For the first time in the history, two A-Section teams will step into title defence when the 53^rdSouth African Inter-Provincial Championship, sponsored by Tempest, tees off at Rustenburg Golf Club next week.

The Western Province and Boland have shared the unprecedented joint glory for 12 months, but the time has come for a new champion to step up and both teams are determined to go the distance at the SAGA’s flagship team event from 23-27 September.

Click here for the tournament information.

Rustenburg Golf Club has played host to several prominent professional and amateur events, but this year marks the first time that the North West Province golf club welcomes the South Africa’s most prestigious amateur team event.
The 18-hole championship layout will host the 53^rd edition of the South African Inter-Provincial Championship, sponsored by Tempest, from 23-27 September 2013.

Click here for tournament information

South Africa’s leading junior golfers and visitors from nine countries put their talent on display at the end of August during the inaugural Junior Africa Challenge at Zebula Golf Estate and Spa in Bela Bela.

Hosted and presented by S.A. Kids Golf, the international championship drew 80 participants aged between seven and 18 years, who competed in various age divisions. South African Golf Association president Andre Pieterse praised S.A. Kids Golf for their continued commitment to promoting junior golf in South Africa.

All Zander Gous wanted before he shook the sand of Royal St Georges from his spikes, was just one birdie. After two days of negative numbers, the 17-year-old South African junior got his wish at the par-five 14^th in the final round of the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy and a 73 lifted him to a tie for 25^th in the world-class field.

Defending champion Henrik Stenson will spearhead the international challenge in the 103rd South African Open Championship at Glendower Golf Club from 21-24 November 2013.

South African Golf Association president Andre Pieterse welcomed the Swede’s decision.

“As the custodians of the South African Open Championship, we are proud of all our past champions and we welcome Henrik’s decision to come back and defend his title,” Pieterse said. “Our amateurs are always looking for idols to aspire to and Henrik has definitely inspired, not only with his success since last year, but with his grit, determination and work ethic. He has been an exceptional ambassador for our national Open and the game of golf.”

Ji Sun Kang held on to the top 10, but Zander Gous is finding out first hand just why the world’s top professionals also struggled to break par during the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St George’s in Sandwich, England.

The two South Africans are competing in the 13th edition of the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy , where they have had to deal with a tough course, talented opponents and very windy conditions over the first two days of the prestigious invitation-only 54-hole stroke play event.

Ekurhuleni’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout lived up to his star billing when he ascended to the number one spot in the South African Golf Association (SAGA) rankings on Monday.

Reigning Nomads SA Boys and SA Girls champions, Zander Gous and Ji Sun Kang, survived a very cold and windy day at Royal St George’s in Sandwich and were delighted to finish within striking distance of the first round leader at the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy in England on Tuesday.

Leading amateurs Zander Lombard, Gerlou Roux, Callum Mowat and NJ Arnoldi have been tasked to keep South Africa’s unbeaten record alive in the 2013 African Amateur Golf Teams Championship (AAGTC) from 18-25 October in Swaziland.

The local quartet will be gunning for South Africa’s seventh consecutive victory in the biennial tournament at the Royal Swazi Sun Country Club, site of the inaugural championship in 2001.

Reigning Nomads South Africa’s SA Boys and SA Girls champions, Zander Gous and Ji Sun Kang, will join the hunt for glory in the 13th edition of the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy at the Royal St. George Golf Club in Sandwich, England on Tuesday.

Entry into this exclusive 54-hole stroke play event is by invitation only, with spots reserved only for the current holders of Under-18 National Championships or players who have won some major golfing event in the preceding year.

Eight of South Africa’s top amateurs claimed a clean sweep in the Mens and Womens competitions at in the University of St Andrews 600^thAnniversary Invitational in Scotland this weekend.

The University of Pretoria’s HPC Mens side claimed a wire-to-wire victory in the invitation-only quadrangle tournament against St Andrews University, the Scottish Golf Union (SGU) and the Scandinavian School of Golf, while the HPC Womens’ team successfully held on win the Womens Competition.

The eight teams competing in the University of St Andrews 600^th Anniversary Invitational in Scotland were greeted by a brutal North Sea wind on the second day of the invitation-only quadrangle tournament, but the South African had the best handle on the conditions at the Craighead course on Friday to edge ahead at the halfway point.

Zander Lombard and Werner van Niekerk were the only two players to dip into red figures in the first round of the University of St Andrews 600^thAnniversary Invitational in Scotland on Thursday.

The University of Pretoria’s HPC Mens Team will take a seven shot lead over Sweden in the commemorative, invitation-only quadrangle tournament, celebrating the University’s 600^th anniversary.

Four of South Africa’s leading amateurs will be hunting for success at this year’s Spirit International, which tees off at the esteemed Whispering Pines near Trinity in Texas from 30 October to 2 November.

The South African Golf Association’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Louis Taylor will compete for the country’s first success in in this prestigious biennial tournament alongside Womens Golf South Africa’s Kim Williams and Lara Weinstein.

After helping South Africa to a runner-up finish in the Nations Cup, Ekurhuleni’s Kyle McClatchie carried his form to a joint third finish at the seventh Italian International Under-16 Championship on Thursday.

Ekurhuleni’s Kyle McClatchie blasted into the top 10 at the halfway mark of the seventh Italian International Under-16 Championship in Valcarozza, Italy alongside team mates Keegan de Lange and Ross Sinclair from Gauteng North. McClatchie fired a second round one-under-par 72 to vault to joint 10th on six-over-par 152.

Meanwhile De Lange held on to a share of fourth with a 77 and Sinclair moved to joint eighth after carding a 75.

The South African Golf Association launched its redesigned official website on Wednesday 28th August 2013.

The new, user-friendly portal is easy to navigate and offers members and golf fans from South Africa and around the globe effortless access to the latest amateur golf news, tournament information, results, statistics, rankings etc.

Gauteng North’s Keegan de Lange carded a level-par 73 at the Golf Club Biella Le Betulle in Valcarozza, Italy for a three-way share of third while Ross Sinclair from Tshwane is joint 17^th at the Italian International Under-16 Championship after an opening 76. Their combined score of 153 left South Africa five shots off the pace from Norway in the Nations Cup team competition.

South Africa’s top ranked junior Jovan Rebula from Southern Cape, Ekurhuleni’s Kyle McClatchie and Gauteng North golfers Keegan de Lange and Rosswell Sinclair will use today’s practice round at the Golf Club Biella in Italy to become well acquainted with the par-73 championship layout before they tee it up in the seventh Italian International Under-16 Championship this week. The junior quartet will compete in the individual 72-hole competition and the 36-hole Nations Trophy team event, played over the first two rounds of the championship.

In the second instalment of our Back Nine series with South Africa’s top mid-amateur golfers, we talk to South Africa’s number two ranked mid-amateur, Greg Sheard, who busted into the top five of the mid-amateur rankings when he claimed the Volvo South Africa Mid-Amateur Stroke Play Championship in May and has since bolstered his ranking with a second place finish at the Eastern Province Mid-Amateur in June, a tie for seventh at the North West Mid-Amateur Stroke Play in July and his second victory this season at the Pro Shop / Volvo KZN Mid-Amateur Open in August.