A PRIZE giving ceremony after a successful Pro-Am day set the perfect stage for the Joburg Ladies Open scheduled to tee off later this week.
On Tuesday, 72 amateurs were afforded an opportunity to pair two professional golfers in the Pro-Am, which is the prelude to the Joburg Ladies Open. It was a fourball alliance with two best stable-ford scores to count.
This created the opportunity for amateurs and professionals to play together on the fairways at Modderfontein Golf Course.
The Pro-Am winners were announced during a prizegiving ceremony. Thai professional golfer, April Angurasaranee, and South African professional golfer, Stacy Lee Bregman and their teammates, Leigh van der Berg, Innocentia Motau and Susan Andrews won the Joburg Ladies Open Pro-Am with a total of 91 points.
Second place went to pros Emie Peronnin and Caroline Kauffmann and their team of Minah Sindane-Bloom, Bongi Shabalala and Elize de Wet on 87 points. In third place with 82 points were pros Harang Lee and Lily May Humphreys and teammates Bongi Mokaba, Sherida Stevens and Tebello Mokhema.
Shabalala also won nearest to the pin for hole three and nine, Renee Matthee won nearest to the pin for hole 11 and Stevens for hole 14. Angurasaranee won longest drive for hole eight and Leigh van der Berg for hole 13.
The Pro-Am allows amateurs and professional golfers to play together as part of the build-up to the Joburg Open tournament that will tee off on Thursday, 18 April.
The Joburg Open is co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and the DP World Tour and will be played over four days and conclude on Sunday, 21 April 2024.
The winner, to be announced on Sunday, will share in a prize purse of €300,000 (slightly over R6 million).
This year’s tournament also continued with the innovative Splash for Dignity campaign, where amateur players, invited to participate, made a charitable impact with each golf ball that found its way into a pond during the Pro-Am. They were penalised and the funds added to the birdies for dignity initiative.
Over R13 000 was successfully raised through the Splash for Dignity initiative, a key component of the Birdies for Dignity campaign. During the Pro-Am prizegiving ceremony, tournament promoter Bongi Mokaba shared the heartening news, highlighting the generosity of Michael Koekemoer, the chairman of Modderfontein Golf Club, who contributed R5 000 towards the cause.
The event is open to spectators.
Free tickets are available on the Sunshine Tour website www.sunshinetour.com
