Top field expected for SAA Open
Brad Morgan
10 December 2004
In January 2005 the South African Airways Open returns to the Durban Country Club for a record 16th time. South African PGA officials are confident that the country's premier golf tournament will once more draw a top-class field.
At the media launch in Durban, SA PGA Commissioner Johan Immelman expressed the belief that the line-up would be excellent. He also reckoned the field would include a certain Trevor Immelman, his son, and the two-time defending champion.
"Reflecting on it, if you win the South African Airways Open twice, and you're standing on the brink of history, I would reckon that would be uppermost in Trevor's mind to say 'Hey, you know, I could be dabbling in history here'", Immelman senior said.
Three-time champions
His son won the prestigious event the past two years at Erinvale, and a victory at Durban Country Club would lift him into elite company that includes three-time winners Gary
Player, Bobby Locke and Ernie Els. It wouldn't be bad to be grouped with that threesome!
One of the reasons for Immelman senior's confidence about attracting a strong field is history. "The Sunshine Tour has always been one of the greatest graduation tours in the world", he said. "One only has to look at the great South Africans that have graduated from here. And I don't want to start mentioning them because we could be here a long time.
"But then we can even look at major champions that have played here and graduated here. From Nick Faldo to Ernie, Retief, John Daly, Corey Pavin, Tom Lehman ... and we could go on", he said.
Reinforcing his point, Immelman reckoned there are 57 South African golfers plying their trade on various golf tours around the world, 12 of them in seniors' competition. "That's pretty exciting", he says. "We are delivering great products on the world stage."
Second oldest national Open
The South African
Airways Open is the second oldest national open in the world, trailing only the British Open. It was first played in 1893, and January's championship will be the ninety-fifth edition of the event.
Gary Player has more title wins to his credit than anyone else, with an amazing 13, while he and Bobby Locke can both boast five title successes in a row.
The last time the SAA Open was played at Durban Country Club, in 2002, Tim Clark became the first qualifier to win the tournament. His total of 269 was the second-lowest in the history of the event. Today, Clark is a regular on the US PGA Tour and ranked in the world's top 100.
Prize money for the 2005 championship is £500 000.
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