The defending champion is not even in the mix to retain the title. That’s how competitive the field has been at the Stellenbosch Golf Club this week. The 2025 Investec South African Open Championship champion, Dylan Naidoo, crashed out of the event after missing the cut by a few strokes. Instead, it is Francesco Laporta who has been leading the charge to try and claim his first DP World Tour win on Sunday.
But what more will he get along with the South African Open Championship trophy? Let’s look at the prize money the champion and everyone else who made the cut will pocket this weekend.
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Investec South African Open Championship 2026 purse breakdown
The 2026 Investec South African Open Championship is the 115th edition of the tournament. It was first played in 1903 and was won by Laurie Waters at Port Elizabeth. Back then, the prize money for the tournament wouldn’t have been much. Even in 1997, when Vijay Singh won the tournament, the tournament had a prize money of only $530,000.
Notably, the 2025 Investec South African Open Championship was played for $1.5 million. The prize money for the event is the same this year as well, according to the Golf Digest Middle East. Hence, the winner will also take home $255,000, just like Dylan Naidoo did a year ago. Additionally, everyone in the top-6 will get at least a $50,000 paycheck if there aren’t any ties. Here’s the complete breakdown of the $1.5 million prize money:
The final prize money might differ based on any ties or how many pros make the cut. But it should remain relatively the same.
That said, let’s take a look at the leaderboard.
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Who’s in pole position to win the South African Open Championship?
After two rounds of action, Francesco Laporta has put himself in an advantageous position to win the title. The Italian pro shot a 4-under in the first round and followed that up with a 6-under par on Friday to finish with a -10. He leads the field by 1 stroke and has remained consistent across 36 holes.
Like Laporta, Nathan Kimsey has also not won a DP World Tour title yet. And he is also hungry for his first European win, sitting close to the top of the leaderboard. He is one stroke behind the Italian national after managing nearly identical rounds to him. The only thing Kimsey did better was that he had a flawless round on Friday.
Another interesting player in contention is LIV Golf pro and local boy, Dean Burmester. With home soil advantage playing to his favor, he will be happy finishing two rounds two strokes behind the leader. Unlike the two contenders above him, Burmester also has experience winning on the DP World Tour four times in the past. One of them was the Investec South African Open Championship in 2023. That will also give him a huge mental edge against his opponents.
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