Old Mutual Co-Sponsoring Golf Tournament

January 7 - Continuing its policy to make valuable contributions to community projects, the art and sports, Old Mutual South Africa Insurance company will be co-sponsoring the upcoming Joburg Open golf tournament.

This is the third year that the Joburg Open is being held in South Africa and promises to be bigger and better than all previous years.

And keeping with Old Mutual's goals of providing opportunities to those at the bottom of the ladder, the Director for Events for the City of Joburg, Bongi Mokaba, said that this was the first time the development players would be allowed to participate in what is known as a Sunshine Tour Event.

One of the main objectives of the Joburg Open is to further the development of golf in underprivileged areas in South Africa.

Old Mutual is co-sponsoring the event with the Gauteng Economic Development Agency and Joburg City.

The young development players, Emmanuel Masoliedze and Musolo Nethunzwi, will be teeing off with some of the sports' top ranking professionals including David Frost and Retief Goosen, as well as previous Joburg Open winners such as South Africa's Richard Sterne, who took the title last year, and Argentina's Ariel Canete (2007).

Mokaba pointed out that it was because so many young players were taking part this year that made the event so exciting. "We need everybody in Joburg to come and watch because of the number of young people performing in our own backyard," he said.