The Sunshine Ladies Tour is headed for a thrilling finale at this week’s €340,000 (R7.1-million) Investec South African Women’s Open at Erinvale Country & Golf Estate. MICHAEL VLISMAS reports.
The stars of South African women’s professional golf and the Ladies European Tour will compete for top honours and a host of prestigious season awards.
The final tournament of the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s 12th season has drawn a strong field, including winners from both Tours this season, who will compete for the most historic trophy in South African women’s professional golf.
The prize money for this year’s tournament has also been increased by €20,000, making it one of Africa’s richest women’s sports events. And the growing interest in this year’s event and women’s golf overall is reflected in the fact that for the first time in Sunshine Ladies Tour history there will be a double pro-am.
Apart from the title of SA Women’s Open champion, this week’s field will also be chasing several added incentives.
With this being the final event of the Sunshine Ladies Tour season, the top-ranked player on the Investec Order of Merit at the end of the season will earn a R200,000 bonus.
Should the winner of this week’s tournament be a South African, she will also earn a R100,000 bonus on top of her first-placed prize money as part of the Investec Homegrown Award celebrating local talent in the game.
And the leading South African on the Investec Order of Merit at the end of this season will win the use of a Renault for a year.
These are all titles South Africa’s Casandra Alexander will be chasing as the current leader on the Order of Merit and the in-form golfer this season, having not finished outside the top five in her past six tournaments on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, including a win and two runners-up finishes.
Alexander has twice finished second on the Order of Merit in 2021 and 2023 and third in 2022, and her consistency this season has brought her to Erinvale in easily the best form of her career.
“This level of consistency is exactly what I’ve been working towards,” she said. “The aim has been to be in contention every single week, and I’ve achieved that. So hopefully the form continues.”
The end of the season will also see the crowning of the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s inaugural R&A Rookie of the Year award.
South Africa’s Kaiyuree Moodley is leading the rookie race with a breakout first season in which she’s had three top-10s this season and earned her Ladies European Tour card.
The R&A Rookie of the Year at the end of the season will, if not already exempt, receive automatic exemptions into the 2026 Joburg Ladies Open and the 2026 SA Woman’s Open.
It’s a week of rewards and incentives that aligns perfectly with Investec’s own belief in extraordinary talent and nurturing South African talent in particular.
“Investec’s support of women’s golf is to create exactly these opportunities for growth in the game and to help unlock the investment in this talent,” said Peta Dixon, head of sponsorships at Investec.
“It’s a privilege for us to continue supporting homegrown female talent in golf on the international stage, and along with our partners we’ve increased the prize money this year as part of our commitment to the continued elevation of the national Open and women’s golf.
“In the broader sense of women’s sport, the Investec South African Women’s Open is a powerful statement of what’s possible through out of the ordinary partnerships in women’s sport as a whole.
“We had a memorable Investec South African Open on the men’s Sunshine Tour in which Dylan Naidoo made history, and this week’s Investec South African Women’s Open is poised to be equally career defining for the champion.”
