Mena Golf Tour hotshot Thriston Lawrence will be seeking to exploit home advantage when he headlines a strong field for the South to East Challenge at Zwartkop Golf Club in Centurion, Pretoria, starting Tuesday.
Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Big Easy Tour, the event, which marks Mena Tour’s first foray into the Rainbow Nation, will see leading players from both tours pit their skills against each other for a share of the R500,000 (Dh121,355) prize fund in addition to earning world ranking points.
Lawrence, a 19-year-old South African prodigy who in 2015 became the youngest to win the Mena Tour’s Order of Merit title, has already racked up two top-5 finishes in three events this season.
The Mpumalanga-born teenager announced his arrival on the big stage by winning the Ras Al Khaimah Classic in November 2015 in a field that featured European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke, patron of the Mena Tour.
The two-time South African amateur champion has been on a roll ever since and will be joined by five other Mena Tour champions, including England’s Lee Corfield, a four-time winner, and an in-form Antonio Costa of Chile, who took the MahaSamutr Masters by six shots at Banyan Golf Club in Hua Hin, Thailand, in May.
Other notables in the 120-player field include Scotland’s Paul Doherty and the English duo of Scott Campbell and Luke Joy. They will be up against a strong Big Easy Tour contingent.
Spearheading the home challenge will be Jason Viljoen, who currently leads the Big Easy Tour Order of Merit after his second-place finish in the recent Big Easy Tour Observatory event.
Thanda Mavundla, Hennie du Plessis, Jeff Inglis and Mark Murless, who featured among the top-five at the Observatory, are also represented in the field, which includes six amateurs, including five from South Africa, and Benjamin David of England. They will test the waters on the professional circuit at Zwartkop Golf Club.
The South to East Challenge will be decides over 54 holes of stroke play with leading 50 professionals and ties making into the final round after the cut which will be made after Round 2.
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