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The big incentive to winning the 2026 Investec SA Open is a ticket to the Masters. But it's so much more than that
By BRENDAN BARRATT
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The Women’s Open tees off at Royal Porthcawl
For most professional golfers, winning their national open ranks right up there with the greatest achievements in their golfing careers. It's something kids dream about when they start playing the game seriously, knowing a win in front of their home crowd would see them join an elite selection of homegrown heroes.
In South Africa, one could argue that winning the SA Open ranks about as close to winning a Major championship as a player can get. The great Gary Player did it 13 times, with Ernie Els a five-time champion. Other multiple winners include big names such as Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman , Tim Clark, Mark McNulty and David Frost.
The list of past champions suggests that the number one obstacle to winning an SA Open is getting past the long list of overseas-based local players, who follow Player's example by making a point of returning to our shores to play every year. It also highlights an amazing statistic: that we have produced an astonishing 22 homegrown winners in the last 30 years, including the last seven years straight.
Nobody defends their own turf quite as vigorously as the South Africans, it seems. This year, the event returns to Stellenbosch Golf Club for the first time since David Frost edged Scott Dunlap and Jeev Milkha Singh by a single stroke in 1999. It also marks 30 years since the SA Open was first co-sanctioned between the Sunshine and European (now DP World) Tours. Back then, in 1997, Vijay Singh claimed the SA Open at Glendower, going on to claim the first of his three Major titles a few months later.
Having players like Singh, and more recently Rory McIlroy, playing alongside the South African stars highlights how the co-sanctioned status has lifted the prestige of the third-oldest open golf championship in the world, helping to attract some of the best players from that tour. It's also opened doors for local players to take the next step and play their way onto the bigger tours.
One good week can be career altering, as occurred last year, when Dylan Naidoo (pictured) defeated Laurie Canter in a playoff to win the SA Open.
'It's just been the best day ever,' he commented after a birdie on the first extra hole secured the biggest win of his career. 'I mean, I'm on the DP World Tour. That's outrageous. I'm going to be playing around the world with some of the best players in the world. And I'm playing in The Open. It's a dream.'
This year – not that players need any extra motivation – golfers will have even more to play for at the SA Open. The leading three players, who are not already exempt, will receive invitations to play in The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in July.
And, for the first time, the winner will also receive a precious invite to take part in the 2026 Masters.
With the tournament returning to the Western Cape for the first time since 2009, many are expecting low scoring around the Stellenbosch course, with the layout being rather short by modern standards. However, tournament organisers have vowed to set up the course to challenge the strong field, with narrow fairways and lengthy rough the order of the day. The course will also be reduced to a par of 70.
'I think the pros could find it difficult,' says the Director of Golf at Stellenbosch Golf Club, Louis Destroo. 'It's not the longest course, but we are at sea level and we get a fair bit of wind. With the wind, rough and trees, it's already a tough challenge, and when David Frost won the SA Open here back in 1999, his score was only 5-under-par. In fact, there were only a few players who finished under par that year.'
As a Stellenbosch Golf Club member, Frost drew on plenty of local knowledge in 1999, and his final round of 68 in windy conditions saw him overturn a four-shot deficit to claim his second national title.
He also benefitted from a slice of good fortune on the final hole, when co-leader Sven Strüver's drive nestled into a fairway divot. The German's approach then found the water guarding the 18th green, handing Frost a win he dreamed about since he played the course as a child.
'My first memories of golf are from this course,' said Frost. 'I had a vision, right from the start of the day, of the crowd sitting in the stands around the 18th green watching me winning the tournament.'
This year, there will be a host of Sunshine Tour professionals who call the club home and are looking to emulate Frost's win. Justin Harding, JJ Senekal, Hennie O'Kennedy, Erhard Lambrechts and Keenan Davidse will all fancy their chances of hoisting the SA Open silverware on their home track, and in front of friends and family.
Like those before them, they will first need to overcome the strong South African challenge, including the likes of former champions Dean Burmester and Branden Grace, Race to Dubai leader Jayden Schaper, defending champion Naidoo and former Masters winner Charl Schwartzel.
As five-time champion Ernie Els put it, 'Of course all wins are special but this means more than most as it is our national championship.'
SHAUN ROY | TYRONE WINFIELD | LUKE WALKER | SUNSHINE TOUR
