The Governing Board of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) has approved the elevation of the BMW SA Open Championship hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni to the status of Flagship Tournament on the Sunshine Tour in place of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
Until last season, the Alfred Dunhill Championship had been the Flagship Tournament on the local circuit, but when it was discontinued last season, the second oldest open championship in the world was then elevated to that status with immediate effect.
This means 32 OWGR points will be allocated to the winner of this event and this is significant because currently a ranking in the World Top 50 grants automatic entry to all majors and World Golf Championships. Therefore, a winner of this event, provided he was ranked considerably higher on the OWGR, gets an opportunity to compete in global golf’s most prestigious events.
This comes after the announcement that from 2018, the Sunshine Big Easy Tour tournaments will be scheduled over a minimum of 54 holes with a 36-hole cut, and thus fulfilling the requirements for inclusion in the OWGR.
