The annual Limpopo Golf Championship, which is sometimes sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, has been postponed to October pending sponsorship negotiations.
This was confirmed by Moses Ngobeni, the CEO of Limpopo Tourism Agency (LTA), which is the custodian of the tournament, who told Sunday World they have a mandate to bring at least a title sponsor for the survival and smooth running of the R2-million prize money competition.
Ngobeni said they have realised that the tournament was not really getting the much-deserved attention due to a number of factors.
“Having the tournament played in April was very frustrating because the pre-planning is done at the time our budget is almost exhausted and waiting for the new budget by the time it’s being played.
“Moreover by April most of the international players are participating in the other international tournaments such as your European and Asian Tours, which offer some huge incentives in terms of the prize money. We therefore decided to have this competition in October because it is a very quiet month,” explained Ngobeni.
He added that they are planning to turn the competition into something similar to the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted in Sun City in the North West.
The Limpopo Championship started in 2019 and has over the past years been held at Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle estate at Mookgophong in Waterberg.
JC Ritchie won the inaugural competition and walked away with a staggering R1.5-million and he successfully defend his title in 2020. The other winners were Brandon Stone (2021), Mateusz Gradecki (2022), Rian van Velzen (2023) and Deon Germishuys (2024)
Over the past five years, this tournament has positioned Limpopo as one of the most sought after destinations for golf enthusiasts, while it contributed to regional economic growth, which benefited the community by contributing towards the tourism sector and the transformation of the gold industry.
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