Big week in Cape Town for international golf’s rising stars

Cape Town will host the finest young golfers from the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour in this week’s Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open, the second of a run of seven co-sanctioned tournaments, and with recent champion Alexander Knappe declaring these events a game-changer for their careers.

Knappe, the winner of last week’s Dimension Data Pro-Am, forms part of a strong field gathered at Royal Cape Golf Club and Rondebosch Golf Club this week.

The six former champions in the field this week include defending champion JC Ritchie as well as Jaco Ahlers, Rhys Enoch, Jake Roos, Benjamin Follett-Smith and Anton Karlsson.

There are also many players hungry to go one better than their second-place finishes in this tournament, such as Jacques Blaauw, Zander Lombard, Peter Karmis, Ockie Strydom, Steve Surrey, Hennie Otto, Michael Hollick and Jaco van Zyl.

But as Knappe has pointed out, there is a greater benefit for every player in terms of the opportunity created by this series of tournaments.

“These seven tournaments in Africa to start our season are important. We would usually start in May, and that is half a year off if we didn’t have these tournaments,” said Knappe.

The tournament will be played on the Royal Cape and Rondebosch courses. The first two rounds will be played on both golf courses, and the final two rounds will be played solely at Royal Cape.

A maximum of 2,000 fully vaccinated spectators will be allowed per day.

Rest of schedule

February 24-27: $250,000 Jonsson Workwear Open (Durban CC and Mt Edgecombe CC)

March 3-6: $250,000 Mangaung Open (Bloemfontein GC and Schoeman Park GC)

March 24-27: $250,000 SDC Open (Zebula Golf Estate & Spa and Elements Private Golf Reserve)

March 31-April 3: $250,000 Limpopo Championship (Euphoria Golf & Lifestyle Estate and Koro Creek Bushveld Estate)

April 7-10: $275,000 Mount Kilimanjaro Klassic (Kilimanjaro Golf & Wildlife Estate)