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ST FRANCIS (Eastern Cape) – Steve Surry will take a two-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the South African PGA Championship at St Francis Links, and is looking to become the first Englishman to win this championship since it became a stroke play event.

With a limited number of fans looking on as the Sunshine Tour welcomes back spectators to its events, Surry climbed to 13 under par overall with a third round of 67. South Africa’s Luca Filippi and Albert Venter are chasing him on 11 under par after they both signed for rounds of 67.

Only seven foreigners – excluding Zimbabwean golfers – have managed to win the South African PGA Championship since 1965, when it moved from being a match play event to a stroke play tournament. And there isn’t an Englishman amongst them.

“I would’ve thought one of the English boys would’ve snuck in there already,” said Surry. “But if I am able to win it, it would be great in terms of the stature of this tournament in South African golf. I’ve been coming out to play on the Sunshine Tour for years now and I love it here. It feels like a second home for me. And in my off time I spend a lot of time with friends in Gqeberha and St Francis. It was great to play in front of crowds again and see some familiar faces from around here. This is probably the closest I’ll get to a home event outside of England.”

Surry led the first round with an impressive 63 but then struggled in the wind on day two with a 73. But on Saturday, with the course once again in a forgiving mood, the Englishman surged ahead with a fantastic start of six under through this first six holes, including four birdies and an eagle.

“You can’t really ask for a better start than that. The course played a lot easier than the second round where there was a little bit of wind. It doesn’t take a lot of wind to make this course very tricky.”

Fellow Englishman Robin Williams joins European Tour champion Dean Burmester just three shots off the lead. Former South African PGA Championship winner Louis de Jager would’ve been in that group as well were it not for a double bogey on the 18^th.

ST FRANCIS (Eastern Cape) – Louis de Jager will take a two-stroke lead into the weekend of the South African PGA Championship as he looks to win this prestigious title for a second time in his career.

On another benign day by the standards of the St Francis Links, De Jager added a 66 to his opening 68 to lead the field on 10 under par. His nearest challengers are first-round leader Steve Surry, who struggled to a second round of 73, and Michael Hollick, who signed for a 70, on eight under par overall. And young star Jayden Schaper remains in the hunt just three strokes off the lead following a second round of 72.

De Jager did most of his scoring on his second nine, the course’s front nine, where he made five birdies in a stretch of six holes to work his way into the lead as he looks to add to his 2019 triumph in South Africa’s second oldest professional tournament.

“It’s great to be home and see some familiar faces, and it feels just as good to be on top of a leaderboard again,” said De Jager, who had his fair share of COVID-related travel issues while trying to campaign on the European Tour before deciding to return home to the Sunshine Tour.

And he now has the opportunity to become a rare multiple winner of the South African PGA Championship, a title he says was one of his top priorities when he turned professional in 2008.

“When I turned professional, outside of the co-sanctioned events with the European Tour, the South African PGA Championship was always the biggest event on our Tour. So when I came out on Tour I always wanted to win it, and it was really special winning it the first time in 2019. It would be great to win it twice.”

The St Francis Links course has been unusually forgiving of the field this week, largely due to a lack of the kind of wind that can make it a beast of a golf course.

This as well as a combination of De Jager’s own patience and improved putting form helped carry him to the top of the leaderboard.

“I wasn’t really on form in the first round, and then today I hit the ball well and made a few puts and just stayed patient. But the golf course has been great. It’s obviously built for a bit of wind, but I think it’s a great venue for one of the flagship tournaments on the Sunshine Tour.”

On a magnificent day at St Francis Links, England’s Steve Surry produced an equally magnificent round of golf when he scored a hole-in-one on his way to the first-round lead of the South African PGA Championship.

Surry aced the par-three seventh hole in a bogey-free round of nine-under-par 63 to lead by two shots over his nearest challengers Jayden Schaper and Ruan Conradie.

“It was certainly one of my better days on the course. It’s always nice to have a hole-in-one during a round, and even more so when it can actually mean something at the end of the day,” said Surry after the ninth hole-in-one of his career and his third in a tournament.

