17th September 2008 - Pearl Valley Golf Estates, South Africa: Admission to the South African Open Championship, taking place from 18th to 21st December, will be free, organisers announced today, with plans to make the tournament a celebration of South African golf and a major event of the festive season.

The tournament, to be held at Pearl Valley Golf Estates in the heart of the Cape Winelands, boasts an illustrious field of some of the biggest names in golf, including four of South Africa's own leading golfers.

David Spencer, CEO-Golf, Leisurecorp, the owner of Pearl Valley Golf Estates, announced the free admission at the opening of Pearl Valley's new retail lifestyle experience at Cape Town's V & A Waterfront, stating:

"We intend to make this year's South African Open the greatest golfing tournament the country has ever hosted. In terms of the players, returning champion James Kingston is joined by a trilogy of the greatest South African golfers, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman who will battle to win their home nation's Open. Add to that players such as Justin Rose, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood and young sensation Rory McIlroy, and you can see that we are assembling one of the greatest fields ever seen at a tournament in the southern hemisphere.

"Such a field of players competing at Pearl Valley, one of the most challenging courses in Africa, deserves to be seen by the widest possible audience. That is why we originally created 'Free Ticket Thursday', with admission to Thursday's play free. Now in the spirit of celebrating golf and with the tournament being at the start of the festive season, we have taken the big step to extend this to make admission to every day at this year's South African Open free. Hopefully this step will attract golfers, those new to the game and tourists alike to witness the tournament's best ever international field.

"In short, this year's South African Open at Pearl Valley will be a great spectacle for the widest audience at one of the world's most breathtaking courses".

Alan Rogers, Group CEO, Leisurecorp, officially opened the Experience, in the presence of local governmental authorities, property owners and VIPs. "Pearl Valley Golf Estates is one of South Africa's most stunning golf courses and has the potential to be one of the world's premier golfing destinations. The Pearl Valley Lifestyle Experience has been created to showcase the course and property to the twenty two million visitors who visit the V & A Waterfront each year," he commented.

Visitors to the Pearl Valley Lifestyle Experience, situated opposite the Cape Town Fishmarket, can view and purchase Pearl Valley Golf Estates property, obtain information of Pearl Valley's function facilities, purchase Pearl Valley and South African Open merchandise and golfing apparel, book group tee times and spa treatments, and will now be able to obtain free tickets to the South African Open. The Experience will also be used to promote Pearl Valley's stay and play accommodation packages.

"At the time of purchasing Pearl Valley Golf Estates, we noted that it marked our commitment to South Africa", Alan Rogers continued. "The creation of the Pearl Valley Lifestyle Experience is a further commitment, as is our announcement today of free admission to this year's South African Open."

Alan Rogers added: "For every visitor who obtains free tickets to the South African Open, we will donate R5 to the South African Open Championship charity, the Pebbles Project."

The South African Open 2008 is a key tournament of The Race to Dubai, a new season long event that replaces The European Tour Order of Merit, that has been set up in a partnership between Leisurecorp and The European Tour, and that will culminate in November 2009 with the Dubai World Championship - a US$10,000,000 prize-fund tournament.

Free tickets will also be available from the Pearl Valley Lifestyle Experience at V&A Waterfront from 25th September. Anyone who has already purchased tickets for the South African Open can have the cost of their ticket fully refunded by contacting Maru Sport at 011 444 9400.