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Jayden Schaper has taken another positive step towards a maiden Sunshine Tour title and will head into Saturday’s final round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament in a share of the lead with Ockie Strydom at Sishen Golf Club.

Schaper signed for a 68 on Friday to climb to five under par and tied for the lead with Strydom, who kept his place at the top of the leaderboard with a second round of 69.

They are two strokes clear of their nearest challengers, Rupert Kaminski and Alex Haindl. And three strokes back sits a strong chasing pack that includes the experience of Jaco Ahlers and Hennie Otto as well as the youth of James Hart du Preez and Deon Germishuys.

Strydom is looking to successfully defend his title, which he won here in 2019 and with the 2020 series cancelled because of the pandemic.

But Schaper in particular has been building towards being ready for this moment. In fact, he returned from 11 weeks playing in Europe for exactly this purpose – to build his confidence with performances such as this one.

“It’s been a rough two years with COVID-19 and all of that. I’ve been in Europe the past few weeks and I just felt a bit drained. So, I chatted to my team and we agreed I should come back home and reset here a bit. Reset my mind and my golf, and just have some fun with my golf again. It seems to be working because I’m feeling a lot more confident,” said Schaper.

As the newest young star of South African golf, Schaper signalled his intent when he challenged for the South African Open in January 2020 and finished sixth there while still an amateur.

As a professional he had four top-10s on the Sunshine Tour during a disruptive 2020 season and came close to winning the Alfred Dunhill Championship before finishing second to Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

And apart from a difficult run of three missed cuts in the three Challenge Tour and Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned tournaments this year, he’s had two top-10s leading up to this event.

“I’ve been in a couple of final groups now and I’ve been close. I’ll just stick to my gameplan on Saturday. This course can be tricky and there are so many good players in this field.”

If Schaper can hold on for a win on Saturday, he will find himself in illustrious company with golfers who have made their professional breakthroughs on this Vodacom Origins of Golf series.

Both Louis Oosthuizen and Thomas Aiken claimed their maiden Sunshine Tour victories on the series in 2004. George Coetzee and Justin Harding are also amongst those who have used this series to open their Sunshine Tour accounts. – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

Ockie Strydom describes the Kalahari atmosphere as “good for the soul”, and it’s once again proved good for his golf game as well. The winner of the last Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament played at Sishen Golf Club also claimed a share of the first-round lead of this year’s tournament on Thursday.

Strydom opened with a two-under-par 70 to share the lead with Rourke van der Spuy. They are one stroke clear of five players, including the talented young duo of Deon Germishuys and Jayden Schaper.

Strydom won the 2019 Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament here. The 2020 series was cancelled as a result of the pandemic. But Strydom says when they returned this week, he felt right at home – literally.

“I’m staying with family of my wife. They have a home right by the 11^th tee box on the golf course. It’s just so peaceful. I think that’s what I love about this golf course and this tournament. The atmosphere here in the bush calms me down. You don’t hear any cars or planes or anything. It’s just peaceful and good for the soul.”

There was a moment in his round when Strydom’s peace was disturbed, though, and that came with a double-bogey on the par-three 13^th.

“I was irritated with that because I three-putted from six feet. But my caddie told me to just keep being patient because the scores won’t be great. We had quite a bit of wind, and some overnight rain softened the course, so the ball wasn’t running as far on the fairways as it did in the pro-am. So I stayed patient and it paid off,” he said.

The leaderboard is still very bunched up after round one. MJ Viljoen, who as a boy used to come and watch the Sunshine Tour pros in this event before he started competing against them, is alongside the big-hitting James Hart du Preez and a host of others just two shots off the lead. And the tougher conditions should keep the leaderboard tight.

But that’s not troubling Strydom, because he’s in the Kalahari.

“You know, the Sunshine Tour put out a social media post saying I won here in 2019 and who will be next? I answered it with ‘Ockie Strydom’. So, I have a goal. And every night we have a lovely braai here, and nothing beats the smell of camel thorn wood on a braai fire.”

Ockie Strydom’s soul is indeed happy. – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

South Africa’s golf professionals are joining the drive to get vaccinated against COVID-19 with a pioneering initiative that will make its debut at this week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf series on the Sunshine Tour.

The Vodacom Origins of Golf series has partnered with the Sunshine Tour and Clicks to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to all the professionals and caddies competing in this week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament at Sishen Golf Club.

On Friday, all the professionals and caddies who did not make the cut in this 54-hole tournament will receive the first Pfizer vaccination injection. The remainder will be vaccinated during Saturday’s final round. Then the second vaccination injection will be administered at the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament at Humewood in Port Elizabeth at the end of September.

