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NEWSLETTER 2018
CITY OF JOHANNESBURG DRIVES NEW ERA OF SA OPEN The City of Johannesburg is the proud new host of the South African Open, and one of the most historic national Opens in golf will now be played at Randpark Golf Club from 6-9 December 2018. The Sunshine Tour announced on Monday, October 22nd, that a decision was taken in partnership with GolfRSA, the City of Johannesburg, the European Tour and Asian Tour to create an even greater stage for the South African Open by merging it with the Joburg Open. The South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg will be played on Randpark’s two championship golf courses, Firethorn and Bushwillow, and will feature a field of 240 professionals – including Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel and former champion Brandon Stone – competing for a minimum of R17.5 million in prize money. The championship will, for the first time in its history, be a trisanctioned championship between the Sunshine Tour, European Tour and Asian Tour, and it will retain the international qualifying opportunities of the Joburg Open. “The new South African Open brings together the invaluable passion and support of the City of Johannesburg for professional golf with the second oldest national Open in the game, and the result is now one truly world-class golf tournament,” said Selwyn Nathan, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour. The Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Councilor Herman Mashaba, said he was delighted that the city will continue to position itself as the forefront of world golf through its hosting of a major championship such as the South African Open. “We are extremely proud to be the new host city of the South African Open and to be able to translate the excellence of the Joburg Open into a new future for this historic championship. We look forward to continuing to showcase what Johannesburg has to offer, and to taking this message to Europe as well as Asia as
we seek to use the global footprint of this tournament to benefit the residents of our city.” This will mark the third time in its history that the South African Open will be played at Randpark. It was played here in 1995 when Retief Goosen beat Ernie Els by five strokes, and then again in 2000 when Swede Mathias Grönberg took the title. Continued on Page 3
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