South Africa’s leading professionals will hope to maintain their winning form on the European Tour when the exclusive Volvo Golf Champions tees off at The Links at Fancourt this week.
Branden Grace’s victory in the Joburg Open not only secured him a place in the field for this prestigious event, but it was also the fourth South African victory in the last six tournaments on the European Tour.
And Grace is relishing the prospect of teeing it up alongside some of the biggest names in golf.
“One of my main goals in winning the Joburg Open was to be able to get into the Volvo Golf Champions. I really wanted to play in that event,” said Grace of a tournament that includes countrymen Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Thomas Aiken, Garth Mulroy, Hennie Otto and Retief Goosen.
For the South Africans, playing at home is a distinct advantage in an event with no halfway cut and a total prize fund of approximately R20-million, with the winner taking home roughly R3.5-million.
The South Africans have dominated the start of the 2012 European Tour. Grace’s triumph in the Joburg Open and Louis Oosthuizen’s victory in the Africa Open see them occupy the first and second place respectively on the Race to Dubai rankings.
And Goosen’s impressive start to the year following the frustrations of his back injury in 2011 has him in sixth place on the rankings.
The South Africans have also proved themselves incredibly hard to beat on home fairways.
With a maiden victory under his belt, Grace is certainly looking forward to playing in front of his home crowd again this week.
“It will be nice to play in front of my home crowds,” said the golfer who grew up in George. “Everybody has been asking if I’m playing in the Volvo Golf Champions, and now after my victory I can tell them, ‘Yes. Definitely’. That’s a nice feeling. This is a dream come true for me. I’m thrilled and proud to be part of a really tough field. The Joburg Open win was life changing. To get into the Volvo Golf Champions is the icing on the cake.”
Oosthuizen has won two of his four European Tour titles in South Africa. Goosen returns to a course where he has won his national Open, while Els feels equally comfortable on The Links. And Schwartzel has won four of his seven European Tour titles on home soil.
The tournament tees off on Thursday with an international field including Darren Clarke, Thomas Björn, Simon Dyson, Tom Lewis, Pádraig Harrington, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, José María Olazábal and Colin Montgomerie.
TICKETS
Tickets to the 2012 Volvo Golf Champions are can be purchased at the gate or through Computicket at www.computicket.com or at Garden Route Golf Traders (shop 72) in the Garden Route Mall. All prices include a daily tee time sheet. The official tournament programmes cost R15.
Volvo and the Volvo Golf Champions are supporting Star for Life, a South African registered non-profit organisation. It is a school-based HIV prevention programme, with a desire to build attitudes and change behaviours in youth, empowering them to realise their dreams of a better future. Star for Life will receive 25% of the ticket revenue and all programme sales revenue.
DATE COMPUTICKET GATE
Wednesday R 50 R 50
Thursday & Friday per day R 100 R 140
Saturday & Sunday per day R 130 R 180
Pensioner (over 60’s, all days) R 80 R 100
Season R 220 R 300
U-18 Any Day R 50 – gate only
U-12 Free, if accompanied by a full paying adult.
