Category: Homepage New

Ernie Els is already a winner of 19 PGA Tour titles, including two US Opens and two Open Championships, is enshrined in the World Golf Hall of Fame, and has inspired countless young golfers from his homeland of South Africa through the years.

There was something missing among his many achievements, though, and he readily recognized it. Els, who turns 55 in October, had never won a Major championship among the over-50 set.

“I’m trying to put all the pieces together.”

That day arrived on Sunday at the Kaulig Companies Championship at Firestone Country Club’s South Course in Akron, Ohio. Els countered a regrettable bogey at the par-five 16th hole with two strong closing pars, and his reward was his first Major championship as a senior. Els shot a two-under 68 on Sunday to finish at 10-under 270, edging YE Yang by a shot.

The victory was Els’ sixth on PGA Tour Champions, made Els the first player to get to three victories this season, and catapulted him to No. 1 in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings. Winning the Kaulig Companies title, formerly the Senior Players, also puts Els in the field next March for his 25th career appearance in The Players at TPC Sawgrass.

“This has been a long time coming on this golf course,” Els said at Firestone. “Thirty-two years ago I started playing here … but I never got to win here. So this was really great.”

Els was testing shafts earlier in the week in preparation for next week’s 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland, and he came upon a nice discovery. He shifted the ball a little further back in his stance, and as a result his contact was good throughout the bag all week. Sunday, it was the putter that came through big at pivotal moments. There was a 10-foot save for par at 12, just after a bogey at 10; then, at the par-four 14th, where 54-hole leader Steve Stricker stumbled to a triple bogey, Els poured in a 30-foot curler for birdie to regain his lead.

At the par-four 17th, where Els’ tee shot found a left-side fairway bunker, Els made a brilliant lag putt from the very back of the green to within inches of the cup for an easy par.

Yang, meanwhile, kept on charging with the best round of the day. The winner of the 2009 PGA Championship, where he took down Tiger Woods at Hazeltine, shot four-under 66 despite missing two short putts in his final seven holes. He missed from inside three feet for par at the par-three 12th and from two feet after a great approach at 17 seemed to have set up a tournament-tying birdie.

Yang finished alone in second. Jerry Kelly, a two-time champion at Firestone, overcame a sluggish Sunday start to shoot 69 and finish alone in third at 273, one shot better than KJ Choi (70) and Stricker (73). Stricker, 57, a six-time winner in 2023, started the day leading by one and stretched the lead to two, but he fell out of the tournament with his bogey at 13 and triple bogey at 14. He continues to seek his first victory of 2024, though here’s something for perspective: In 10 starts this season, only once has Stricker finished worse than eighth.

For Els, he now can enjoy the relief that accompanies landing his first senior Major. It mostly was made possible by his 64 at Firestone on Saturday, a round that matched his best effort of the season and was fueled by an eagle two at No. 17, where he dunked an approach from back in the fairway. He started Sunday a shot behind Stricker. It wasn’t as if Els was not giving himself chances in the bigger events; Sunday’s victory was his fourth finish of T8 or better at PGA Tour Champions Majors this season.

In fact, in 18 previous starts in senior Majors heading into the Kaulig Companies, Els had been T5 or better in half of them. At the 16th hole on Sunday, however, he appeared to make a major gaffe. Els had 222 yards to the hole at the water-guarded par five and, with a one-shot lead and pressing to make more birdies, he went for it. But his approach faded weakly right and short, splashing down in the penalty area. He dropped from 87 yards out, hit a poor wedge, and failed to convert the putt for par.

“It was my mistake – I made a bad swing,” Els said of his errant approach. “But as I look it now, I was trying to make birdie, because I saw that YE was at 10 (under). I was trying to really get ahead of him … but then it was kind of a nervy finish at the end.

“We got it done.”

With a little assistance, he did. Els finished the task with his quality two-putt par at 17, and then really stepped up at the finish. The 18th at Firestone’s South Course is a long, tree-lined par four of 464 yards that moves right-to-left. A true, old-school four. Els stood up and smashed a driver on a line that climbed over trees down the left side and faded back into the fairway. One more solid iron from 155 yards left him hole-high to a back hole location, and he made easy work of two putts for par from there, coaxing his first putt just inches short.

Now he is a senior major champion. Having proudly carried so many titles throughout his career, Els had waited a long time to carry that one, and it really might unlock something inside for a guy who, in his words, had yet to hit on all cylinders as a post-50 player.

“Well, I’ve just been watching Steve (Stricker) do it out here the last couple of years, he’s been the man,” Els said. “Him and Bernhard (Langer) and some of the other guys. I like to work at my game still. I’m trying to keep myself healthy where I can swing hard at the ball; it’s kind of fun still.

“It’s just trying to improve. As I say, I came here this week tinkering and then going through the basics of the golf swing and the fundamentals, and I found something. So, really fortunate.”

The difference? The truly good ones never stop searching. Els’ wife, Liezl, and their son, Ben, were there to celebrate the victory off the 18th green. That pretty much sums up Sunday in Akron, Ohio, for big Ernie Els – 19-time Tour winner, four-time Major champion, Presidents Cup player and captain, World Golf Hall of Fame member … and now, at long last, senior major winner. The new title was enough to put a smile on his face he will carry all the way to Royal Troon. – PGA Tour.

The Sunshine Tour’s long-held ambition of making the game of golf accessible to all South Africans gained momentum this past week as the Tour, alongside the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) -Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation , held golf clinics in Ekurhuleni and  Tshwane this past weekend.

Different to other initiatives, this Sunshine Tour and GPG programme is aimed at retaining identified talents with the view of reintegrating them into the South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) which was formed to ensure that the game of golf reached as many young South Africans as possible.

The first of these clinics, facilitated by the Balderstone Sports Institute (BSI), was held at Norkem Park High School in Kempton Park on Saturday while the second was held at Rosina Sedibane Modiba Sports Complex in Laudium, Tshwane on Sunday. Over 80 children – boys and girls – from neighboring areas attended the clinics and they were introduced to the basics of golf under the watchful eyes of teachers from BSI.

“It’s the Tour’s ambition to get as many people involved in the game of golf as possible,” said Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour. “And our partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Government provides us with the perfect platform to achieve this objective. As we all know that Gauteng is the home of champions and a perfect place to unearth more talent.

“We have partnered with BSI on this initiative because of their well-established knowledge base and experience in sports development. The aim is to find kids with real potential, put them through a 10-week programme and those who perform well will then be integrated into the SAGDB structure where their development will be facilitated and accelerated.”

Director of Competitive Sport within the Gauteng Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation department, Philasande Muvevi, echoed Abt’s comments, detailing her department’s vision in this regard.

“As a province, we want to produce more champions and this initiative gives us that opportunity. As you may know, many in our communities still view golf as an elitist sports only accessible to those who are wealthy. We are in the process of changing this perception and proving that golf is accessible to everyone.

“The kids we will select from these groups will continue their development in the 10-week programme we have designed and after that, we will see how far they go. The main thing here is to introduce these kids to the game of golf and see who among them has the potential and the love for the game.

“We are fortunate to have partners like the Sunshine Tour because through their connections with BSI, initiatives like these can have proper impact in the lives of these youngsters. The SAGDB is renowned for its track record in producing quality golfers and administrators and having a structure like that as part of this programme is an advantage because we know these kids will be part of a successful story of development in this country.”

The Balderstone Sports Institute, led by Michael Balderstone, has a rich history of producing fine athletes. Toto Thimba Jnr, a winner on the Sunshine Tour and member of the Papwa Sewgolum Class, is one of the great talents the institution has produced over the years.

Balderstone expressed confidence in the initiative, saying his institution is excited to partner with the Sunshine Tour and the Gauteng Provincial Government in this programme.

“We are delighted to partner with the Sunshine Tour and the department of sports and recreation to bring golf to the people,” Balderstone said. “We have kids who have never played golf before and the excitement in the faces is beautiful to see. We will identify 10 kids here and take them through a programme and see what happens.

“Golf is meant to be enjoyed by everyone and we must applaud the Sunshine Tour and the department for doing the best to make sure golf is accessible. It’s a great sport to play and we are just glad to be part of this programme.”

The kids were taken through their paces; shown how to hold golf clubs properly, taught how to hit balls and given activities to help them with balance and basic ball skills. These, coupled with discipline and patience, are fundamental aspects of playing golf. The programme will be reviewed at the end of the 10-week programme to establish areas which must be improved to make the initiative even more impactful. The Sunshine Tour is Southern Africa’s leading golf Tour which has produced 27 major winners including Ernie Els and Louis Oosthuizen among others.

The tagline for the 2024 Jonsson Workwear Open is “Iron and Grit”. South Africa’s Keenan Davidse has had to show exactly this as he’s worked through an extremely difficult time in his personal life, but ended Thursday’s first round of this tournament a content man both inside and outside the ropes.

Davidse signed for an eight-under-par 64 at Glendower Golf Club to share the lead with Spain’s Ivan Cantero. They are one stroke clear of a strong South African challenge including Thriston Lawrence, Oliver Bekker and Louis de Jager, with the in-form Robin Williams just two shots back.

Davidse was delighted with his start in this Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour co-sanctioned tournament, and spoke with a sense of relief at feeling a balance in his life and game again.

“I’m on a good foot again. We’ve had some personal challenges as a family and it’s been tough, but we’ve overcome it. That’s my motivation at the moment – my wife and my kids. We all know it’s a tough life out on tour. Golf can bring you down. But with my family and my golf I’m in a good space, and I think that’s what’s motivating me,” said Davidse.

The South African is no stranger to leading a DP World Tour co-sanctioned event, having also done so in the 2017 Joburg Open. But it’s a lesson he learnt last week, where he finished tied 16^th in the SDC Championship, that he’s tried to bring into his game here.

“I made 27 birdies last week to finish 16^th. I made nine birdies today and one bogey, so I told myself if you limit the bogeys you can score because I make enough birdies,” he said.

Behind him lies the experience of multiple DP World Tour winner Lawrence, who was equally pleased with one of his best opening rounds of late.

“I just had a great day. I had fun and stayed patient and it worked out pretty nicely. I don’t think I’ve shot seven under in a first round in a while. To be up there on day one really helps me. I know I’m good over a weekend, but it’s important if you want to win to go low on day one.”

And on six under par, Williams finds himself in contention for a maiden DP World Tour title for the second week in succession after losing a playoff for last week’s SDC Championship.

“I had time to reflect on last week. This week is a new week on a course I enjoy so I’m looking forward to it. I feel this golf course suits me. Getting so close last week shows that what I’m working on is right and hopefully it’s just a matter of time.” – Michael Vlismas.

Birdies for Rhinos, the vision of Sunshine Tour professional Justin Walters in aid of rhino conservation, celebrated its latest champion ahead of this week’s Jonsson Workwear Open at Glendower Golf Club.

Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard Moller added his name to the spectacular rhino trophy after making 417 birdies last year. The money raised by the professionals is donated to Connected Conservation in aid of rhino conversation.

“It feels really good to make a difference,” said Moller.

“I’m from Denmark so I’m far away from where this is all happening, but animals have always been close to my heart and this was an initiative where  I could not just talk about making a difference but actually do something. I feel very proud to be part of it.”

Walters was delighted to hand over the trophy to Moller.

“Niklas is a wonderful player and the rhinos are very happy he’s on board with us. He also the prize to Sabi Sands Game Reserve,” Walters said of an initiative he remains extremely proud of.

“It’s about raising money and awareness for the plight of rhinos. It’s a small part that the professionals on the various tours make. They donate money for every birdie they make in the year and we pool the money and hand it over to Connected Conservation, who have made wonderful strides in protecting wildlife around the world. It started as something small and its gathering momentum now. Tommy Fleetwood came on board last year and he’s brought a lot of clout with him.”

Bruce “Doc” Watson, the Executive Chairman of the Connected Conservation Foundation, also praised the work of the professionals in supporting their cause.

“It’s making a big impact. We now cover 29 reserves primarily in Africa and the East, and this makes a dramatic difference in the work we do.”