The Sunshine Senior Tour (SST) officially announced on the 28th of August that the South African Senior Open will once again head to the Bitou region to be hosted at Plettenberg Bay Country Club from 22-25 October 2019.
SST Chief Operations Officer, Neville Clarke, described his delight at the continued support from the Bitou Municipality, “We are very happy to once again have the Bitou Municipality hosting us in this beautiful region and on this great golf course. The event has become the highlight of the SST calendar and we cannot wait for it to start.”
The SA Senior Open features 4 days of competition for the 60 Senior Professionals, but contrary to many other tournaments, the first two days of competing are played as Pro-Am’s with 2 Professionals and 2 amateurs in a 4-ball. The first day of the Pro-Am will be the annual Mayoral Golf Day and seeks to raise funds for the upliftment of the Bitou community, while the second day is played to raise funds for the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) to support their conservation efforts.
From left: JD Pretorius, Veli Hlophe (Pro), Nico Westraat and Cliff Barnard (Pro) at the 2018 SA Senior Open.
After the first two days, the pro’s then step up the intensity as it heads into the business end of the competition and they complete the final two rounds in a bid to be crowned SA Senior Open champion and usurp two-time defending champion in Plett, Mark McNulty.
Mayor Lobese explained the importance of this event to the Bitou region, “We are an area that thrives on tourism and this competition not only brings in a large number of visitors to our region for a week, but also generates significant exposure both locally and internationally about all we have to offer in the region.
It is not only tourism that benefits however, with the event serving as a great fundraiser for us towards our community and uplifting them as well as protecting our wildlife through the assistance of the Endangered Wildlife Trust.”
With players such as Mark McNulty, Chris Williams, Roger Wessels, Rocky Tlhabanyani and James Kingston all likely to feature in the field, Plettenberg Bay Country Club will certainly be worth visiting from 22nd-25th October.
Find out more about the SA Senior Open here
Bitou Municipality Mayor Peter Lobese tees off at Plettenberg Bay Country Club
About the Sunshine Senior Tour
The newly branded Sunshine Senior Tour, has resulted between a partnership with the SA Senior Tour and the Sunshine Tour, under a license agreement for professional members aged 50 and older in South Africa. The tour structure aims to provide a competitive tournament schedule to accommodate the membership and grow senior professional golf in SA.
In 2017, a partnership was formed with the Endangered Wildlife Trust in which a percentage of the total prize fund is donated to support the conservation efforts in the region a tournament is held.
For further information, please contact:
Media & Marketing
• Daniel Quinta – Accelerate Sport
• +27 (0)83 08 6682
• daniel@acceleratesport.com
• www.acceleratesport.com
Tournament Info
• Pat Lowth – Sunshine Senior Tour
• 082 490 4027
• td@seniortour.co.za
• www.seniortour.co.za
