Sports stars and celebrities gather for historic edition of Gary & Vivienne Player Invitational

The 2024 Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational will make history when it is played on the prestigious Gary Player Country Club course for the first time, and with one of its strongest fields ever including Sunshine Tour professionals, celebrities, sports stars and business leaders.

The annual charity tournament, which raises valuable funds to support the running of the Blair Atholl School near Lanseria which was founded by Gary and Vivienne Player, has moved from its traditional venue of the Lost City Golf Course to the famed Gary Player Country Club for the 9-10 November event.

This means that the star-studded field will play the Gary Player Country Club course only a few weeks before it hosts the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

“This year we will play the Gary Player Country Club course for the first time and I’m extremely excited about this,” says Player.

“I think it’s going to be a phenomenal weekend on the fairways of one of the top golf courses in Africa and the home of the Nedbank Golf Challenge. The course will be in magnificent condition for our participants. The reason we’ve made this decision is that unfortunately the Lost City Golf Club has not received the required amount of rain in preparation for this tournament, and we would be placing the golf course and its maintenance staff under pressure if we played the tournament here.”

This year’s field is one of the strongest in history as it brings together titans from the world of rugby, football, cricket and boxing to join celebrities, business leaders and Sunshine Tour professionals in raising funds for charity.

The rugby world will be represented by 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning captain Francois Pienaar and fellow Springboks Steven Kitshoff, Naas Botha, Butch James, Owen Nkumane, Odwa and Akona Ndungane, Siviwe Soyizwapi, Patrick Lambie, Robbi Kempson, Adriaan Strauss and Schalk Brits.

The footballers in the field include Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish and Bafana Bafana stars Shaun Bartlett, Jimmy Tau, Stanton Fredericks, Mark Williams, Aaron Mokoena and Brian Baloyi.

South African cricket will be well-represented by Paul Adams and Herschelle Gibbs, while boxing great Brian Mitchell makes his return to the tournament.

The sports stars will be joined by celebrities such as former Miss South Africa and Miss World, Rolene Strauss, as well as Maps Maponyane, Felicity Shiba, Kgomotso Ndungane and David Kau.

The 29-strong field of Sunshine Tour professionals includes the winner of August’s Gary and Vivienne Player Challenge, Daniel van Tonder, as well as the Tour’s leading transformation professionals.

2024 Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational Field:

Gary Player; Sir Kenny Dalglish; Steven Kitshoff; Shaun Bartlett; Naas Botha; Rolene Strauss; Francois Pienaar; Felicity Shiba; Butch James; Maps Maponyane; Adriaan Strauss; Jimmy Tau; Stanton Fredericks; Owen Nkumane; Mark Williams; Odwa Ndungane; Akona Ndungane; Paul Adams; Kgomotso Ndungane; Brian Baloyi; Aaron Mokoena; Siviwe Soyizwapi; Patrick Lambie; David Kau; Herschelle Gibbs; Robbi Kempson; Brian Mitchell; Schalk Brits.