Sunshine Tour must be part of future LIV Golf SA events

From those on the inner circle – the players, the management of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour and politicians – LIV Golf South Africa was a roaring triumph.

And it’s hard to argue, with 100,000 people through the gates at Steyn City over four days and an estimated R750-million to 800-million economic impact on Gauteng according to SA Tourism, it was a success.

How that number is calculated is not entirely clear, but considering the scope of the event and the number of temporary jobs it created in the hospitality sector alone, the economic impact would have been significant.

The cost of hosting a LIV golf event of this size is about $54-million (R930-million), of which the national government contributed an unconfirmed amount.

LIV’s top two players and two of the world’s best – Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm – finished tied at 26-under, with the former winning the play-off on the first extra hole.

The obvious absentee from the festivities at Steyn City was the Sunshine Tour, the long-standing local federation that supports South African men’s professional golf.

There was undoubtedly some friction between the Sunshine Tour and LIV, but there is no reason that the two entities cannot exist in the South African professional golfing sphere.

Sunshine Tour

It was unfortunate that Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie used his final day media briefing to have a little swipe at the Sunshine Tour over perceived resistance to the LIV Golf event.

The Sunshine Tour does immense work to keep professional golf alive and consistently produces world-class players who eventually shine on the global stage. It deserved better.

“There’s a Chinese saying that says, as a leader, you must constantly look back to see if the people are still following you. LIV Golf, they came here with humility,” McKenzie said.

“The sport of golf does not reach black kids in the township. It does not reach the majority of people in SA. The sport of golf is viewed as an elite sport.

“But if you look at the crowd here and the 100,000 people that came, this was the most diverse crowd for any sporting event.

“As the minister of sport, arts and culture in this country, we are not going to back people to promote golf; we’re going to look for people that’s willing to promote golf. We talk to everyone, but we don’t back no one.

“If they feel it’s about them and it’s not about the sport of golf – what you see here today, you’ve never seen in a golf tournament in SA. Be honest about it; those are great guys. Natey (Selwyn Nathan, the executive director of the Sunshine Tour) is a fantastic guy. I don’t know the other guy so well (CEO Thomas Abt). But I want to work with them.

“If they don’t want to work together, the country comes first. They have tried to stop me from having LIV Golf here, and I said, it’s not about you, it’s about the country.

“That time where certain individuals can think in this country they can say what happens to the detriment of the majority of people, is over. So now you have my answer. We work with those that want to work with us.”

In a call with Daily Maverick, Abt clarified the Sunshine Tour’s position on LIV.

“It (LIV SA) was a hell of an event,” Abt told Daily Maverick. “To see Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm playing in a play-off in SA was absolutely incredible.

“So kudos to them, the event looked really good. But our position through this whole conversation, even with the minister, was one of: ‘We’re in an alliance with the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour. We can’t break that. If we did anything else it would be unfair, unjust, untruthful to our current partners, hence we didn’t engage with the LIV team and its event.’

“We are co-existing with LIV already, in the sense that they’re coming to SA, they are targeting sponsors, partners and the government. LIV created a wonderful event for one week of the year, but the Sunshine Tour must navigate the other 51 weeks of the year for our members.

“Our mandate as an organisation is to create playing opportunities for professional golfers in our country. The Sunshine Tour must create as much prize funding, as many opportunities, and as many pathways as possible. That is our mandate.

“We will meet LIV and the DP World Tour to continue discussions on how we can grow the game in South Africa.”

The Sunshine Tour holds its Tour Championship finale at De Zalze Golf Club this weekend, just a few kilometres down the road from where more than 40,000 fans attended the SA Open in February.

LIV Chief Executive Scott O’Neil took a conciliatory tone to meeting with the Sunshine Tour.

“Our typical relationship when we go into a market is that we come in to complete, not compete,” O’Neil said. “Sometimes it takes a little time, and that’s okay. At the end of the day, the beautiful thing that aligns us with every federation around the world is they wake up looking to grow this game, and so do we.

“So, we will have a relationship (with the Sunshine Tour) I’m sure, and over time it will be one of our strongest partnerships. We work with federations all over the world and we so look forward to working with Thomas (Abt). He’s an outstanding executive. He’s a wonderful advocate for golf, and I’m sure we’ll have a very strong relationship going forward.”

LIV again

It was also confirmed that LIV Golf South Africa will return to Steyn City in 2027 in the slightly later time slot of 22-25 April.

McKenzie was a little overexcited when he declared that next year’s event would see 250,000 people through the gates.

Steyn City Properties CEO Steven Louw, who has probably been inundated with messages from angry residents at the exclusive estate, was alarmed at McKenzie’s promise.

“Minister, we’re going to have to do the sums and see whether 250,000 is possible. We might need a few more bridges and a little bit of infrastructure, but it has been incredible,” Louw said, trying as carefully as possible to backtrack from McKenzie’s overzealous challenge.

The big crowds were generally superb, fully supporting SA’s Southern Guards team, but also enthusiastically getting behind players such as overall winner DeChambeau.

In fact, DeChambeau was probably the most well supported player at the event, and in turn he interacted with fans and embraced the backing of the crowds as well.

From a golf marketing perspective, LIV could not have asked for more.

DeChambeau and LIV’s other major superstar, Rahm, contested a play-off for the individual title.

Seldom do the two best players on a tour go head-to-head for the title. It’s hard to believe but Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, easily the two most successful players on the PGA Tour over the past 30 years, were only once paired in the final group of a major in all that time.

Having LIV’s one and two finishing tied for the lead was golfing manna for LIV.

The fact that the Southern Guards, consisting of local favourites Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Dean Burmester were in contention for the team title until the final hole, also boosted support.

Burmester emerged as the cheerleader-in-chief for the tournament, while backing it up with stellar play on course. The amount of emotional energy “Burmy” expended over the four days could have powered Steyn City for a month.

There was a lot to like about LIV’s South African debut, and it’s almost certain the 2027 tournament will be even bigger.

Hopefully though, it will also feature a Sunshine Tour presence, in some shape or form. DM