Burmester's birdies go towards saving rhinos

Koster - Dean Burmester has joined in the fight to save endangered rhinos in South Africa by adding his weight to the Birdies for Rhinos campaign which was started by a fellow Sunshine Tour professional in February.

The man who leads the Chase to the Investec Cup as the finale gets underway on Wednesday at Millvale Private Retreat has pledged R100 per birdie he makes in all tournaments and R200 for every eagle, with the money raised going to The Castle Lager Mark Boucher Legacy Project. This adds to the project started by Justin Walters during the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt.

“Getting involved in it was a no-brainer for me,” said Burmester.

“Justin has been talking about getting involved with something for quite a while, and with it all coming together with Mark Boucher at Fancourt for him, I’m looking forward to trying to make as many birdies as I can so my son, who’s nearly eight months old now, can grow up and see rhinos. At the rate they’re dying, it’s really a major problem.”

The Birdies for Rhinos campaign forms part of the Sunshine Tour Cares initiative, which has been started by the Tour to give all its members an opportunity to get assistance from the Tour and its media platforms in order to give both what they are doing as individuals as well as the charities or initiatives they are supporting some much-needed exposure and publicity.

Burmester said that he had also designated four tournaments on the Sunshine Tour schedule ‘majors’, and at those, he will donate R500 per birdie and R1 000 for every eagle.

“Those tournaments will be the Alfred Dunhill Championship, the Joburg Open, the Tshwane Open and the Investec Cup,” said Burmester.