As South Africa prepares to host its first LIV Golf event at Steyn City this week, the tournament’s success hinges on its long-term impact on golf development and economic disparities in the region. Picture: MUJAHID SAFODIEN / AFP
Image: MUJAHID SAFODIEN / AFP
As South Africa prepares to host its first-ever LIV Golf event starting at Steyn City on Thursday, there’s more at stake than just the exorbitant winner’s cheque, which will be just under R70m.
The Saudi-funded breakaway tour prides itself on spreading the game, but how this event coming to South Africa will help grow the game in the country remains to be seen.
Already there are clinics for young players scheduled for this week, like the one on Tuesday at Element Golf Academy, which is located at The Club at Steyn City.
However, how the greater development of golf in South Africa will be affected by an isolated event is much less clear.
With the high-profile nature of LIV Golf, it’s not much of a surprise that an exclusive estate like Steyn City was selected as the venue. Steyn City, in fact, is billed as “a city within a city” with the full golf course, 2,000 acres of farmland, and a ‘lagoon’ which is a 300m-long beach-style facility.
Everything about Steyn City is lavish, and it’s a world away from the rest of the country, right outside its borders, like the poverty-stricken Diepsloot informal settlement less than five kilometres from the estate.
It means that the actual golf tournament itself, and who emerges victorious, matters little in the grand scheme.
A true win for this event would be the confirmation that the tournament will be hosted in the country for a number of years and just how it plans to contribute to alleviating some of the economic hardships experienced by the millions of people on the doorstep of Steyn City.
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