The Africa Open was a
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
tournament on the
Sunshine Tour held in
Eastern Cape,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. It was first contested in February 2008, over the
Gary Player
Gary James Player DMS, OIG (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 tou ...
designed championship course at the
Fish River Sun Country Club, near
Port Alfred
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...
.
In order to increase the profile of the tournament, beginning in 2009 it was held in January at the
East London Golf Club in
East London. In 2009, the Africa Open had a prize fund of
R5 million, over four times that of the inaugural event. The Sunshine Tour hoped that it would attract a stronger field as a result, and possibly lead to a co-sanctioning agreement with the
European Tour
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...
in subsequent years.
In 2009, it was announced that the Africa Open would be included on the
2010 European Tour
The 2010 European Tour was the second edition of the Race to Dubai and the 39th season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972.
The season consisted of 47 tournaments, beginning with two events in December 2009 and ...
schedule. It was the third event of the four tournament South African swing of the tour, held after 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 prestigious ...
and the
South African Open, and the week before the
Joburg Open
The Joburg Open is a men's professional golf tournament that is held in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is an event on the Southern Africa-based Sunshine Tour and co-sanctioned by the European Tour, which attracts a larger prize fund and stronger ...
.
The purse for 2014 was
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
1,000,000.
Winners
Notes
References
External links
Coverage on Sunshine Tour's official site
{{coord, -32, 27, type:event, display=title
Former Sunshine Tour events
Former European Tour events
Golf tournaments in South Africa
Sport in the Eastern Cape
Recurring sporting events established in 2008
Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2015
2008 establishments in South Africa
2015 disestablishments in South Africa