influencer A true
Credit Johann Rupert for helping bring PGA Tour and PIF leaders together BY JOHN HUGGAN
took on a unique significance this year. He is one of the few men in the world who could have convinced PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and the man in charge of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, to play golf together at a time when the state of the professional game is at a crossroads. “Johann is so well-connected,” said DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings. “This is a man who speaks regularly to presidents. He and Nelson Mandela were close. He was a great friend of (the late former R&A secretary) Sir Michael Bonallack. He was close to the founder of IMG, Mark McCormack and (Australian entrepreneur) Kerry Packer. Yet he is loved by the caddies on tour. He knows people at every level of the game. He understands business
briefest of introductions to a man who has made an almost incalculable contribution to the DP World Tour (he is an honorary vice president), his homeland (where he is chairman of the Sunshine Tour), and golf, in general. Developer of Leopard Creek Country Club, which will again be hosting the Alfred Dunhill Championship from December 12-15, Rupert is reportedly worth around $12 billion. The 74-year- old is also the ultimate golf nut, one whose beneficence commendably knows few bounds. He is not to be messed with either. In 2005, when a magazine described Afrikaans as an “ugly language,” Rupert withdrew all advertising for his various company brands, including Alfred Dunhill. Rupert’s role as tournament host in St Andrews of the Links Championship
AT EVERY EDITION of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, biographies of the star-studded amateur lineup are distributed. Most of the summaries are but a paragraph in length, briefly highlighting the various achievements of those prominent in the worlds of sport and business. Johann Rupert’s is the shortest of all, though. The driving force behind this 23-year-old event, the South African is identified only as “Chairman of Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group.” That, of course, only serves as the
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 23
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
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