The South African Open is one of the oldest national open

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

championships in the world, having first been played in 1903, and is one of the principal tournaments on the Southern-Africa-based

Sunshine Tour The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern and East Africa. For much of its early history it was known either as the Southern Africa Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the F ...

. Since 1997 it has also been co-sanctioned by the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

History

The first formal event was organised in 1903, following a series of exhibition matches that had been held over the preceding ten years. The championship was initially contested over just 36 holes until 1908, when it was extended to become a 72-hole tournament. Although non-whites had played in the South African Open before, most notably when Papwa Sewgolum finished second in 1963, it was not until 1972 that black golfers were allowed to compete. From 2011 until February 2020 it was held in the

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

area; twice at Serengeti Golf Club, followed by five times at

Glendower Golf Club The Glendower Golf Club is an 18-hole golf complex located in Edenvale, Gauteng, South Africa. The course has been the home of the South African Open for eight competitions. Englishman Chris Paisley won his first European Tour title winning the ...

, and then twice at

Randpark Golf Club Randpark Golf Club is a golf club in Randburg, South Africa. Background The club was founded 1940. It is located in Randpark, South Africa, a suburb of Randburg. The club has three courses: Bushwillow, Firethorn, and Creek 9. Bushwillow, then ...

. In December 2020 it will move away from Johannesburg and be held at Gary Player Country Club in Sun City.

Gary Player Gary James Player (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tour and nine ...

has been the most successful player in the tournament's history, with 13 victories over four decades between 1956 and 1981.

Bobby Locke Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke (20 November 1917 – 9 March 1987) was a South African professional golfer. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time. He won The Open Championship four times and 15 PGA Tour events in total ...

won nine titles, Sid Brews won eight titles, and

George Fotheringham George Lyall Fotheringham (9 July 1883 – 8 April 1971) was a Scottish-American professional golfer who played in the early 20th century. He won the South African Open five times and was a founding member of the PGA of America. Early life Foth ...

won the event five times as did

Ernie Els Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former , he is nicknamed "the Big Easy" due to his physical stature along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victories are four major ...

. In December 2018, the event became part of the Open Qualifying Series, giving up to three non-exempt players entry into

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

. The 2021 event was scheduled to be a co-sanctioned event between the

and the

. However due to COVID-19 travel restrictions in place in the UK from South Africa, the event was revised as a sole-sanctioned Sunshine Tour event.

Flagship event

From 1999 to 2016, the tournament was the Sunshine Tour's flagship event for the purposes of the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...

, earning a minimum of 32 OWGR points for the winner. It was replaced as the flagship event for 2017 by the

Alfred Dunhill Championship The Alfred Dunhill Championship is a men's professional golf tournament which is played in South Africa. It is part of the Southern African Sunshine Tour and is one of several events in South Africa that are co-sanctioned by the more prestigiou ...

before regaining its status the following year. In 2020, the Alfred Dunhill Championship once again replaced the South African Open as the tour's flagship event. In 2021, the Alfred Dunhill Championship was scheduled to be the flagship event for the second consecutive year. However due to the cancellation of the tournament, the South African Open regained its flagship event status for the first time since the January 2020 event.

Winners

Source:

Notes

References

External links