It has been one of the most successful “partnerships” on the Sunshine Tour this season for fellow professionals, good friends, travel partners and SunBet ambassadors Rupert Kaminski and Kyle Barker, and it’s set them both up for major new goals in their careers.
Speaking during the current summer of Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour co-sanctioned tournaments in South Africa, Kaminski reflected on what he said has been a “life-changing” season for the two golfers as he claimed his maiden Sunshine Tour title, and his roommate Barker also won and played in his first Major this year in The Open.
“It’s been incredible. You know, Kyle and I both won after we signed our new sponsorship with SunBet. He won a week later (in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Western Cape) and I won the week after that (in the South African PGA Championship). I think that shows what this sponsorship support meant for us. The association with SunBet is huge for us. It’s given us the freedom to go out there and just focus on our golf. Knowing that they have that belief in us is huge,” said Kaminski.
Those back-to-back wins in September launched both Kaminski and Barker into the top 15 on the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.
“We’re approaching the meaty part of the season. I’m excited to be in the position I’m in. It was a goal of mine to contend for that top 10 on the Order of Merit. But now I’m looking at the top three and hopefully earning a DP World Tour card. I feel like I can go into these co-sanctioned tournaments with a bit more freedom knowing I’m already in a good position.”
Kaminski paid tribute to his roommate Barker for what he says was the extra inspiration he needed to claim his maiden Sunshine Tour title in the prestigious South African PGA Championship.
“Seeing Kyle win and being there to experience that gave me that extra bit of belief that I needed. All the hard work I’ve been doing just clicked.”
After attending and watching the Nedbank Golf Challenge as SunBet ambassadors alongside England football legend Michael Owen, the duo are now focused on their jobs inside the ropes this summer as they push for a big finish to the current season, which ends next April.
And while their goals may have changed, Kaminski is determined to not change his roommate any time soon.
“I love traveling with Kyle. Every time we’ve stayed together one of us has won, and that dates back to when we played inter-provincial golf as amateurs for Central Gauteng. It’s great to stay with someone you’re comfortable with each week. And clearly there’s something good in this relationship.”
Simon Gregory, SunBet CEO, said the sponsorship of the two golfers aligns perfectly with their support of the Sunshine Tour as this enables them to focus on their play without having to worry about the associated costs.
“As a proud sponsor of the Sunshine Tour, SunBet participates in a number of golf events, including the four SunBet Challenges we sponsor. Both Kyle and Rupert caught our attention not only for being young talented up-and-coming golfers, but also through the great attitudes they display towards the sport and our clients alike. They are friendly and approachable and always enjoy spending time with the amateurs we invite to events. They have been working hard on their games and we wanted to help them as we believe we will still be seeing a lot of great things from them.
“Having played with both of them, we undertook to sponsor them for the remainder of the current Sunshine Tour season, so this sponsorship runs until March 2024 at which stage we will look at renewing this for next year’s season.”