The 2005 dunhill championship will be held at the spectacular Leopard Creek Golf Course in Mpumalanga in December 2004, the last date on The 2005 European Tour International Schedule and Southern Africa PGA Tour before the Christmas break.
Moving from its traditional January date, the dunhill championship will now be played from the December 9-12, 2004, one week after the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City.
Southern Africa PGA Tour Commissioner Johan Immelman was excited at what the change of date and venue would mean for the tournament.
“Moving the dunhill championship to December will hopefully attract our Members deployed overseas to compete,” said Immelman. “It also adds incentive for the players in that it becomes their last opportunity to earn world-ranking points for the year.”
Leopard Creek Golf Course, rated this year by Golf Digest SA magazine as the second best in the country, is situated near the Malelane gate on the southern border of South Africa’’s largest game park, the Kruger National Park.
“The new home of the dunhill championship, Leopard Creek, is a terrific venue and a proven tournament host for the Southern Africa PGA Tour, having hosted the Tour Championship three times in the past,” added Immelman. “It also offers the players and their traveling partners a unique experience to play on a world-class golf course in the heart of the African bushveld.”
Wilhelm Landman, Managing Director of Alfred Dunhill Limited in South Africa confirmed that the luxury goods brand dunhill and Leopard Creek are a perfect fit in terms of positioning and brand values. Leopard Creek was conceived and developed by top South African businessman Johann Rupert and designed by one of the country’’s all-time greats, Gary Player. It has quickly built a reputation as one of South Africa’’s leading golf courses since its opening in 1996.
Dunhill's relationship with Houghton dates back to 1995, when it was the presenting sponsor of the Alfred Dunhill Challenge, a team match between professional golfers of Southern Africa and Australasia.
“On behalf of our board and members, and particularly dunhill, our title sponsor, I would like to thank Houghton Golf Club for being a first-rate host to Sunshine Tour events for the past ten years. They have done a magnificent job of it,” said Immelman.
The dunhill championship has provided innumerable thrilling moments in recent years, particularly in the dying moments. In 2004, for the second successive year, the title was decided in a sudden-death playoff, with Germany’’s Marcel Siem holding off French duo Raphael Jacquelin and Gregory Havret for his first European Tour title.
Siem is not the only star to have risen at the dunhill championship. It has also been the springboard for two young superstars in recent years; 2001 was the debut European Tour win for Australian Adam Scott, while 2002 was the turn of SA-born Englishman Justin Rose.
South Africa’’s own superstar in the making, 24-year-old Trevor Immelman, came agonizingly close to a victory himself in 2003, just seven days after lifting his first of two successive South African Airways Open titles at Erinvale.
Prize money for the 2005 dunhill championship will be £500 000.
