Els to play and host SA Open
Ernie Els has accepted the role as host and ambassador of the South African Open Championship in 2015.
The event will tee off at the Glendower Golf Club in January and the benefits will go to the Els for Autism and Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation charities, and Paddy Power has all your betting options covered.
“I am very honoured to have been offered this role and accepted without hesitation as the South African Open Championship is a tournament with incredible history and has featured strongly throughout my career,” said the four time major champion on supersport.com.
“I look forward to working together with the Sunshine Tour to achieve our shared vision of growing the SA Open, so that it can once again take its rightful place among the most prestigious tournaments in world golf. Whatever successes South African golfers have enjoyed around the world, none of us forgets the incredible start we had in our careers by having tournaments like the SA Open to play in on the Sunshine Tour.
“It is therefore imperative that we do our best to ensure that South Africa’s flagship events are sustainable for generations to come and I am delighted to be able to give my full support to achieving this.
“I have no doubt that my fellow countrymen who play on the European and PGA Tours feel the same way and I look forward to them joining me in working towards these goals.”
Meanwhile, Selwyn Nathan, the executive director of the Sunshine Tour, was happy the South African legend excepted the role.
“We are very excited that Ernie has accepted the role, which we are sure will go a long way to re-establishing golf’s second-oldest national championship as one of the world’s flagship events,” said Nathan.
“Ernie’s commitment to the Sunshine Tour has been unwavering throughout his stellar career and we are very grateful that he has reaffirmed this commitment to professional golf in South Africa by helping us to grow our national Open.”
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