HARARE - Ryan Cairns and Micky Hough will have to contend with being the sole Zimbabwe representatives at the BMG Classic golf tournament that tees off at Glendower today in South Africa.

Cairns qualified automatically for the tournament as he already has his Sunshine Tour card while Hough had to go through a pre-qualifying tournament on Wednesday.

Hough carded a four over 76 to win one of the places that was up for grabs at the pre-Q.

Cairns, who is the current leader of the Golden Pilsner Zambezi Tour Order of merit with $12 000, has been drawn to play the first round together with the South African pair of Toto Thimba Jr and Mark Williams.

The trio tee off at 7:30am, hoping to make the cut that will be made after 36 holes with the top 40 placed players going into the final round on Sunday.

Hough has been drawn to play together with Rudy Whitfield and Mathew Carvell. The trio tees off at 8:20am.

Last year’s winner at Glendower, South African James Kamte will have compatriots JG Claassen and Bryce Easton for company in the first round.

Kamte, who holed a 20-foot putt in a playoff against Dawie van der Walt to claim the title last year, will be looking for his first victory on the tour this season.

Another contender for honours this weekend at Glendower, Trevor Fisher Jr, has been drawn with fellow South Africans Shaun Norris and Tyrone Ferreira.

Fisher, a two-time champion after back-to-back victories at the Wild Waters Challenge and Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour in Sishen, views the BMG Classic as one of the most popular events on the schedule.

“Even as the Bearing Man Highveld Classic, the tournament has always been very popular,” told the Sunshine Tour website yesterday.

“The seasoned pros enjoy it because it sets the mood for the summer and has just the right level of challenge to prepare us for the upcoming tournaments. And the rookies and younger players get the chance to test themselves at a challenging layout under the kind of pressure they will face when the bigger tournaments roll around.

“I think it’s a real measure of the status of the BMG Classic on our schedule that all but four of the Sunshine Tour winners this year are in the line-up for Glendower. BMG is one of the longest standing sponsors of the Tour and they have been around for nearly 20 years.

A lot of great golfers own a BMG title.

It’s definitely one I wouldn’t mind owning myself.”