Rwanda Commercial Bank (BCR) has promised to come to Emmanuel Ruterana’s rescue once they have full details about the Sunshine tour; South Africa’s top men’s professional golf tour. Since turning pro last February, Ruterana has played in over eight tournaments within the region and now deems it necessary to ply his skills in the Sunshine tour; Africa’s most coveted golf tour. “I have faired well in the region and want to improve my game by taking part in the sunshine tour. It is a high profile tour with a number of world class players,” the 26-year-old explained. The commercial bank took on the professional golfer last February on a one year contract estimated at Frw2 million. “We are in touch with Ruterana and very much aware of the Sunshine tour but we don’t have full details about the tour yet. “Once we have the details, we shall talk to the Kigali Golf Club captain and see how best we can help,” BCR’s marketing manager Hannington Namara stated in a telephone interview yesterday. According to the tour rules and regulations, for a player to be officially incorporated into the tour, he has to part with a membership fee of $650 (about Frw351.000). Johannesburg Open, International Final Qualifier (The Open), Dimension Data Pro-Am and Nashua Masters are all listed for January and Ruterana could take part in any one of them. Although the sunshine tour offers much less prize money, it is one of the six leading men’s tours on the PGA Tours. The South African Open, the Dunhill Championship, and the Johannesburg Open are co-sanctioned with the European Tour and stand out as the three leading official money events. However, overall, the Nedbank Golf Challenge is the richest golf tournament despite not being recognized on the world tour. Ends
