The Zimbabwe Open is a professional

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 wi ...

tournament held in Zimbabwe, currently played on the

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 South African Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the Vod ...

History

The tournament was first played in 1984 and from 1985 to 1992 was part of the

Safari Circuit The Safari Circuit, or Safari Tour, was a small professional golf tour based in West and East Africa that ran from the 1970s through into the 1990s. From 1977, the tour was organised by the PGA European Tour and from 1991 the tournaments were inclu ...

, a collection of events in Africa that were played by

professionals A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

based on the European Tour during their winter. In 1991 and 1992 the event was also part of the Challenge Tour. From 1993 it moved onto the First National Bank Tour, which was later renamed the

. When it was held in the weeks preceding the Nedbank Golf Challenge, the tournament attracted some of the world's leading players, as they used it as a warm up to the big money invitational. Past winners include

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

winners

Vijay Singh Vijay Singh ( hif, विजय सिंह ; born 22 February 1963), nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer. He has won 34 events on the PGA Tour, including three major championships: one Masters title (2000) and two ...

and Nick Price who, along with Mark McNulty, is the most successful player at the event, both men having recorded three victories. Ryder Cup player

Gordon J. Brand Gordon John Brand (6 August 1955 – 11 August 2020) was an English professional golfer. Career Brand turned professional in 1976 and enjoyed full playing privileges on the European Tour for 20 years. During his time on tour, he finished insid ...

is also a past winner. Due to economic instability in Zimbabwe the tournament lost sponsors and was cancelled prior to the 2002 event. There were many attempts to resurrect the tournament, but none were successful until 2010. The 2019 edition was also cancelled because of a lack of sponsors caused by a weak economy. Having not been played in 2019, 2020 and 2021, the tournament returned in 2022, sponsored by

FBC Bank FBC Bank , whose full name is FBC Bank Limited, is a commercial in Zimbabwe. It is licensed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the central bank and national banking regulator. Location The main branch and headquarters of the bank are located on t ...

. It had been anticipated that the event would be added to the

2023 European Tour The 2023 European Tour, titled as the 2023 DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, is the 52nd season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972. It is the second season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement wi ...

schedule. However, this never came to fruition, mainly due to due to changes in the venue qualifying criteria set by the European Tour. It is anticipated that the tournament will become a European Tour event in 2024 instead.

Winners

Notes

References

External links

Sunshine Tour
– official site {{Sunshine Tour Events Safari Circuit events Sunshine Tour events Former Challenge Tour events Golf tournaments in Zimbabwe Sport in Harare Spring (season) events in Zimbabwe Recurring sporting events established in 1984 1984 establishments in Zimbabwe