Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace will head to the Investec South African Open at Durban Country Club from 27 February to 2 March as part of a showcase of top local talent.
Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion, and Grace, the 2020 SA Open champion, have both confirmed their places in the second oldest national Open in golf.
Tristin Galant, the highest ranked professional from the Sunshine Tour’s Papwa Sewgolum Class for transformation professionals and not otherwise exempt for this tournament, has been granted a special invitation to compete alongside the biggest names on the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour as part of Investec’s support of transformation in South African professional golf.
It will be a significant moment for Galant as he represents the Papwa Sewgolum Class at a Durban Country Club that formed a great part of Sewsunker “Papwa” Sewgolum’s career.
They’ll join defending SA Open champion Dean Burmester in a strong local field that is focused on claiming a seventh consecutive South African victory in this tournament.
With the in-form Daniel van Tonder also in the field, this year’s SA Open will now have three of the last five winners of the tournament at Durban Country Club.
The South African challenge will also feature Shaun Norris, currently the highest ranked South African on the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai Rankings in fifth place, as well as last season’s winner of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy and now a DP World Tour campaigner, Ryan van Velzen, and last season’s winner of the Fortress Rookie of the Year Award and now also a DP World Tour campaigner, Robin Williams.
Grace returns to home fairways having won the 2020 SA Open when he beat close friend Louis Oosthuizen to the title.
“To win the second oldest Open in the world and with so much history is special. It also makes it special beating a player of Louis’s calibre,” said Grace.
Schwartzel is back for another shot at a title where he’s twice finished second – one of those a playoff defeat.
“It would be an amazing tournament to win as the second oldest national Open in golf,” he said. “As a South African it would be a privilege to have that under your belt. All golfers want to win their national Open and it would mean a lot to me to do so.”
The fact that this year’s $1.5-million tournament – co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour – will be played at the historic and recently revamped Durban Country Club should also appeal to Schwartzel.
He finished second behind winner Tim Clark at Durban Country Club in the 2005 SA Open, and on the last occasion the tournament was played here in 2010, he finished fourth behind winner Ernie Els.
Photo: Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour
