The Mother City will host the finest young stars from both the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour in this week’s Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open.

It is the second of a run of seven co-sanctioned tournaments, and with recent champion Alexander Knappe declaring these events as a real gamechanger for their careers.

Knappe, the winner of last week’s Dimension Data Pro-Am, forms part of a strong field gathered at both Royal Cape Golf Club and Rondebosch Golf Club this week.

There are six former champions in the field this week including defending champion JC Ritchie as well as Jaco Ahlers, Rhys Enoch, Jake Roos, Benjamin Follett-Smith and Anton Karlsson.

There are also a host of players hungry to go one better than their second-place finishes in this tournament such as Jacques Blaauw, Zander Lombard, Peter Karmis, Ockie Strydom, Steve Surrey, Hennie Otto, Michael Hollick and Jaco van Zyl.

But as Knappe has pointed out, there is a greater benefit for every single player in terms of the opportunity created by this series of tournaments.

“These seven tournaments in Africa to start our season with are really important. We would usually start in May, and that is half a year off if we didn’t have these tournaments with the Sunshine Tour,” said Knappe.

“We’re grateful to the Sunshine Tour for co-sanctioning these tournaments with the Challenge Tour and putting up such great tournaments. The golf courses here are always great and the tournaments are so well run. And, most importantly, it keeps us playing because we have a long season with a great schedule and increased prize money. It means a lot to us as players.”

The Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open celebrates its 10th anniversary this week, marking a decade of the city of Cape Town’s proud support of international golf on local fairways.

“I am delighted to welcome the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open and its participants to the Mother City,” said mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis. “The Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open has remained one of the mainstays of the city’s annual events calendar over the last decade and has consistently increased in popularity.

“Council recently approved a new three-year agreement with the Southern Africa PGA Tour for the City of Cape Town to continue sponsorship of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open.”

The first two rounds will be played on both the Royal Cape Golf Club and Rondebosch Golf Club courses, and the final two rounds will be played solely at Royal Cape Golf Club.

A maximum of 2,000 fully vaccinated spectators will be allowed per day.

Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour co-sanctioned schedule:

24-27 February: $250,000 Jonsson Workwear Open (Durban CC and Mt Edgecombe CC)
3-6 March: $250,000 Mangaung Open (Bloemfontein GC and Schoeman Park GC)
24-27 March: $250,000 SDC Open (Zebula Golf Estate & Spa and Elements Private Golf Reserve)
31 March – 3 April: $250,000 Limpopo Championship (Euphoria Golf & Lifestyle Estate and Koro Creek Bushveld Estate)
7-10 April: $275,000 Mount Kilimanjaro Klassic (Kilimanjaro Golf & Wildlife Estate).

Photo: Luke Walker/Getty Images