By Michael Vlismas.
File:Darren Fichardt won the inaugural Betway Championship at Killarney Country Club on Friday. Fichardt closed with a 64 to win on three-under-par 207 and by one stroke in the first tournament on the Sunshine Tour’s new Rise-Up Series. Credit: Gallo Images.
Darren Fichardt has been forced to withdraw from this week’s SA Open at Sun City after testing positive for Covid-19.
Fichardt, 46, is currently self-isolating and being given all the necessary support from the Sunshine Tour to ensure his comfort and safety.
The tournament is being played in its normal spot, kickstarting the new season, which was to begin with a run of South Africa events co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour. However, with new travel restrictions around the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the event is now just a Sunshine Tour event.
The field will be playing for a $500,000 million purse, with none of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking among the top contenders.
The event is scheduled to take place at the Gary Player Country Club from 2-5 December.
The 111th playing of the national Open has drawn a field that also includes PGA Tour winner Garrick Higgo; former SA Open champions Brandon Stone, Richard Sterne and James Kingston; multiple DP World Tour champions Dean Burmester, George Coetzee and Justin Harding; rising young South African professionals Jovan Rebula and Martin Vorster; and South Africa’s top-five amateurs led by No 1 Christiaan Maas.