Staff WriterLuis Carrera is making the Sunshine Tour look like a one-man show, and the Kit Kat Pro-Am just became his latest stomping ground.
The Mexican sensation etched his name into the tour’s history books on Sunday, becoming the first player to win Qualifying School and then the first two events of the new 2025/26 season—capped off with a jaw-dropping 10-stroke victory at Irene Country Club.
Call it beginner’s luck if you like, but that would be doing a disservice to a young man playing with the poise of a seasoned assassin.
Having blitzed Qualifying School with a final-round 61 back in April, Carrera kicked off his pro campaign by bagging the FBC Zim Open.
Just a week later, he’s run away with the Kit Kat Pro-Am on a record 30-under-par total, closing with a 62 that barely raised an eyebrow considering the tear he’s on.
“It feels amazing. It’s a wonderful feeling. I played some of the best golf I played in my life and I’m happy about that.
The Irene Country Club is a great golf course. I really enjoyed playing here,” Carrera said, his calm belying the carnage he just inflicted on a field full of Sunshine Tour veterans.
Among the casualties were homegrown talents and previous champions—Oliver Bekker, Trevor Fisher Jnr., Jonathan Broomhead, and Gerhard Pepler—all stranded 10 shots back on 20 under par, sharing second place in the wake of Carrera’s clinical decimation.
Let’s not forget Dylan Frittelli. Playing on his old stomping grounds, Frittelli had hometown mojo and two strokes to make up heading into the final round. But the script didn’t play along.
A closing 73 had him tumbling down the leaderboard to a tie for ninth, while Carrera was gliding, seemingly on rails.
With back-to-back titles, one eagle, a flurry of birdies, and just a single dropped shot across 72 holes, Carrera’s rise is more meteor than fairytale.
It also puts the international spotlight squarely on the Sunshine Tour, whose Qualifying School this year saw roughly 60% of the field made up of international players—Carrera chief among them.
The Kit Kat Pro-Am, once a polite stop on the South African golf calendar, has now become the crucible in which one of golf’s brightest young stars was forged. And if this form holds, Carrera may need to check his luggage allowance—there are going to be plenty more trophies to carry home.
Meanwhile, defending champion Kieran Vincent finished on a respectable 18 under par, but in this kind of form, “respectable” is little more than a consolation prize.
The Sunshine Tour has itself a new headliner. His name is Luis Carrera. And if the past two weeks are any indication, he’s just getting started.
