It’s the start of something big in the bushveld this week. Bigger than the elephants that usually form part of the SDC Open prize giving at the Zebula Golf Estate & Spa.
Big in the sense of the opportunities that accompany this first week of six vital weeks on the Sunshine Tour.
The SDC Open starts a run of four tournaments co-sanctioned with the HotelPlanner Tour, and this is followed by two tournaments co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour.
The four HotelPlanner Tour events – the SDC Open, the CIRCA Cape Town Open, the NTT Data Pro-Am and the Jonsson Workwear Durban Open – tee off the Road to Mallorca and the chance to graduate to the DP World Tour at the end of the season, which several South African golfers have already benefitted from.
Last year JC Ritchie became the first South African golfer in history to finish top of the Road to Mallorca Rankings.
Then the two DP World Tour events – the Investec South African Open and Joburg Open – can be even more life-changing, with the national Open this year offering exemptions into both The Masters and The Open.
So it’s understandable to see why the putting green at Zebula on Wednesday was buzzing like a water hole in a game reserve at dusk.
“The next six weeks are very important. You work the whole season to get to this stretch, and this is where everybody wants to play well. If you get on a good run here there are a lot of opportunities for you. It can kind of set up your year,” said JJ Senekal, the winner of the 2023 SDC Open and one of three former champions of this event who are back in the field for this week.
“It’s always good to be in the bushveld. The golf course is looking superb. The fairways are cut tighter than previous years so it’s going to be a little bit more difficult. But I’m very excited for the week.”
Yurav Premlall arrives fresh off a top-five finish in last week’s Cell C Challenge in Honour of Gary Player, and with an equal sense of wanting to take advantage of these next few weeks.
“The points and value of these events speak for themselves. There is a lot more expectation – and pressure – on these events. When you have the opportunities to get into the big events you want to make them count. I don’t feel I did that last year but I learnt a lot playing with some of the best players in the world about what I need to work on in these upcoming weeks to get to that level.”