40 golfers dig deep for cancer charity

A GROUP of 40 amateur golfers from a nine-hole course on the banks of Hartebeespoort Dam have stunned the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) by raising more money in a charity golf day than some of the biggest clubs in the country.

The members of the Sandy Lane Golf Club just outside Pretoria managed to raise R16 385 in their Sanlam Cancer Challenge golf day held this month. That stands as the second biggest total raised by a single club this year since this charity series teed off in March. The Free State’s Clocolan Golf Club still tops the leaderboard with its R18 000 raised.

“We are extremely humbled by the support we received from the Sanlam Cancer Challenge and the South African golf community. South Africa’s golfers are some of our strongest allies and supporters in the fight against cancer. It takes so much work to arrange the hundreds of club competitions around the country, and we are honoured to have Sanlam and the golfers support us in such a committed fashion,” said Sue Janse van Rensburg, CEO of CANSA.

The money raised by the golf clubs as part of the nationwide Sanlam Cancer Challenge makes a significant contribution to the roughly R6 million CANSA spends on cancer research annually. Every year the Sanlam Cancer Challenge contributes half of this amount in money raised.

Sandy Lane Golf Club managed to out-perform its more famous neighbour, Pecanwood Golf Estate, with its contribution this year, with the latter raising R11 830.

“We only had 40 golfers there on the day, but they were just such an amazing group of people,” said Sanlam financial advisor, Anthony Creamer.

“The Sanlam Cancer Challenge features about 800 club competitions from March through to July, followed by regional competitions to determine the 100 golfers who qualify for the finals at the Gary Player Country Club and Lost City Golf Course at Sun City from October 20 to 21.

To register for the club competitions, please go to www.sanlamcancerchallenge.co.za.