The South African Open will return to Durban Country Club for the centenary edition of the championship in 2010.
The South African Golf Association and championship promoters Maru Sport made the announcement at Pearl Valley Golf Estates on Sunday, shortly after Scotland´s Richie Ramsay won this year´s title.
The 100th South African Open will be hosted in association with the province of KwaZulu-Natal next December, and returns to Durban Country Club for the 17th time – the most of any golf course in the country.
"We are delighted to be able to take the South African Open back to the one course in this country which has such close ties with the history of this great championship," said Mosire Motsei, the chief executive of Maru Sport.
"In association with the province of KwaZulu-Natal, we look forward to celebrating 100 years of South African golf history in what is not only a significant sporting year for the championship, but for our country as a whole."
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Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate will host the South African Open Championship in 2011 and 2012. The Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at Serengeti is the first 27-hole golf course in Gauteng and was recently named “Best New Golf Course” by Golf Digest.
The 18-hole course called Masai Mara, which means “wide open plains” in the language of the Masai, has a rugged grassland and dune-scape look. One of the unique features on the course is the par-five eighth hole with its island green. The nine-hole course called Whistling Thorn has a more classic feel.
The courses were constructed in accordance with USGA specifications, with cool season grass that provides green vistas all year round. Designed as a strategic and technical masterpiece that will test today’s best players, the sunken design of the course with its wide corridors is ideal for tournament purposes and provides optimal spectator value on almost every hole.
