South Africa will have one less representative on the PGA TOUR this season after Rory Sabbatini’s decision to play under the Slovakian flag.
The six-time PGA TOUR winner, who is fully exempt for 2019, will now play under the Slovakian flag due to his wife Martina Stofanikova, who is from the central European country.
The reports were confirmed by Slovak newspapers SME and Novy Cas.
Ranked 203 in the world, Sabbatini is on track to represent his new nation at the next Olympics; the event allows for a field of 60, with no more than two players per country and four if all are ranked inside the top 15.
Currently in at number 60 is Daan Huizing, but the Dutch golfer’s world ranking is substantially worse at 340.
‘I believe that I will be successful for Slovak golf and will be a source of inspiration for Slovak youth,’ Sabbatini said last Wednesday at the consulate general of the Slovak republic in New York.
