Sanlam Cancer Golf Challenge moves to Sun City

The final round of the ever-popular Sanlam Cancer Golf Challenge will be played at Sun City this year. This tournament was held with great success at San Lameer on the KwaZulu-Natal coast for the past 17 years.

Gary van Loggerenberg, Sanlam sponsorship manager, says if sentimental reasons were the only deciding factor, this Golf Challenge, now generally regarded as South Africa’s biggest amateur sports tournament, would definitely have continued at San Lameer.

“But many practical and other logistical implications are involved here and we had virtually no option but to move to a more central course.”

The move to Sun City will undoubtedly capture the imagination of amateurs across the country. Very few ever have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of golfing great such as Seve Ballesteros, Bernard Langer, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen and play two rounds of golf on two of South Africa’s top courses.

The Gary Player Country Club is currently South Africa’s nr.2 rated course and the Lost City course is nr. 21 on the Golf Digest 2009/2010 rankings. Africa’s biggest golf tournament, the Nedbank Challenge, is also presented at Sun City annually. Both courses will be in excellent condition for the final, as the Nedbank tournament is due to start only a month after the Sanlam Cancer Challenge Final.

A few surprises await those who make it to the final. The rough of the Gary Player course and Lost City’s massive bunkers – many on the fairway – will test many an amateur’s skill to the utmost. The format of the Sanlam Cancer Golf Challenge will remain the same, says Van Loggerenberg. It will still be a Stableford competition, with the club competitions starting in March, followed by the regional finals in July and August to determine the finalists.

Last year just more than 35 000 amateurs participated, but with Sun City as drawcard, this number will definitely be higher. According to Van Loggerenberg 440 clubs are expected to participate in this year’s tournament.

The money raised for the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) during the club competitions will be used in the fight against cancer. Of the money will be channelled to the different provinces for the treatment of patients suffering from the disease.

Please diarise the Final Dates: 24th – 27th October 2010

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