{"id":20133,"date":"2013-06-03T21:29:27","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T19:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/glacier-series-to-unearth-next-sunshine-tour-star\/"},"modified":"2013-06-03T21:29:27","modified_gmt":"2013-06-03T19:29:27","slug":"glacier-series-to-unearth-next-sunshine-tour-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/glacier-series-to-unearth-next-sunshine-tour-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Glacier Series to unearth next Sunshine Tour star"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t \"Thomas<\/a><\/p>\n

Thomas Aiken<\/a> is one of the Sunshine Tour<\/a>\u2018s many young stars that honed their games on the strong junior circuit in South Africa. Photo: Luke Walker\/Sunshine Tour<\/p>\n

As a tour that has launched the careers of some of golf\u2019s greatest champions, the Sunshine Tour can rightly proclaim as it does, \u201cIt begins here\u201d.<\/p>\n

And this could well be the case for the careers of any one of the junior golfers who will tee it up in Sunday\u2019s Sunshine Tour-hosted tournament on the Glacier by Sanlam Junior Series at the De Zalze Winelands Golf Estate.<\/p>\n

The ninth tournament on this year\u2019s series brings the popular junior circuit back to the Western Cape<\/a> for the first time since April, and to a golf course that has hosted Sunshine Tour events in the past.<\/p>\n

And the Sunshine Tour\u2019s sponsorship of a tournament on the nationwide series is a direct result of how a strong junior circuit in South Africa has been the foundation upon which the country\u2019s leading players have built their professional careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem that long ago when I was being driven by my parents to junior tournaments all over the country, playing against Charl (Schwartzel), Louis (Oosthuizen<\/a>) and Richard (Sterne),\u201d Thomas Aiken, winner of seven tournaments on the Sunshine Tour and two on the European Tour, has said of the strength of South Africa\u2019s junior golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat system played such a big part in my success as a golfer. We were very fortunate to have had a great junior programme in place so we could compete against each other on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout competition you can\u2019t improve, and you need that experience under pressure to become a better golfer. Playing in those junior events, we could push each other to the next level.<\/p>\n

\u201ct\u2019s important for our juniors to have a platform like the Glacier Junior Series where they can compete. And it\u2019s vital for our golf so that we can keep producing top golfers on the international stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winners in each of the A, B and C divisions on the series qualify for the national final later this year. The winner here qualifies for an all-expenses paid trip to compete against some of the world\u2019s top juniors in the Orange Bowl Junior Invitational in America.<\/p>\n

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