Wimpie du Plessis, the Sunshine Tour’s COVID-19 Chief Compliance Officer, says it’s absolutely essential that professional athletes get vaccinated.

“It is well documented that approximately 25-30% of individuals could experience ongoing symptoms for an extended period of time, known as “Long COVID”. A recent study indicated that up to 89% of patients would experience fatigue for three weeks after contracting the disease. Persistent symptoms similar to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the effect on the heart muscles means that we currently do not know how long a professional athlete who has contracted COVID-19 without being vaccinated must wait before they can safely start training again. We don’t have that scientific data at present. Professional athletes simply cannot put themselves in such a precarious position when it comes to their livelihoods.”

Du Plessis says she hopes the example set by the Sunshine Tour professionals will spur other South Africans who are still sceptical to also get vaccinated.

“Scientifically there is no proof to indicate that these vaccinations have any side effects that are unexpected. There is so much misinformation out there. What people are not understanding is that the base structure of these vaccines have been developed over decades. They are not new, like some people think.

“The only new element is their stimulation of the antibodies in the body specifically for COVID-19. But there is no difference between this process and what has been done with the flu vaccine for years now. The flu vaccine follows the same process of updating each year according to the new strains that emerge. But the base of the flu vaccine remains the same. Similarly, coronavirus is not new. It’s only this particular strain of it that is new.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo Credit: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

When MJ Viljoen tees it up in this week’s Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament at Sishen Golf Club, it will take him back to memories of being a young boy and watching the Sunshine Tour professionals in this exact tournament, and standing at the back of the 18^th green asking for golf balls as they came off.

Such is the long and illustrious history of the Vodacom Origins of Golf series, which teed off on the Tour in 2004, that a 26-year-old professional like Viljoen has literally grown up with it.

Growing up in Bloemfontein, Viljoen remembers well that whenever the Sunshine Tour came to this part of the world for the Vodacom Origins of Golf, it was a special occasion for an aspiring young golfer.

“My dad was very involved with the Nomads, and with this tournament in particular my dad actually took me out of school to come and watch this tournament and help with the leaderboard scoring,” Viljoen said at Sishen Golf Club on Tuesday.

“I was that young boy who asked for golf balls from the professionals. I remember Doug McGuigan, Des Terblanche and Hennie Otto giving me golf balls. It was always great for me to come to this event and see the Sunshine Tour pros.

“And now to be playing with many of them is amazing. It’s quite special to know that this tournament has come so far, and that I’m now playing with the guys who used to give me golf balls when I was a kid coming to watch.”

Viljoen is hoping to use some of his local knowledge to give him an advantage this week when the 54-hole tournament tees off on Thursday.

“It’s a beautiful golf course. It’s a different layout to your standard golf course. One of the most interesting things about this course is that if you hit a tree here (the course meanders through what was once a kameeldoring forest) the chances of your ball staying in the tree is good.

“This course is quite demanding off the tee box. But my feeling is that you should still take it on off the tee box. You’re going to hit the ball in trouble a few times this week, but I feel like you need to still take this course on a bit. I feel if you’re too soft on the course it’s going to cost you even more.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

The Sunshine Tour is delighted to announce a new partnership with leading health club brand, Planet Fitness, that will give all of its member professionals nationwide gym access for the elite physical training that modern professional golfers require.

The new partnership will see all Sunshine Tour professionals receiving a Planet Fitness Blue Club or Just Gym membership at one of their 50 world-class gyms nationwide.

“It’s a pleasure for us to welcome on board Planet Fitness as one of our newest partners. Our professionals are always looking for that extra edge in competition and being physically prepared for tournaments is a vital part of the training routine of any modern golf professional. Planet Fitness offers our members access to a world-class facility with the latest training methods available,” said Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.

Celebrating its 25^th anniversary in 2021, Planet Fitness has established itself as the fastest growing South African owned health and fitness brand in the country, with clubs in Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

“We are proud of our South African heritage and are tremendously proud of this country’s sporting professionals – we understand the commitment it takes to build stamina in a sporting career,” says Mannee de Wet, MD of Planet Fitness, who earlier this year backed South African Olympic and Paralympic teams with a four-year Tokyo to Paris commitment which elevated the brand even further as an Official Olympic Team Training Facility.

“We’re extremely excited about our new partnership with the Sunshine Tour and are looking forward to working with the professional golfers to ensure they’re able to perform at their best. Ours is a world of health and fitness and our passion lies in supporting people to reach their fitness goals, ranging from those who just want to lead a healthy lifestyle, to elite athletes such as professional golfers. Our clubs, training programmes, classes and personal trainers are constantly evolving to ensure we are ahead of the game with a reputation for having a smart tech edge and partnering with the world’s best when it comes to equipment and facilities,” said De Wet.