“I had about 191 yards into the wind and took a four iron off the tee. I was actually trying to play right of the flag and ended up pulling the shot a bit. I saw it bounce but didn’t see it finish. I was playing with Keith Horne and he said he thought it went in, but we looked at the scorer on the side of the green and he was doing nothing. It turns out he didn’t see it either, but when we got to the green, there my ball was in the hole.”

It capped a day of magnificent ball striking by Surry, who took the most advantage of a rare windless day on a St Francis Links course that can be brutal when it blows.

“It’s a bit of a treat to play this course without much wind. I think my iron play really stood out today and was the main strength of my game. But it was just really nice to be able to turn it all into a good score.”

Surry came into this week with two missed cuts in his last two tournaments, but says an equipment change made the difference.

“I put some different shafts in my irons and I’m a bit more familiar with them, so I think that helped.”

The Englishman is hunting his second victory on the Sunshine Tour and appreciates exactly what leading the South African PGA Championship means in the context of the history of South Africa’s second oldest professional tournament.

“I’ve been coming to play on the Sunshine Tour for about eight years now and I love it here. It’s like a second home for me now. After the SA Open, the SA PGA Championship is one of the biggest up there in terms of history. It’d be a great one to try and win.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour

ST FRANCIS LINKS (Eastern Cape) – Jaco van Zyl heads into this week’s 86^th PGA Championship as a member of an exclusive club of champions in South Africa’s second oldest professional golf tournament, having achieved what only Gary Player, Ernie Els, Harold Henning and Dale Hayes have managed to do.

Van Zyl is a three-time winner of the South African PGA Championship in 2009, 2013 and 2016. That puts him alongside Player, Els, Henning and Hayes as the only golfers to have their name on this famous trophy three or more times. Henning is in a class all his own with a record four victories.

It’s these memories and his place in South African golf history that Van Zyl takes with him to St Francis Links this week when the R1.2 million tournament tees off on Thursday, and which he’s hoping will inspire a resurgence in his game.

“This is the PGA Championship of the tour you’re a home member of. As a player that is very special and that’s why it holds such prestige,” says Van Zyl.

The South African PGA Championship dates back to 1923, making only the South African Open older in the country’s history books. In 1965, the championship was converted from a match play to a stroke play format for the first time and has been played as such ever since.

And when he won it for the first time in 2009, Van Zyl added to the remarkable history of this championship with a memorable finish. Tied for the lead and playing the par-five 18^th at Country Club Johannesburg, Van Zyl hit his approach into the rose bed behind the green of the Woodmead course. And from there he chipped to 10 feet and made the putt for birdie and the win.

“I was very fortunate the first time I won it. It was one of the most memorable victories I’ve ever had. It happened so many years ago and yet it feels like it happened just yesterday. It’s those memories that make me very excited for this week and to hopefully be in the mix on Sunday,” says Van Zyl.

The memories will certainly carry him as he continues trying to rediscover his form after a wrist injury and then a spinal fusion.

“I’m still battling a lot of demons in my game. There are moments where there are signs that it’s coming back. But the last three years after my wrist and spinal fusion have been an uphill battle to get my game to where it was. Fortunately my body is all sorted out for now. There is no pain and I’ve got no injuries. So from that perspective it’s really nice to play again. It just depends on the week for me at the moment.”

Van Zyl says he’s expecting a tough challenge from a St Francis Links course that is hosting this championship for the first time.

“It was a little bit breezy in the pro-am, and this course is a proper challenge. You need to hit it straight and really get it out there a fair distance otherwise you’re going to be hitting three wood into some of the par fours. I’m expecting the greens to get quicker as well. This week is a proper test.”

But like Player and Els before him, Van Zyl has certainly shown he’s up to the test that a South African PGA Championship will bring.

JOHANNESBURG – There will be a few more South African flags flying on American fairways next season.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Dawie van der Walt have already earned their PGA Tour cards as part of the top 25 at the end of the Korn Ferry Tour’s regular season.

And now Brandon Stone, Dylan Naidoo, MJ Daffue and Thriston Lawrence have all earned their playing privileges on the Korn Ferry Tour for next season, giving them a direct line to possible PGA Tour qualification in the future. The Korn Ferry Tour is the main feeder tour to the PGA Tour.

