By Michael Vlismas
The Vodacom Origins of Golf, South African professional golf’s longest running consecutive series of pro-am tournaments tees off its 2025 edition this week at Parys Golf & Country Estate on Friday.
The first of four tournaments features combined fields of Sunshine Tour and Sunshine Ladies Tour professionals competing for the same share of a total of R8 million in prize money.
this event in Kathu last year. Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour
The series features professionals and a VIP selection of Vodacom customers and after Parys will travel to the Gowrie Farm Lodge & Golf Course, and to the Devonvale Golf & Wine Estate in September, before heading to the Pezula Championship Course for the Final in November.
The most iconic pro-am series on the Sunshine Tour, which dates back to 2004, has drawn a quality professional field for its opening tournament of 2025. The 36-hole pro-am tournament is played on Wednesday and Thursday where the amateurs will compete for a place in the Final. The 54-hole professional tournament is played from Friday to Sunday.
Yurav Premlall is the Free State/Northern Cape regional defending champion after winning this event in Kathu last year. He joins a a field that includes eight of the current top 10 on the Sunshine Tour’s Courier Guy Order of Merit, and the top three emerging talents on the Fortress Rookie of the Year standings.
It’s a quality field of young stars, proven winners, and several golfers who are hitting form at the moment.
Mexico’s Luis Carrera heads to Parys looking for his third victory this year after dominating with back-to-back wins in the first two tournaments of the season.
South Africa’s Samuel Simpson has also emerged a new talent with his win in the Mopani Zambia Open this year, and heads to Parys having finished in the top 15 in four of his five tournaments this season.
The experienced Pieter Moolman is looking to build on his runner-up finish in eSwatini last week, while Herman Loubser is also pushing for a win following back-to-back runners-up finishes in his last two tournaments.
Multiple DP World Tour champion George Coetzee is hunting his sixth title on the Series, while Luca Filippi continues his comeback to the Tour following a long injury layoff.
And Jean Hugo returns as the perennial favourite on the Series and as the winner of a record 12 Vodacom Origins of Golf titles – the latest of which came last year.
The Sunshine Ladies Tour will be represented by nine professionals, including Nadia van der Westhuizen, a winner on the Sunshine Ladies Tour this season.
This year’s Series will also once again feature a golf clinic at each event with the Sunshine Tour professionals and young golfers from the local South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) chapters.
Photo: The Sunshine Ladies Tour will be represented by nine professionals, including Nadia van der Westhuizen. Photo Credit: Sunshine Ladies Tour
Read more at our sister site : kougachronicle.co.za
St Francis Chronicle 