DP World Tour: Two South African events removed from schedule due to Covid-19 travel restrictions
Joburg Open to be completed as scheduled, despite over 20 player withdrawals in order to attempt safe passage home; SA Open Championship to be Sunshine Tour-only event, with next month's Alfred Dunhill Championship cancelled
By Ali Stafford
Last Updated: 26/11/21 5:06pm
The Joburg Open will be the final DP World Tour event of 2021 due to Covid-19 travel restrictions being imposed on travel into South Africa.
The tournament was due to be the first of three consecutive South African-based events to start the DP World Tour season, also co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour, only for changes to be made because of concerns surrounding a new Covid-19 variant in the country.
The event at Randpark Golf Club will be completed as scheduled, despite over 20 players withdrawing during the first two rounds to try and return home before the travel restrictions were imposed. The next two events have been removed from the DP World Tour schedule.
Next week's South African Open Championship, taking place at Gary Player Country Club at Sun City, will now only be a Sunshine Tour event and take place with a limited prize fund of $500,000.
The Alfred Dunhill Championship, scheduled to be played at Leopard Creek Country Club from December 9-12, has been cancelled due to the impact of the travel restrictions imposed.
South Africa was one of six countries added to the UK's travel red list due to rising cases of the new variant, active from midday Friday, with Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini and Zimbabwe also included.
Direct flights are currently suspended until Sunday morning, when any new arrivals in the UK from the affected area will be required to quarantine in hotels. France and Italy are among the other nations to limit travel to and from the six African nations.
The next scheduled DP World Tour event is now not until the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship from January 20-23, with the Tour next due to return to South Africa for back-to-back tournaments in mid-March.
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