Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish, boxing great Brian Mitchell, Springbok rugby star Victor Matfield, and footballers Mark Fish, Shaun Bartlett and Jimmy Tau will join an array of other former sports stars, celebrities, business leaders and Sunshine Tour professionals who have gathered to show their support for the inaugural Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational at the Lost City Golf Course at Sun City from 19-20 November.
The biggest names in sport and business will come together in aid of a charity tournament that celebrates the life and legacy of the late Vivienne Player and the work of the Gary and Vivenne Player Foundation to raise funds for the underprivileged.
The beneficiary for the 2022 Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational is the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School, located alongside the Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate and originally founded by Gary and Vivienne Player on what was then their family farm.
The other sports stars who will support this initiative are rugby legends Butch James, Akona and Odwa Ndungane, Patrick Lambie, Stefan Terblanche and Owen Nkumane, Proteas cricketers Herschelle Gibbs and Vernon Philander, former Bafana Bafana footballers Matthew Booth, Aaron Mokoena and Mark Williams, and renowned South African women’s golfer Sally Little.
“Vivienne had a tremendous love for people and she was also passionate about sport, having played golf at a high level herself. So I know it would’ve been very close to her heart to see so many of South Africa’s top sportsmen and women support my and her passion to help the underprivileged, and in this case the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School and the children and teachers there that Vivenne felt so deeply about,” said Gary Player.
The field includes the top 18 professionals from the Sunshine Tour’s Gary and Vivienne Player Challenge played at Selborne Park Golf Club in September, as well as the leading five professionals outside the top 18 who are also a part of the Papwa Sewgolum Class for historically disadvantaged golfers on the Tour.