The Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club will once again form part of the DP World Tour’s Opening Swing for the new season. The tournament dates were officially confirmed for mid-December this year.
It is now merely two months before one of the biggest golf tournaments on the African continent hits the shores of the Crocodile River once again. The DP World Tour has confirmed the first five tournaments that make up the Opening Swing of the 2025 season, all five taking place in the southern hemisphere over four weeks in November and December.
The Alfred Dunhill Championship will be the penultimate tournament on the Opening Swing. The dates were confirmed to be December 12 to 15. It will boast a prize purse of €1.5m (about R29m) when golfers from around the world descend upon the border of the Kruger National Park for the 18th edition at Leopard Creek and the 24th overall.
Louis Oosthuizen was the champion at last year’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, beating fellow South African Charl Schwartzel by two strokes.
Before the DP World Tour reaches the Lowveld, the 2025 Race to Dubai season will tee off with the BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane from November 21 to 24. It will be followed by the ISPS Handa Australian Open at Kingston Heath Golf Club and Victoria Golf Club in Melbourne from November 28 to December 1.
From the land down under, the DP World Tour will move to South Africa for the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which takes place at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City from December 5 to 8, and will make its debut on the Opening Swing this year.
Thereafter, the competition will head to Malalane, and then the Opening Swing will wrap up in Mauritius with the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at Mont Choisy Le Golf from December 19 to 22.
The Opening Swing is one of five global swings on the 2025 Race to Dubai, each one rewarding its individual champion with exemptions into some of the biggest tournaments on the tour as well as extra prize money incentives.
What makes the Opening Swing all the more special for South African golfers is that two of the five tournaments are co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour.
“We are extremely proud of and grateful for our longstanding strategic alliance with the DP World Tour and look forward to being part of this Opening Swing,” said Thomas Abt, commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.
“The strength of the alliance we have with the DP World Tour is showcased through these Global Swings, which create a pathway for our South African professionals to compete successfully on home fairways and possibly open up doors to even greater opportunities globally.”
