Dean Burmester will be looking to continue his good form as he begins his Challenge Tour season this week in Switzerland. The Zimbabwean-born golfer will tee it up at the Swiss Challenge with a lot less attention on him than has been the case earlier on this year.
Burmester took advantage of early-season co-sanctioned events between the Sunshine and European Tours to post good finishes but knows he has to perform on the second-tier Challenge Tour if he wants to secure a fulltime card for the European Tour next season.
The six-time Sunshine Tour winner has recorded no fewer than seven top-10 finishes in 11 starts this season, missing one cut, which was at the Volvo China Open. His highlights include two runner-up finishes at the Eye of Africa PGA Championship and Dimension Data Pro-Am on the Sunshine Tour, and three top-15 finishes in the European Tour co-sanctioned events. He also tied for 14th in a standalone European Tour event and a top-40 result on the PGA Tour, which came at the Puerto Rico Open.
Burmester however, bar exemptions or invitations, will have to battle it out on the Challenge Tour for the rest of the season whilst balancing his Sunshine Tour commitments.
His last two outings on the European feeder tour at the end of last year ended in missed cuts. During 2015 he won four tournaments on the Sunshine Tour, revealing the disparity in quality. Despite not winning yet this season he will hope that his form will be enough to challenge for a high placing come the end of the final round.
Other South Africans in the field include Darryn Lloyd, who is coming off a decent finish last week on the tour as well as Sunshine Tour regular Merrick Bremner.
