The Sunshine Tour has postponed all of its activities including next month’s Royal Swazi Open Investec event that was eagerly anticipated.
Eswatini were to host the next schedule of the golfing event that attracts golfers from across the globe from May 6-9, 2020. The cancellation includes Sunshine Tour events for the months of May, June and July where some have either been postponed or cancelled. The Sunshine Tour, which is part of the world’s leading professional golf tours, stages its events in South Africa, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Kenya. According to the tour’s latest newsletter issued on April 18, the events which were scheduled for the three months were postponed or cancelled following consultation with sponsors of the events. This was also confirmed by the Sunshine Tour Senior Tournament Director Gary Todd on Tuesday.
“
As of now, we are not talking about the calendar because we don’t even know if there will at all be any events this year. It will all depend on the situation,” said Todd. Events which had been scheduled for May, June and July included the Investec Royal Swazi Open on May 6 to 9, Zambia Open in Kitwe from May 14-17, and the Lombard Insurance at Arabella in Western Cape from May 22 to 24. There was one event, the Sun City Challenge that had been scheduled in the month of June (3-5). While those in July included Vodacom Origins of Golf in Western Cape, The Royal Swazi Challenge in Swaziland from July 29 to 31.
Most of those events usually attract some of the Kenyan professionals such as Greg Snow, Simon Ngige and Erick Ooko. Eswatini ace woman professional golfer Nobuhle Dlamini was also expected to take to the greens among others. “It is evident that, in respect of this Covid-19 crisis we are guided by government policies in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Eswatini where we stage events on the African continent. The underlying priority for us all is the health and safety of everyone associated with the Sunshine Tour.”
Todd said the Sunshine Tour Executive team has been in talks with most of event sponsors and reached an agreement that they will not make any decision relating to any event prior to July 10, 2020. “In consideration of this we need to look to the future, and we shall do whatever needs to be done to keep our event sponsors interested and committed to keeping their events on our schedule.” The Investec Royal Swazi Open, which was to be held in May, has been rescheduled for October 28-31, while the Lombard Insurance Classic which was also to take place in May has been cancelled until 2021.
Also cancelled for this year, is the Zambia Open, due to the situation in Kitwe and the Covid-19 pandemic. Sunshine Tour is awaiting the official correspondence from the Zambia Golf Union (ZGU). But the King’s Golf Cup in the country will still take place in the scheduled date from September 3-5.
Follow our WhatsApp Channel for the latest news:
Join Now