During the pandemic, health and safety has been the number one priority at Planet Fitness, having lobbied with the fitness industry for five months last year during lockdown to set a world-class 20-pg compliance code of protocols. Apart from health clubs and gyms now being one of the most regulated and sanitised environments in the country, all Planet Fitness clubs have a Covid-19 Compliance Officer as part of their process to ensure that gyms are safe for members and staff.

Planet Fitness will be opening 12 brand new health clubs across the country in the next 12 months to complement the 50 it already has, making it even easier to support the training goals of The Sunshine Tour’s professional golfers.

Estiaan Conradie claimed his maiden Sunshine Tour title when he won the SunBet Challenge hosted by Time Square Casino at Wingate Park Country Club on Friday, and his dad was there to receive a pin flag from the 18^th green that his son signed and handed to him.

Conradie closed with a 70 to finish on 10 under par 206, three strokes clear of second-placed Malcolm Mitchell who signed for a final round of 72. Louis Albertse took third place on six under par with a closing 69.

The victory was a sweet one for Conradie as it came on his home course, in front of family and friends, and after a lengthy recovery process from hip surgery which kept him out of the game for four months in 2020.

“I’m very happy that I could get it done this week. It means a lot to me, especially winning at home,” he said.

“It’s a massive relief for me to win. It feels like it’s been so long that I haven’t got it done, and to finally get over the line feels massive. It’s such a boost for my confidence.”

Most importantly, Conradie is now tied on 1-1 with his brother and fellow Sunshine Tour professional Ruan, who won on Tour before him in 2019.

“I can finally tell him he’s got nothing on me anymore. But I suppose the race is now on to see who gets the second win first,” he said.

Conradie went into the final round with a one-stroke lead and was determined to take an aggressive approach on a course he knows so well.

“The gameplan was always to be aggressive. I made an eagle on the second hole which was great. And then I made bogey on the third hole when my ball got stuck in a tree and I had to take an unplayable. From there up to about the 11^th hole it was just a mixed bag actually of playing good shots and getting a bad reward and vice versa. But then I made birdie on 12 and that settled me down. I finished nice and strong with four birdies and just one bogey in my last five holes,” he said.

The Sunshine Tour travels to Sishen Golf Club next week for the second tournament on the Vodacom Origins of Golf series. – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

The long journey back from hip surgery finally showed signs of being over for Estiaan Conradie as he moved to the top of the leaderboard with one round to go in the SunBet Challenge hosted by Time Square Casino at the Wingate Park Country Club.

Local favourite Conradie, playing his home course, added a 65 to his opening 71 to climb to eight under par overall and one stroke clear of Malcolm Mitchell going into Friday’s final round. Jaco Ahlers is well placed on six under par.

The view from the top of the leaderboard is certainly a pleasing one for Conradie, who spent a large part of 2020 recovering from hip surgery.

“I was out for about four months. It was a long and often frustrating process to get back, and I feel like now I’m making good progress again. It definitely feels like it’s moving in the right direction. It’s been a long process but I feel like I’m on the other side of that now,” said Conradie.

The hip operation was a success, but the timing was frustrating for Conradie as he was playing some good golf when he had to make the decision to have the surgery.

“I was feeling so good about my game, and then I had to stop. But I’m happy I went through it because it’s definitely made me stronger.”

Conradie has the confidence of playing his home course this week and says he’ll use that local knowledge in the final round.

“I’ve played a couple of smaller tournaments on this course and I know how to play a final round here. I just need to be patient and wait for my opportunities to come. The benefit is that I know on which holes I can be aggressive. I’m hitting my driver really well at the moment so it helps to know when is the right time to be aggressive off the tee.”

And his brother and fellow Sunshine Tour professional Ruan has provided Conradie with the perfect motivation to claim a victory.

“Ruan won a tournament in 2019, and when I was playing so well before the hip operation I thought that was my time. But now I’ve got another chance.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

The Sunshine Tour has launched an exciting new initiative as part of its transformation drive and will be helping to develop golf rules officials that in turn can also strengthen the Tour’s base of officials working at tournaments around the country.

The Tour launched this new initiative at this week’s SunBet Challenge hosted by Time Square Casino at Wingate Park Country Club, where an aspiring rules official with a minimum Rules of Golf Level 2 qualification will shadow a Sunshine Tour rules official under tournament conditions and to gain experience.

Johannes Mnyandu, an employee with the Department of Public Works who also plays for the Gauteng North Golf Union’s Mid-Amateur Interprovincial team and is a member at Akasia Golf Club, will shadow Sunshine Tour Chief Referee, Reinard Kilian, at Wingate this week.

