Dubai: Mena Golf Tour hotshot Thriston Lawrence will be seeking to exploit home advantage when he headlines a strong field in the South to East Challenge at Zwartkop Golf Club in Centurion, Pretoria, from June 7-9.
Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Big Easy Tour, the event, which marks the Mena Golf Tour’s first foray into the Rainbow Nation, will see leading players from both tours pit their skills against each other for a share of the R500,000 (Dh121,620) prize fund in addition to earning world ranking points.
Lawrence, a 19-year-old South African prodigy, who in 2015 became the youngest to win the Mena Golf Tour’s Order of Merit, has already racked up two top-5 finishes in the three events he played this season, but will need a strong finish, if not victory, to recover lost ground after missing a couple of tournaments.
Managed by Andrew “Chubby” Chandler of ISM, the Mpumalanga-born teenager announced his arrival on the big stage by winning the Ras Al Khaimah Classic in November 2015 in a field that featured European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke, who is also the Mena Golf Tour’s patron.
The two-time South African amateur champion has been on a roll ever since and will be joined by five other Mena Golf Tour champions, including England’s Lee Corfield, a four-time winner, and an in-form Antonio Costa of Chile, who took the MahaSamutr Masters, by a good six shots at Banyan Golf Club in Hua Hin, Thailand, in May.
Other Mena Golf Tour notables in the 120-player field include Scotland’s Paul Doherty and the English duo of Scott Campbell and Luke Joy. They will be up against a strong Big Easy Tour contingent that will be looking to make inroads into new territory.
Spearheading the home challenge will be Jason Viljoen, who currently leads the Big Easy Tour Order of Merit after his second-place finish in the recent Big Easy Tour Observatory event.
Thanda Mavundla, Hennie du Plessis, Jeff Inglis and Mark Murless, who featured among the top-five at the Observatory, are also represented in the field, which includes six amateurs, including five from South Africa, and Benjamin David of England. They will test the waters on the professional circuit at Zwartkop Golf Club.
The South to East Challenge will be decided over 54 holes of strokeplay with leading 50 professionals and ties making into the final round after the cut, which will be made after round two.
An initiative of the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, the Mena Golf Tour was created in 2011 with the aim of developing golf in the region. It is affiliated to R&A, the worldwide golf governing body based in the home of golf, St Andrews, and the Arab Golf Federation and enjoys the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) status.
Multiple European Tour starts, including the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, the Hassan II Trophy and the Maybank Championship Malaysia in addition to full playing privileges on the Sunshine Tour and exemptions into the Final Stage of the Asian Tour Q-School for the leading three professionals are some of the added incentives for the Mena Golf Tour members.
