Sunshine Tour tournament director Gary Todd has described the FBC Zim Open as one of the best tournaments on the Tour ahead of this year's edition of the event.
The FBC Zim Open is the first tournament of the Sunshine Tour season and the 2025 edition is set to take place from May 4-11, 2025 at Royal Harare Golf Club.
It is the 13th edition of the Zim Open since its return on the Sunshine Tour in 2010 and South African golfers have dominated the tournament, enjoying a clean sweep of the championship since then.
At least 144 golfers from across the globe are expected to take part in the tournament, including at least 17 local golfers.
“From the Sunshine Tour perspective, this event is certainly way up there in our rankings. We did a survey a few years back and this came in tie with Leopard Creek, which obviously is an iconic golf course in South Africa and one of the co-sanctioned events. This event has grown every single year. Prize money has gone up in this event. So, that obviously compliments the organising committee on all the hard work they do behind the scenes,” Todd said on the sidelines of the launch press conference.
“But from our membership, we could wrap this golf course up (Royal Harare), pack it up and put it in our trucks and take it back to South Africa and play on it week in and week out. It's such a good challenge.
“Just been chatting to Ian (Mathieson, Royal Harare general manager) now about the plan going forward and we've got a month to prepare. So yeah, the whole event itself, how it grew from 13 years ago when we first started to what it is now with hospitality facilities, the public bar facilities. It's more of a social gathering now in Harare, which I think is fantastic.
“Last year, I think the crowds were over 5 000 on the last day. It was massive and the excitement, the roars, just a really, really special place to be as a golf tournament of this nature. So, can't wait to get back really and as our programme director said towards the end, bigger and better this year.
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“So a lot of new young professionals are coming out to Harare, they're in for an eye-opener as I alluded to. We've just had our tour school last, we've got 13 foreigners, Americans, Europeans, South Americans who have qualified to come and play.
“Top-class talent, top-class talent to come in and I've warned them already, I said we come into a golf course that it's not just a smash. So they all said okay, looking forward to the challenge and even our season pros, they love it. They just love the golf course, love the event,” he said.
FBC Holdings Group poured a US$200 000 prize fund into the event which saw the sponsorship increase in Rand terms.
The financial institution has ensured an increase in the prize fund every year since they took up the title sponsorship in 2022.
Diversified investment holding company ZimRe Holdings Limited (ZHL) is the associate sponsor while the anchor sponsors include Huletts, Golden Pilsener, SeedCo and Firstlink Insurance Brokers.
Other partners of the event are Zuva Petroleum, Cimas, Liquid, African Sun, Guard Alert, AMH Media, Rooney's, Lighthouse, Nomads, Speedlink Cargo, and Sahwira Events and Lifestyle.
