Teeing off is Rodgers Monama, MEC of LEDET
Ryan van Velzen returns to this 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.
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% investment of the tournament’s operational budget in local businesses.
Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA) Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Moses Ngobeni, is impressed with the level of readiness of the sixth edition of Limpopo Championship that commences on Thursday the 4th April 2024. The tournament will be preceded by a one-day Pro-Am event as a precursor taking place on Tuesday the 2nd April 2024. This will see the MEC of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism tee off as a way of officially opening the 6th Limpopo Championship. The Agency is also making a call to the people of Limpopo to come in their numbers to this event commencing two days after the Pro-Am on Thursday the 4th April 2024. “We expect the people of Limpopo to come and witness this golf spectacle especially the semi-final and final on Saturday and Sunday respectively,” said Ngobeni.
CEO of LTA Moses Ngobeni, LTA Chairperson of the Board Andrew Dipela, MEC of LEDET Rodgers Monama, Board member Fundi Malaza and Chief Corporate Services Officer Sello Maleka.