Sunshine Tour Stalwarts set to light up SA Senior Open
Two-time SA Open champion and current SA Senior Open Champion Mark McNulty has confirmed his participation at the 2018 SA Senior Open Hosted by Bitou Municipality.
Mark Mc Nulty will be joined in the field by a host very fine golfers including 2007 SA Open champion James Kingston, and Kevin Stone, the father of 2016 SA Open winner Brandon Stone.
Having achieved the incredible feat of being ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1987 and 1992, Mark McNulty will once again will tee it up at the Plettenberg Bay Country Club as he aims to defend his title that he won in a thrilling wire-to-wire victory in 2017. McNulty has recorded to have 59 worldwide professional career wins, and is widely considered favourite to win back to back championships when the SA Senior Open kicks off from the 2nd to the 5th of October 2018.
It will not be an easy four days on the course however, as James Kingston has been in tremendous form following five consecutive top 15 finishes over the last 2 months on the Staysure Tour and finished 3rd in the European Tour Properties Senior Classic recently. Kingston is currently ranked 16th on the Staysure Tour Order of Merit and will be confident of taking the crown having finished 3rd at the SA Senior Open in 2017.
Having won the SA Senior Masters in 2017, Kevin Stone will be pushing to win and take home the lion’s share of the R500,000 prize money, the largest prize fund on the Sunshine Senior Tour. He will not be alone as he will be joined by a number of champions across the European and Sunshine Tours including Bobby Lincoln, Roger Wessels, Mokgeteng Mashego, Ian Palmer, Callie Swart, Chris Davison, Steve Van Vuuren, Andre Cruse and Jeff Hawkes. It is a pity that the likes of John Bland, Hugh Baiocchi, Chris Williams and Rocky Tlhabanyane are unable to participate this year due to various reasons.
Also joining the strong field will be winner of the 2018 Sunshine Senior Tour Q-School back in January this year, Gary Thompson. Thompson is currently President of the Zimbabwe Golf Association. He is a well-known TV personality, entrepreneur and philanthropist in Zimbabwe and participated in Season 1 of the TV Show Simba Savannah, the local version of Dragon’s Den, and provided funding to the entrepreneurs who were pitching.
Sunshine Senior Tour COO, Neville Clarke, who will also be competing in the SA Senior Open, said: “I am thrilled with the competitors who will be taking part this year. All of these golfers such has Mark have so much still to give to the game and watching them play will be a delight. We have a fantastic field and we urge all the locals in the regions to come out, enjoy the sun and watch some proper golf.”
Entry is free to the public for the SA Senior Open to watch all four days from the 2nd to the 5th of October. The first two days will feature a Pro-Am in a team of two format, and the senior pros scores will count for all four days.
About the Sunshine Senior Tour
The newly branded Sunshine Senior Tour, has resulted between a partnership with the SA Senior Tour and the Sunshine Tour, under a license 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. This will continue and the Humpback Dolphin will again be the deserving recipient.