Weather delay Investec South African Championship.. Leaderboard /TEE Times

 DP World Tour : South African Championship Leaderboard  Tee Times

The 1st round of the Investec South African Championship will  be delayed due to heavy rain and a water logged Durban CC. Durban is 7 hours ahead of EST. It is 10pm Wednesday night there as I post this.

There is rain in the forecast on and off all week. click Weather for all the details in particular Sunday which is forecast as the worst.

So we can expect the Durban CC to play long, very soft likely with preferred lies. 

Aaron Cockerill as usual is the lone Canadian and his scheduled time was 1120hrs local which will be pushed back to 1420hrs at least, and he will be off the 10th tee.

South African Dean Burmester who spends most of his season playing LIV is the defending champion.

"It's obviously one as a South African that I've always wanted to win. To be involved in this tournament and to win it, with a bank that used to sponsor me and got me off the ground when I was just a kid, is super special. 

So to be the SA Open champion is something I'll never forget. It's a tournament I watched growing up and I watched a lot of legends. "It's obviously one as a South African that I've always wanted to win. 

To be involved in this tournament and to win it, with a bank that used to sponsor me and got me off the ground when I was just a kid, is super special. So to be the SA Open champion is something I'll never forget. It's a tournament I watched growing up and I watched a lot of legends."

122 years of history

The South African Open was first played in 1903, becoming part of the DP World Tour schedule in 1997, and has since been won by some of the greatest names to play the game.

Bobby Locke won the first of his nine titles as an amateur in 1935, with the great Gary Player the only person to have won it more times having lifted the trophy on 13 occasions. 

Vijay Singh won the event the first time it was part of the DP World Tour and in the following 28 years it has been won by fellow Major Champions Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman and Retief Goosen on multiple occasions, with Louis Oosthuizen tasting victory in the 2019 season.

South Africans have won the last six editions and seven of the last ten, with a strong contingent of home heroes looking to extend that run this week.

As one of the oldest opens in golf, it seems fitting that this week's event is part of the Qualifying Series for The Open at Royal Portrush this summer with 3 places on offer.

All change at Durban Country Club

Established in 1922, Durban Country Club’s proud and storied history stretches back over 100 years. This week, it hosts South Africa's national open – co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour – for a record 19th time and first since 2010, when Els was crowned the champion. It last hosted an event on the DP World Tour schedule at the Volvo Golf Champions in 2014, but this time around players will face a revamped layout. In 2023-2024, the course closed for 10 months to construct renovations and drainage enhancements including the addition of a burn that serves as a drainage channel while adding strategy, safety and interest. Overlooking the Blue Lagoon estuary and the Indian Ocean, a high value is placed on approach play with each green - many of which are raised - holding a variety of pin positions that can affect strategy.

All change at Durban Country Club

Established in 1922, Durban Country Club’s proud and storied history stretches back over 100 years. This week, it hosts South Africa's national open – co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour – for a record 19th time and first since 2010, when Els was crowned the champion. It last hosted an event on the DP World Tour schedule at the Volvo Golf Champions in 2014, but this time around players will face a revamped layout. 

In 2023-2024, the course closed for 10 months to construct renovations and drainage enhancements including the addition of a burn that serves as a drainage channel while adding strategy, safety and interest. Overlooking the Blue Lagoon estuary and the Indian Ocean, a high value is placed on approach play with each green - many of which are raised - holding a variety of pin positions that can affect strategy.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)