The Africa Open at East London Golf Club does not feature on the European Tour's 2016 schedule in a massive blow to one of the region's flagship international events.
Sunshine Tour Marketing Director Duncan Cruickshank says its horrible from a responsibility point of view as they're mindful of what an important stop the Eastern Cape is on their schedule.
The Africa Open has been held at East London Golf Club for the past 7 years as a fully fledged European Tour event, bringing with it millions of rands in spend, job creation and TV exposure to Buffalo City.
Cruickshank says with the European Tour operating in Euros, its challenging times for promoters working with a very weak rand. "Unfortunately at this stage the promoter has been unable to secure enough sponsorship for the tournament to be confirmed to go ahead," he said. "Until that happens, we can't put it on our schedule so unfortunatley for the forseeable future, the beginning of 2016, the Africa Open is not on the roster."
Cruickshank did offer a ray of hope, however, saying all is not lost. "The thing is, should the sponsorship be secured there are 52 weeks in the year. If we have a tournament that is able to go ahead we will be able to persuade the European Tour to put it back on their schedule and we'll find a spot accordingly on the Sunshine Tour's schedule. Its not all doom and gloom but unfortunately at the moment, its pretty tough."