“The aim of this initiative is twofold, namely to help with the transformation of our industry as well as grow the base of part-time Sunshine Tour rules officials that we can call upon at our tournaments around the country. There is a strong base of part-time rules officials who currently work in golf administration or are very competent golfers, and we’d like to assist in upskilling them to a level where they can be an asset to the Sunshine Tour and our member professionals,” said Kilian.

Photo: Johannes Mnyandu (left) and Sunshine Tour Chief Referee Reinard Kilian at this week’s SunBet Challenge hosted by Time Square Casino at Wingate Park Country Club. Credit: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour.

Trevor Fisher Jnr. was delighted to lead the first round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Time Square Casino after what he’s described as a “challenging” past two years of trying to rediscover his game.

Fisher Jnr. opened with a five-under-par 67 at Wingate Park Country Club on Wednesday and leads the field by a single stroke. Adilson da Silva, Benjamin Follett-Smith and Louis Albertse are his nearest challengers.

The course was tricky on the opening day of this Sunshine Tour event, with a few tough pin placements and a bit of wind to keep things even more interesting.

But Fisher Jnr. started his round in spectacular fashion and was four under par through his opening three holes after holing out with his second for an eagle at the first and then birdying the next two holes. He made a further three birdies and two bogeys for his opening 67.

“That was a dream start. I almost drove the green on the par-four first hole and chipped in there, and then made two great up and downs for birdie at the next two holes. So that was very nice,” he said.

Fisher Jnr. is a nine-time winner on the Sunshine Tour and also a European Tour champion after his victory in the 2015 Africa Open. But he’s struggled over the past two years to recreate that form.

“The last few years have been challenging. When I’m playing well, I feel like I can play against anyone in the world. But I started getting stuck with my swing and it’s been a challenging road to fix that. My technique has been wrong, so it’s hard to stay mentally strong on the golf course when you’re not hitting the shots you want. I feel like I’ve been doing that for the past two years.”

But he’s worked consistently at trying to remedy this, and Wednesday’s 67 was certainly a step in the right direction.

“I feel like I’m releasing better in my swing. I’m trying to stay patient. This is basically a game of consistency and patience. You have to keep working at it and working at understanding the game.

“It was nice to put it all together today. But this is a long-term process I’m busy with. I’m just going to keep trying to get better and better.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

Finding yourself is a common theme in the world at the moment. In the strangest way, Sunshine Tour professional Jaco Prinsloo’s search to develop a better version of himself actually took him back to a previous version of himself. And it’s translating into one of his best seasons on the Sunshine Tour.

Prinsloo heads into this week’s SunBet Challenge hosted by Time Square Casino at Wingate Park Country Club with a sense that a few things are coming together quite nicely in his career.

He won twice on the Sunshine Tour in March, has finished no worse than 22^nd in his last nine tournaments, is ranked third on the Sunshine Tour Money List, and recently signed a deal with Openfield Marketing to represent him.

“I am aware of things looking like they’re moving in a direction,” he says on the driving range at Wingate as he prepares for Wednesday’s first round of this R1 million 54-hole tournament.

“But I’m just trying to keep my head down and keep working and become as good as I can be.”

It was actually this search to improve that led to Prinsloo making a significant change in his career. While working with his coach on changing his swing to what they believed was something more textbook, Prinsloo realised he’d lost his competitive advantage.

“I was working on getting into certain positions in my swing, and I felt like the one thing that made me a good golfer was taken away from me. I’ve always felt what made me good is not my swing but my ball sense. So, I went back to the old Jaco. I just focused on hitting the ball and playing more freely. I wasn’t going to try and swing like a robot.”

The ability to play more freely has also given Prinsloo a more free approach to thinking about his career, and he’s trying not to get too bogged down in the “What Ifs” of the current pandemic and just focus on what’s in front of him.

“You know, I’d love to be playing on the Challenge Tour now, but I didn’t have a visa in place. I’d also love to be planning for a European Tour Qualifying School at the end of the season, or an Asian Tour. But none of that is happening at the moment. Instead of seeing it as missed opportunities, I’m going to focus on my goals on the Sunshine Tour. If I keep playing like I am, those opportunities will come around again.”

Prinsloo joins a quality field at Wingate this week.

Ruan Korb is back to defend his title. Jean Hugo, Hennie Otto, Adilson da Silva, Keith Horne, Trevor Fisher Jnr., Jaco van Zyl, Thriston Lawrence, Jaco Ahlers, Jayden Schaper and Neil Schietekat are all in action in Pretoria.

But Prinsloo isn’t focused on them and is staying true to his desire of not looking too far ahead.

“I just want to go out there, see how few shots I can hit, and sign my scorecard.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour