75 per day or R200 for a four day pass.
For more information, please visit
www.saaopen.com
How to win tickets to SAA Open
Three readers stand a chance to win double tickets to the South African Airways Open which takes place at Pearl Valley Golf Estates from Thursday to Sunday next week. To enter this give-away, send an email to
edit@paarlpost.co.za and answer the question: Where will the South African Airways Golf Open be taking place from 13-16 December?
