Investec South African Open Championship: Empowering the Papwa Sewgolum Class
Investec incentivise through the allocation of their sponsor’s invitation to a deserving player.
Papwa Sewgolum Class
As title sponsor of the Investec South African Open Championship, Investec is also the Patron of the Papwa Sewgolum Class, for the next three years.
This initiative provides financial and other support to players who turn professional after graduating from the GolfRSA squad and similar programmes. This “bridging support” plugs a gap that exists when the new professionals are no longer eligible for the assistance they enjoyed as amateurs.
The ultimate aim is to ensure that transformation players coming through the SA golf ecosystem are given the opportunity to perform on the professional stage, and continue to match their international peers.
The Class is made up of all Sunshine Tour professionals who are players of colour (male) who earn their cards on the Sunshine Tour.
Approximately 34 professional male golfers of colour will participate in the SAT Transformation Initiatives each year.
“As the official patron, we will work alongside The Sunshine Tour to help close the gap between young talent becoming professional players, ensuring that, when the time comes, each player is suitably equipped to perform on the professional circuit,” said Peta Dixon, Investec’s head of sponsorships
2023-2024 season | Most successful to date
Record number of players in top 100
This season 9 players finished in the top 100 retaining their Sunshine Tour cards. The previous record was 5 players.
Players' earnings on the increase
This season combined player earnings from all the class members was R13 Million. The previous highest was just over R3 Million.
Implemented performance Bonuses
Top achievers finishing inside the top 5 at Sunshine Tour events and top 10 in Challenge Tour and DP World Tour events received an additional payout.