Shaun Norris finds Amathole a place of opportunities!

East London, 13 February 2008:  The Inaugural Africa Open Golf Challenge, a Sunshine Tour-sanctioned event, held at the Fish River Sun in the Amathole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape on 7 to 10 February 2008 proved to be a huge success, according to Executive Mayor, Alderman Sakhumzi Somyo. 

“We were keen to co-sponsor the tournament as the district had identified sports tourism as a niche market for the area and it also provided the district with a magnificent platform to market itself, not only in South Africa but around the globe on television,” he said.  “Our district is blessed with a natural and unspoilt environment, a temperate climate, and offers a range of accommodation establishments to suit every pocket.  Combining sporting events such as the Africa Open Golf Challenge with tourism facilities offers us a unique opportunity to showcase to the world the natural splendour on our doorstep, and paves the way for job creation, whilst also engaging youth in sporting activities and supporting the games and their stars.  The Pro-Am held on 6^th February where some 15 amateur golfers from our district played with the professional golfers also proved to be hugely successful.  Thus Amathole is increasingly playing host to a number of different national sporting codes, and is also featuring the South African Tennis Open this week in East London,” he said.  “The Eastern Cape is traditionally known as the nursery of emerging sports stars, so there were many reasons why we chose to support this prestigious event,” said Somyo.  Other key sponsors included Emirates Airlines, Nestlife, and Buffalo City Municipality.

The event boasted a purse of R1,2 million and attracted a strong field of 144 golfers from around the world.  It also included Eastern Cape stars Titch Moore, the Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Final winner, Ulrich van den Berg, the Vodacom Origins Free State winner, and James Kamte who won the Dubai Desert Classic.  The blustery conditions that prevailed for most of the tournament proved to be a challenge for most and tested their mettle, especially Jake Roos who at one stage was leading the pack on the third round at 12 under par but then found the windy conditions too much and dropped five shots between the 13^th and 16^th holes.  Roos ultimately finished at 5 under par.

In the end it was Shaun Norris who triumphed with his first Sunshine Tour win on 13 under par, with Nic Henning second at 7 under par and Grant Muller, Jean Hugo and Marc Cayeux, the Zimbabwean, on joint third at 6 under par.  Norris took home a cheque in the amount of R190,200.00 and credits his father who previously hailed from Humewood in Port Elizabeth for teaching him all the tricks of playing in the wind.  Norris was especially pleased with the near-perfect greens at the picturesque Fish River Sun and that they rolled true, which he said was very helpful.

“We are inspired to promote golf in our area and look forward to an even bigger Africa Open Golf Challenge event in our district next year,” said Somyo, who also expressed an interest in running a charity golf day, challenging other mayors.