The Dimension Data Pro-Am is one of the most prestigious events on the Sunshine Tour calendar, one won by Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman in a four-year run of world-class champions at the beginning of the century.

As times changed it lost much of its international appeal, despite the odd overseas flourish including Open champion Paul Lawrie's winning visit in 2017, and it's taken on a new kind of meaning since the Challenge Tour came along to co-sanction it back in 2020.

Rather than being the destination it is now part of the journey for Sunshine Tour players in particular, who as I've written over the last two weeks have this golden opportunity to progress in their careers. So far, with winners from Wales and, gallingly, from Sweden, they have largely failed to take advantage.

That opportunity remains, but there is a complicating factor in this event in particular, one exacerbated this year by a brief pause in the DP World Tour schedule: the presence of a handful of players who are dropping down in grade, including one who arrives from the latest LIV Golf event in Las Vegas where he earned another $200,000 or so as one of the travelling reserves, about four times the money for finishing first here.

My feelings on the entry list are mixed and that's not just to do with LAURIE CANTER, able to play free from the financial pressures many at this level face having earned almost $6million in LIV prize money alone over the past couple of years.

To a lesser extent the same applies to those coming from the European Tour and while they've all earned their right to be here, it's likely their presence has a material impact on the outcome of the tournament and ultimately takes away a lot of what is meant to be up for grabs, as well as denying some players the chance to even tee off.

One look at the list of winners since this event became co-sanctioned underlines the point.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout won in 2020, soon after he'd lost a play-off for the lucrative Dubai Desert Classic. In 2021, Wilco Nienaber captured his first pro title while he had conditional DP World Tour status and would go on to play with some success on the PGA Tour that summer. Last year, Oliver Bekker dominated at a time when he was flying high on the Race to Dubai.

Only Alexander Knappe has managed to fend off those class-dropping class acts and that was with some help, as tournament favourite Dean Burmester hit his very first shot out of bounds, made a triple-bogey seven, and went on to lose by one. We really ought to be looking at four renewals and four champions who were neither Sunshine nor Challenge Tour members by the strictest definition.

They're not only the better players, but their careers are unlikely to change much if at all with victory. They can play with freedom, a luxury most do not have, and that is a potentially significant advantage.

There's no doubt at all that Canter and Zander Lombard are the two standout golfers in this field. Canter has finished 15th and 21st in two LIV Golf events after an admittedly lacklustre start to the year on the DP World Tour, where Lombard is one of the best players yet to have won. He's contended to some degree in all five starts so far in 2024 and is up to a career-high 100th in the world.