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Stars seek Golf Champions crown in SA
Colin Montgomerie, Louis Oosthuizen, Matteo Manassero and Tom Lewis are the latest stars to confirm their entry into the European Tour’s first-ever true ‘tournament of champions’ event, the Volvo Golf Champions, at The Links at Fancourt from 19-22 January.
They join defending champion Paul Casey, 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, two-time Major winner Retief Goosen, and three-time winner on the 2011 European Tour Thomas Bjørn in competing for a €350 000 (Approx R3.5million) first prize and a prize fund of €2million (Approx R20million).
Oosthuizen, winner of the 2010 Open Championship, joins a strong home challenge alongside fellow Major winners Goosen and Schwartzel. The South African trio have won six European Tour events on home soil and will each be hoping to add the Volvo Golf Champions title to their CVs.
Local hero Oosthuizen, whose home course of Mossel Bay Golf Club is only 40km from Fancourt, is very much looking forward to the 2012 Volvo Golf Champions, commenting, “It’s a real honour to have the event in the Western Cape and of course all the South African boys will be going all out to win it,” says the man whose career was aided by being part of the Fancourt-based Ernie Els Foundation, adding, “If I were to win the Volvo Golf Champions, it would be the closest I had won to home.”
There is already a delightful mix of experience and exuberance in the field with, for example, forty-something Montgomerie boasting 32 European Tour titles while 18-year-old phenomenon Manassero has already notched up two wins since turning professional last year, and 20-year old Lewis burst on to the Tour winning in only his third event as a professional at the Portugal Masters last month.
Montgomerie, an eight-time winner of the European Tour’s Order of Merit, commented, “I have had a disappointing year on the golf course and so I am hoping for a strong start to my 2012 season at the Volvo Golf Champions to set the tone for the rest of the year.”
Reigning champion Casey said, “I had a great time at the inaugural Volvo Golf Champions in January. I liked the added format whereby Darren Clarke and I were paired with one of Volvo’s customers, English amateur Kevin Aherne, for one day and, after a most enjoyable and relaxing round, we won the Volvo Golf Champions Amateur Pro Team Competition, with Darren and I winning Volvo S60s! More importantly I ended the week by claiming the victory.”
He concluded, “I am looking forward to defending my title against a field of 2011 European Tour champions at Fancourt in January. The European Tour is in excellent health with many of our players leading the world rankings and a really exciting crop of young players such as Tom and Matteo coming through who have already posted some very impressive wins on Tour. It is definitely going to be a tough week and a great showcase for European golf.”
The Volvo Golf Champions is an exclusive, limited field event with no cut, open only to European Tour players who have won an event on the previous year’s European Tour International Schedule, the only exception being current Tour Members with more than ten European Tour victories.
An unprecedented gathering of global golfing talent is expected to line up at the world-acclaimed Links at Fancourt, recently voted No 1 course in the country and originally designed by South African golf legend Gary Player.
