Professional golfers who received sponsored invitations from the City of Joburg to compete in the elite Joburg Open 2022 proved their mettle in the final round of the tournament. The Joburg Open 2022 successfully concluded with two of the sponsor invitees making it to the half cut with excellent gameplay throughout the tournament. The Joburg Open 2022 ended on Sunday, 27 November 2022, with a former sponsor invitee, Heinrich Bruiners (35) securing a sixth spot on the leaderboard.

At the same time, the City’s sponsorship invitees for this year’s edition have delivered an impeccable performance.

Nikhil Rama (21), one of the City’s sponsored invitee, produced an excellent performance that sealed him a 33rd spot on the leaderboard.

He says this has been a remarkable and yet challenging tournament.

“It has a very difficult game, the greens surrounding the course are quite challenging, the slopes and hills are sloppy which put me under a lot of pressure.

Despite having a difficult start I did not hold back, being on the leaderboard is what kept me consistent.”

Started as an amateur with eight years in golf, Rama encourages amateur golfers not to give up.

“In golf, you just have to believe in yourself, be patient with your progress and persevere. Allow yourself to be a beginner, no one starts at the top.”

Jordan Duminy (20), who turned professional earlier this year, was the final South African golfer to make the cut at 75th spot. The young golfer has many reasons to celebrate his excellence in golf this year, from turning pro to earning a sponsor invitee to participate with professional golfers across the world.

Duminy says he found the competition to challenging. “I am happy to have experienced this opportunity, happy with my journey and hoping to do better headway.”

The City also extended its sponsor invite to golfer Siyanda Mwandla and Madalitso Muthiya, who played in the first and second rounds.

Bongi Mokaba, the City’s Director of Events Management, is pleased with the outstanding performance of the sponsored invitees.

She says sponsoring aspiring golfers goes a long way towards growing South African golf while exposing them to the pressure of playing with professionals.

“When we started the Joburg Open, it was with the vision of it being a tournament that creates opportunities for the golfing fraternity and changing live s of people of color.

In this year’s tournament, we are happy with how the sponsor invitees have finished.

This achievement will not only open up more opportunities for them but also be beneficial to the positioning of our programme.

“I take pride in the City providing young players with a once-in-lifetime opportunity to gain international exposure,” Mokaba said.

Written by Getrude Mamabolo

28/11/2022​