It has drawn a strong field including four South African Open champions andthe young stars who are locked in a battle for the Rookie of the Year title.

The Players Championship is the penultimate tournament of the SunshineTour’s current season. The 72-hole tournament, which tees off at Dainfern on Thursday, will have reigning Investec South African Open champion Thriston Lawrencein the field as well as former national Open winners Brandon Stone, Hennie Otto and Daniel van Tonder.

Lawrence alsoleads a stellar threeball for the first two rounds of this event includingrising Sunshine Tour stars Casey Jarvis and Martin Vorster.

Both Jarvis andVorster have been in impressive form this season and have been battling it outfor Rookie of the Year honours. It’s a race that Jarvis is currently leadingfollowing his strong recent performances of tied ninth in the Dimension DataPro-Am and second in the SDC Open. Vorster remains his nearest challenger insecond place, with Ryan van Velzen in third place after breaking through withhis maiden Sunshine Tour title in the Limpopo Championship.

There is also atantalising mix of players in good form at present who will be in action at Dainfern.

Luca Filippiheads into this week off the back of a tied second-place finish in the Limpopo Championship. Franklin Manchest achieved his highest finish on the SunshineTour in the same event with a tie for 10th. Hennie O’Kennedy hasfinished in the top 20 in five of his last seven tournaments, including thirdin the Dimension Data Pro-Am. And Yurav Premall has made a solid start to hisSunshine Tour career with finishes of tied ninth in the Dimension Data Pro-Amand tied fifth in March’s Mediclinic Invitational.