Charles in S. Africa

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 96

Charles in S. Africa

NZPA-AP , Johannesburg, South Africa

Eight of the world’s top senior golfers, including black American Lee Elder, tee off today in a 5U5250.000 ($NZ405,646) tournament sponsored by South Africa’s largest bank.

All eight competitors are among the leading money-winners on the United States senior tour, including South Africans

Gary Player and Harold Henning. The rest of the field includes Bob Charles, of New Zealand, Bruce Devlin, of Australia, and four Americans — Elder, Dave Hill, Bobby Nichols and Orville Moody. The purse for the three-day, 54-hole First National Bank Seniors Classic exceeds all other golf purses In South Africa except for the Million Dollar Challenge,

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another eight-man event held annually at the Sun City casino resort. The seniors classic will be held at the Randpark Golf Course in Randburg, a Johannesburg suburb. Elder, who last came to South Africa in 1971, said he had encountered no pressure from antiapartheid groups to stay away. “There appears to be a lot less antl-South African feeling now than in 1971,” he said.