The defending champion will need to bring his A-game to stave off Americans Vince Biser and Chad Pfeiffer, Spanish stand-out Juan Postigo, Manuel de los Santos from the Dominican Republic and 2014 Nedbank SA Disabled Golf Open champion Josh Williams from Canada, among others.
“Vince won the North American One-Armed Golfer Association Championship a record five times,” he said. “Chad is a two-time US National Amputee Championship winner and has been impressive on the Web.Com Tour.
“Juan has dominated the Spanish disabled golf scene in the last four years and Manuel shot to fame when he teed it up in three Alfred Dunhill Links Championships. He has competed in more than 10 pro events on European, Challenge and Senior Tours and brings a lot of experience.
“Josh is a four-time Canadian Amputee winner and a former US Amputee champion and he loves to compete in South Africa. We have a tough task ahead of us against these guys.”
Slabbert is taking his cue from the world’s top wheelchair tennis ace Stephane Houdet in pursuit of a fifth victory in South African disabled golf’s flagship event.
“I gave Stephane a golf lesson during the SA Open at Ellis Park earlier this month and we chatted about my title defence,” said the 24-year-old Kathu golfer.
“After I completed my PGA Teaching Diploma at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre last year, I started teaching at the Level Par Academy in Pretoria. Between full-time coaching and an injury in February, I haven’t prepared for this year’s event as well as previous years.
