Defending champion Van Velzen joins strong field for Limpopo Championship

Ryan van Velzen returns to next week’s Limpopo Championship as the defending champion in a tournament that dramatically changed the course of his career.

Van Velzen made his Sunshine Tour breakthrough with victory in this R2 million tournament at the Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate last year.

It was a victory that launched the career of one of the most exciting young players on the Sunshine Tour as Van Velzen has gone on to win again on the Tour in the Bain’s Whisky Teams Challenge and the Mediclinic Invitational, and also challenge in several tournaments co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour and European Challenge Tour.

He returns to Limpopo for the 4-6 April event as the current leader on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

2️⃣ events to go.

This is how things stand at the top of the Order of Merit delivered by @TheCourierGuySA 📊#CourierGuyOrderOfMerit | #GreatnessBeginsHere | #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/SOh3o48Nfz

— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) March 25, 2024

The list of entries for this year’s event is one of the strongest in the tournament’s history.

It includes multiple DP World Tour winner Thriston Lawrence and DP World Tour campaigner Zander Lombard as well as Robin Williams, who is currently second on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy and who came close to a maiden victory on the DP World Tour this season.

Wilco Nienaber, Oliver Bekker and Luca Filippi, who have all finished runner-up in this tournament before, are also set to tee it up next week.

The field also includes Heinrich Bruiners, who won at the Eurphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate early in his career and last week ended an 11-year win drought with his victory in the Stella Artois Players Championship.

Haydn Porteous, a former DP World Tour winner who after a few challenging years finished second in the Stella Artois Players Championship last week, will continue his comeback in Limpopo.

The 72-hole tournament will be broadcast live on SuperSport and offers free entry for spectators to an event that is planning to showcase the impact of the tournament in a Limpopo Province that has seen over R25 million invested back into the local economy through this event as well as a 35 per cent investment of the tournament’s operational budget in local businesses.