The Sunshine Tour have announced a groundbreaking deal with pay-channel SuperSport ahead of the restart of the 2021 golf season.
The Sunshine Tour and Sunshine Ladies Tour was scheduled to get underway in February, but was postponed to March following the rise of Covid-19 cases in South Africa.
On Monday, SuperSport announced that they will provide live coverage - for a minimum of two rounds and three hours daily - and highlights packages of the upcoming Sunshine Tour season.
SuperSport also revealed that they will broadcast the South African Women's Open on the Sunshine Ladies Tour in May.
"The broadcast partnership also includes daily tournament inserts that will showcase the professionals on the Sunshine Tour and Sunshine Ladies Tour, giving fans a world-class offering of South African professional golf at a time when physical attendance of tournaments is still not allowed under the coronavirus health regulations," read SuperSport's statement.
The 2021 golf season will kick off in South Africa schedule with the new Kit Kat Group Pro-Am, which was rescheduled to 5-7 March.
A new tournament called the Serengeti Invitational was added to the calendar on 24-28 March at Serengeti Estates.
This will be followed by the three Challenge Tour co-sanctioned tournaments: Limpopo Championship, Cape Town Open and Dimension Data Pro-Am.
"We are delighted to announce the growth of this partnership with SuperSport into this next phase, which is going to significantly enhance our product and bring golf fans everything they could ever want in terms of live tournament coverage, highlights and more from the Sunshine Tour and Sunshine Ladies Tour," said Sunshine Tour commissioner.
"Although this is an enhanced broadcast partnership, it is a partnership with an already longstanding supporter of South African professional golf and the Sunshine Tour. SuperSport has always been unwavering in its support of the Tour, and this is a partnership that has been deeply developed over the years by our Executive Director Selwyn Nathan, which has given us this platform upon which we can now build into new and exciting broadcast options.
"SuperSport shares our vision to enhance the entertainment value of our brand and give fans a greater insight into the lives of our professionals and we’re very pleased to be able to work with them towards achieving this goal."
Marc Jury, CEO of SuperSport, said they were equally excited about the further development of this partnership and the chance to expand their coverage of local professional golf.
"Golf has always been an important and valued market for SuperSport, and this partnership continues our commitment to South African sport. Through our innovative content offerings, we'll be able to showcase the incredible talent the Sunshine Tour and Sunshine Ladies Tour produces, and keep telling the story of their ongoing success."
The Sunshine Ladies Tour is set to commence from 7-9 April with the Cape Town Ladies Open at Royal Cape Golf Club.
Sunshine Tour schedule
5-7 March - Kit Kat Group Pro-Am, Royal JHB and Kensington GC
11-14 March - Players Championship, Dainfern Country Club
18-21 March - Gauteng Championship, Ebotse Links
24-28 March - Serengeti Invitational, Serengeti Estates
22-25 April - Limpopo Championship, Euphoria Golf & Lifestyle Estate*
29 April-2 May- Cape Town Open, Royal Cape Golf Club*
6-9 May - Dimension Data Pro-Am*
*co-Sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour
Sunshine Ladies Tour
13-16 May - South African Women's Open, Westlake Golf Club
