Continent’s top senior golfers gear up for action at Plett Country Club
Having previously hosted the event during April last year, the change of date was made to align with the school holidays, when large numbers of families make their way down to Plett.
Locals and holidaymakers will be in for a treat as the golfing action will be open to all spectators for free, allowing nostalgic golfing fans and aspirational youngsters the chance to witness some first-class golf at close quarters.
The SA Senior Open brings together the best senior professionals (over 50s) from across Africa and further afield, and includes an exceptional roll call of former champions such as John Bland and Hugh Baiocchi – and they’re all dead-set on dethroning 2017 Senior Open champion Mark McNulty.
For the first time, the event will incorporate a special pre-event feature on Sunday, September 30: the Annual Mayoral Golf Day, celebrating the partnership between the Senior Tour and Bitou Municipality.
Proceeds from this day will go towards the creation of a Golfing Academy targeting talented youngsters from surrounding communities.
Plett Country Club is situated in a private nature reserve, and proceeds will aptly be donated to the Environmental Wildlife Trust to support the endangered Humpback dolphin.
A field of 60 senior professional golfers will be led by defending champ McNulty, who recorded a wire to wire victory in 2017. This may be the last chance for many golfers hoping to win the event, as the likes of Ernie Els and Retief Goosen turn 50 in 2019, and if they participate, will surely be favourites in the years to come.
On aiming to defend his title next month, McNulty said: “At last years SA Senior Open, I was blessed with having all aspects of my game working extremely well.
“Winning the event was a thrill and I look forward to returning to Plett County Club to defend my title. It will be great to see some old friends and meet some of our newer pros on tour.”
• The newly-branded Sunshine Senior Tour has resulted from a partnership between the SA Senior Tour and the Sunshine Tour, under a licence agreement for professional members aged 50 and older in South Africa.
The tour structure aims to provide a competitive tournament schedule to accommodate the membership and grow senior professional golf in SA.
In 2017, a partnership was formed with the Endangered Wildlife Trust in which a percentage of the total prize fund is donated to support a specific endangered animal in the region a tournament is held, in this case, the Humpback dolphin.
Visit www.seniortour.co.za and click on 2018 SA Senior Open for additional information.
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