The Sunshine Tour has announced a bold start to 2022 with a schedule including two new tournaments co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour.

There are also seven tournaments co-sanctioned with the Challenge Tour, including a new event in Tanzania.

The opening four months of the new year will see South Africa’s professional golfers competing for almost R80-million in total tournament prize money.

The Sunshine Tour’s 2022 schedule tees off in the final week in January with the Vodacom Origins of Golf Final at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City.

February, March and April include the Challenge Tour’s Southern African Swing, which has now grown from three tournaments to seven.

The first new event is the Jonsson Workwear Open, which will be played at both Durban Country Club and Mt Edgecombe Country Club.

This is followed by the Mangaung Open at both Bloemfontein Golf Club and Schoeman Park Golf Club.

The SDC Open also joins the Challenge Tour co-sanctioned schedule and will be played at the Zebula Golf Estate & Spa and Elements Private Golf Reserve in Limpopo.

The Tour then branches out into Tanzania for the first time for the new Mount Kilimanjaro Klassic at the Kilimanjaro Golf & Wildlife Estate in Tanzania.

These new Challenge Tour events join the existing Dimension Data Pro-Am (Fancourt), Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open (Royal Cape Golf Club and Rondebosch Golf Club), and the Limpopo Championship (Euphoria Golf & Lifestyle Estate and Koro Creek Bushveld Estate).

March features the two new tournaments co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour, the $1.5-million Pecanwood Classic at the Pecanwood Golf Estate and the $1.5-million Steyn City Championship at Steyn City.

This takes to a total of five the number of tournaments the Sunshine Tour hosts on the DP World Tour, adding to the Joburg Open, South African Open and Alfred Dunhill Championship.

The Kit Kat Group Pro-Am (Irene Country Club), Players Championship (Dainfern Golf Estate) and Tour Championship (Serengeti Estates) round off the new schedule.

And the country’s next generation of stars will have the opportunity to play their way onto the Sunshine Tour through either the Sunshine Tour Qualifying School or the Vusi Ngubeni Tournament for transformation golfers.

“A tremendous amount of work together with the ongoing support of our chairman Mr Johann Rupert, our executive director Selwyn Nathan, our board of directors, our partners and sponsors has allowed us to announce what we believe is a fabulous Sunshine Tour schedule to start the year with,” said Thomas Abt, commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.

“We are delighted to be able to grow our relationship with the DP World Tour and the Challenge Tour with the offering of even more opportunities for our member professionals to secure a place on an international tour while playing at home. This significantly enhances what has always been our global pathway to success for our professionals.”

Sunshine Tour 2022 schedule:

17-20 January – Sunshine Tour Qualifying School First Stage (Maccauvlei GC and Benoni CC)
28-30 January – Vodacom Origins of Golf Final R1-million (Gary Player CC, Sun City)
4-6 February – Kit Kat Group Pro-Am R1-million (Irene CC)
10-13 February – Dimension Data Pro-Am $375,000 (Fancourt)
17-20 February – Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open $250,000 (Royal Cape GC and Rondebosch GC)
24-27 February – Jonsson Workwear Open $250,000 (Durban CC and Mt Edgecombe CC)
3-6 March – Mangaung Open $250,000 (Bloemfontein GC and Schoeman Park GC)
8-9 March – Vusi Ngubeni Qualifying Tournament (Modderfontein GC)
10-13 March – Pecanwood Classic $1.5-million (Pecanwood Golf and Country Club)
17-20 March – Steyn City Championship $1.5-million (Steyn City)
24-27 March – SDC Open $250,000 (Zebula Golf Estate & Spa and Elements Private Golf Reserve)
31 March – 3 April – Limpopo Championship $250,000 (Euphoria Golf & Lifestyle Estate and Koro Creek Bushveld Estate)
7-10 April – Mount Kilimanjaro Klassic $275,000 (Kilimanjaro Golf & Wildlife Estate)
21-24 April – The Players Championship R2-million (Dainfern Golf Estate)
28 April – 1 May Tour Championship R1.5-million (Serengeti Estates)
26-29 April – Sunshine Tour Qualifying School Final Stage R100,000 (Gauteng – Venue TBC)
26-29 April – Vusi Ngubeni Tournament R100,000 (Gauteng – Venue TBC)

Photo: Luke Walker/Getty Images