Garden Route South Africa Accommodation Self Catering South Africa Garden Route Real Estate Hotel Accommodation South Africa
Hotel Garden Route Accommodation Garden Route Real Estate South AfricaHotel Garden Route Accommodation Garden Route Real Estate South AfricaGarden Route South Africa Accommodation Self Catering South Africa Garden Route Real Estate Hotel Accommodation South Africa
Garden Route South Africa Accommodation Self Catering South Africa Garden Route Real Estate Hotel Accommodation South Africa
Article search Article Search
Find Holiday Accommodation in Garden Route, South Africa
Shell Voorbaai Accommodation
Find Real Estate in the Garden Route, South Africa
Tinus Nortje Properties Garden Route
Restaurants in Garden Route, South Africa
De Dekke Restaurant
Advertise here - contact the Gardenroute.com team for more information

Book accommodation online right now for the Garden Route of South Africa
Current Weather in George, Garden Route, South Africa

Goosen Signs For Player Invitational

Previous page 21st November 2008

Retief Goosen hits a tee shot on his way to winning the US Open for the second time in 2004 (Photo: Andy Lyons Getty Images)

Retief Goosen has included the Gary Player Invitational at Fancourt as one of only two tournaments he will play in South Africa this summer. He joins an illustrious field of present and past champions in the pro-celebrity charity tournament.

Inset: Retief Goosen hits a tee shot on his way to winning the US Open for the second time in 2004 (Photo: Andy Lyons Getty Images)

The double US Open champion has added his name to a field which, at this early stage, has confirmed entries from various Sunshine Tour, European Tour, LPGA Tour, and Champions Tour stars, as well as a mix of local and international celebrities.

Rodger Davis, a seven-time winner on the European Tour, who finished second in the 1987 Open Championship and was ranked within the top ten on the world rankings during his career, joins Ronan Rafferty, Peter Mitchell, Costantino Rocca and John Bland amongst the senior campaigners at The Links at Fancourt from 27 November to 30 November.

Female stars
LPGA Tour stars Sally Little, Swede Carin Koch, and up-and-coming Russian star Maria Verchenova represent the legends of the women's game.

Little is a winner of 15 titles including two major Championships, while Koch, a veteran of four Solheim Cup matches, counts four victories to her name. The 22-year-old Verchenova, from Moscow, was the 2004 and 2006 Russian Ladies Amateur champion before she qualified for the Ladies European Tour at the end of 2006.

Amongst the celebrities, football legends Kenny Dalglish and Lucas Radebe and super model and actress Ines Sastre have confirmed their participation in the tournament, which is the final event on this year's Gary Player Invitational series. The series has already travelled to the United Kingdom, United States, and China this year in a quest to raise funds for underprivileged children.

'An honour and a pleasure'
"It is an honour and a pleasure to have been invited to the Gary Player Invitational in South Africa," said Liverpool football legend Dalglish.

"Gary has been an inspiration to many South Africans trying to make their way in life, in either sport or business. I have taken part in a few previous events and coming to one the great courses in the world, The Links at Fancourt, is going to be truly memorable and beneficial to children less fortunate than ourselves.

"It truly is the taking part that counts not the winning."

Player, nicknamed "The Black Knight", has championed charitable work for many years and his Gary Player Invitational has raised over R100-million through The Player Foundation for underprivileged children in all corners of the globe. This year's causes include education, HIV-stricken communities, and childhood obesity.

'A very special year'
Looking ahead to the event at Fancourt, Player said: "This is a very special year for The Player Foundation as we celebrate our 25th anniversary, so we’re delighted to have an impressive list of professional golfers and celebrities join us for the grand finale of the 2008 series of four events.

"We've taken the GPI to four countries around the world this year, and I couldn’t imagine a better place to stage our final event than Fancourt."

Goosen, and fellow South Africans Thomas Aiken and Omar Sandys all enter the event with recent victories under their belts.

Fond memories
The Goose, who will also be playing in the South African Open in December, ended a 21-month win drought with his victory in the Johor Open on the Asian Tour recently. And the South African has fond memories of The Links layout, having beaten Ernie Els coming down the stretch to win the South African Airways Open there in 2005.

"I am looking forward to the Gary Player Invitational," he reckoned. "For one, it is at home for us and, for another, the organisers have managed to find a way to gear the tournament around charity and having a good time.

"The competition is really a by-product of that. I really enjoy the atmosphere and I think it is a wonderful opportunity for us to raise funds for the children who need our support and commitment."

Sunshine Tour stars
Aiken, a regular campaigner on the Sunshine Tour, returned home from the European Tour and won the Platinum Classic towards the end of October. The Johannesburg professional also finished a creditable 131st on the European Tour's Order of Merit.

Sandys, another Sunshine Tour star, has enjoyed very strong results the past two years on the Tour. In 2007 he recorded seven top-10 finishes, including a second place in the Dimension Data Pro-Am on the lucrative summer leg of the Tour, and this year he has added a further four top-10 finishes.

SAinfo reporter Go to SouthAfrica.info

Source:
SouthAfrica.info

Previous page