Wentworth Club

Callaway Golf and The Player Foundation Donate over 3000 Golf Balls to the SAGDB

“Give us the equipment; we will do the rest,” says South African Golf Development Board members…

Ruben Raubenheimer does not own a fancy set of golf clubs. Riaan Beukes does not retain membership in a swanky country club, but there is one goal these two teenagers share and that is a clear vision for future.

“I want to be a professional golfer; I want to be one of the best in the world,” said 11-year-old Riaan, who plays off a tidy 14-handicap and lives for the day he can tee it up at the Majors like Trevor Immelman or Tiger Woods.

Thirteen-year-old Raubenheimer, an 18-handicapper, agreed. “I want to turn professional one day. Mr Gary Player always says that the harder you practice, the luckier you get. He won over 160 professional tournaments and he won nine Majors on the PGA Tour.

“That’s why I put the time in… why I practice so hard. If you have a goal, you have to work hard at it.”

“Annika Sorenstam and Ashleigh Simon are my idols,” said Sheneez Williams, an 11-year-old scholar from the Methodist Primary School in Somerset West. “I know I’m still a 27 handicap, but three years ago I didn’t even play golf. By the time I finish school, I will be scratch and then I want to play professional golf.”

To these teenagers anything is possible and their dreams were given a nudge in the right direction with a collaboration between the South African Golf Development Board, Black Knight International and Callaway South Africa recently.

The three aspirant golfers were among the 20 recipients of the Western Cape chapter to take receipt of more than 3,000 golf balls donated by Callaway SA through the Gary Player Invitational charity event presented by Coca-Cola and staged at Fancourt last year.

brief description “We have a long tradition in expanding our support to golf development,” said Mike Serrao, marketing and sales director of Callaway Golf South Africa.

“It gives us great pleasure to work in partnership with the Gary Player Foundation to make this sizable donation to the South African Golf Development Board.”

The Gary Player Invitational aims to raise funds to provide quality education for underprivileged children and strengthen impoverished communities plagued by AIDS, crime and family breakdown.

“This donation from Callaway Golf South Africa, with whom I have had a long association, will assist the SAGDB in their work teaching children from previously disadvantaged communities to play golf,” said Gary Player.

”But more importantly, it will enable them to continue with an even more important task, teaching our children the core fundamental values such as honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confident, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgement through the game of golf.”

Through the four Gary Player Invitational event – in the USA, United Kingdom, China and South Africa – The Player Foundation has raised more than R100-million for underprivileged children in all corners of the globe, and this year the causes include education, HIV-stricken communities, and childhood obesity.

“We aim to impact the lives of young people, either by raising funds for development or by providing learning facilities and educational programs that promote character development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf,” said Marc Player, CEO, Black Knight International.

Ken Viljoen, managing director of the SADGB, thanked Black Knight International and Callaway Golf South Africa for the donation, saying that it was very encouraging to see both parties do so much to assist golf development in South Africa.

The 2009 Gary Player Invitational, presented by Coca-Cola, will be held at The Links at Fancourt from 27 to 29 November 2009.

For more information on the South African Golf Development Board please visit www.sagolfboard.org