adminTakudzwa Chitsiga Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE golf ace Brendon de Jonge is one of the players expected to feature in the US$6.5 million Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City in South Africa from December 5-8. The reigning Zimbabwe Sports-person of the Year will make the star-studded 30-man field that will battle for the first prize of US$1.25 million.
The organisers said the Zimbabwean qualified on the back of “a strong finish to the FedEx Cup combined with his trademark aggressive play.”
They said his selection for International Team for the Presidents Cup this year was “an endorsement of a player who at one point had scored more rounds in the 60s than any other player on the US PGA Tour this year and made more birdies than any other PGA Tour player since 2009.”
De Jonge will be hoping to become the third Zimbabwean to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge after Nick Price and Mark McNulty.
“Brendon is one of the most exciting players in the game at the moment,” the tournament director of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, Alastair Roper, said.
“I’ve got no doubt he’ll continue the proud tradition of Zimbabwean golfers in the Nedbank Golf Challenge.”
Meanwhile, Ryan Cairns did well to make the cut in the The Lion of Africa Cape Town Open at Royal Cape Golf Club in South Africa over the weekend.
After coming out in 20th place at last week’s BMG Classic, Cairns had two good first rounds by shooting 70 and 74 to make it through to the final two rounds of the tournament. In the third and fourth rounds Cairns, however, shot 73 and 70.
For his efforts Cairns received a cheque for R20 657. The Zimbabwean finished tied with South Africans Ruan de Smidt, Bradford Vaughan, Jbe’ Kruger, Dan van Tonder, JJ Sekenel and Justin Walters.
Online Reporter