All three golfers made it through to the Final Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Qualifying School, and are thus guaranteed a spot on the Tour next season. The number and quality of tournament starts they will earn is based on their finishing positions at the Final Stage.

Naidoo progressed to the Final Stage with a finish of tied 18^that the UNM Championship Course in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he posted rounds of 73, 74, 69 and 66 for a total of two under par.

Both MJ Daffue and Brandon Stone progressed at Southern Hills Plantation in Brooksville, Florida. Daffue finished tied seventh on 14 under par with rounds of 66, 68, 69 and 71. Stone finished tied 17^th on nine under par with rounds of 73, 66, 70 and 70.

The Final Stage will take place from 4-7 November at The Landings Club in Savannah, Georgia.

JOHANNESBURG – The Sunshine Tour has joined other South African sports organisations and federations in welcoming back a limited number of 2 000 fully vaccinated spectators to its upcoming tournaments this summer. The Sunshine Tour has further advised that strict controls will be in place to ensure adherence to the current government regulations and directions published by the Department of Sport and Culture on 15 October 2021.

The Sunshine Tour this week confirmed its schedule to the end of this year. The schedule includes the PGA Championship at St Francis Links from 4-7 November, followed by the Joburg Open at Randpark Golf Club from 25-28 November, and the South African Open Championship at the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City from 2-5 December.

The final tournament, the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club from 9-12 December, will not be open to members of the public due to the maximum daily allowed limit on spectators already being fully subscribed.

“We’re delighted that we can now begin the process of reintegrating our fans at our tournaments. But we will only do so in the strictest observance of the regulations presented to us by government,” said Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.

“Throughout this entire process our COVID-19 compliance team, led by Wimpie du Plessis, the Sunshine Tour’s COVID-19 Chief Compliance Officer, has worked very closely with government to ensure that our tournaments are played safely and responsibility. It remains our priority to ensure the safety of our professionals and caddies, and our tournament staff, and now also the limited number of spectators who come to Sunshine Tour events.”

The Sunshine Tour recently embarked on a strong vaccination drive in which it has been offering vaccinations at its tournaments, starting on the Vodacom Origins of Golf series this year, to all the professionals and caddies.

Wimpie du Plessis confirmed that more than 90% of all Tour professionals, caddies, staff and support personnel are vaccinated.

The Tour would also like to welcome back young golf fans and is now also encouraging the age group of 12-17 to get vaccinated so that they can start attending tournaments.

JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng (24 October) – It took the near-perfect round for Luke Brown to win the Blair Atholl Championship delivered by The Courier Guy on Sunday and the 23-year-old duly produced a bogey-free 67 to claim his first Sunshine Tour title.

Two shots off the lead and having never won on the main tour before, Brown also had to conquer one of the longest courses in the world and multiple winners like Ulrich van den Berg, Trevor Fisher Junior and Neil Schietekat.

And a blustery, shifting wind was an added challenge.

But Brown showed remarkable composure and tremendous skill as he compiled one of the few bogey-free rounds all week and collected five birdies as well to finish on 12-under-par.

“They say your first one is the hardest to win and it was definitely very difficult today, but that was one of the best rounds of my life. It was breezy and difficult to choose the right club for these pin positions. But my ball-striking was amazing today, I hit all 18 greens in regulation, which is wonderful on the third longest course in the world.

“My putting was also solid and if you keep the bogeys off your card on an amazing course like this, then you’re going to be tough to beat. I definitely had to stay patient, you might feel like you should be making more birdies, but it’s not that easy on this course. I tried not to look at what the others were doing,” Brown said.

The leading three-ball of Trevor Fisher Junior, Ulrich van den Berg and Louis Albertse all birdied the par-five first hole, but they were then jerked back to reality as the rest of the final round became a struggle.

A double-bogey on the par-five seventh was a fatal blow for overnight leader Albertse, while Van den Berg double-bogeyed the par-four 12^th and dropped four more shots coming home in 43. Fisher Junior had three successive bogeys on the treacherous stretch of long par-fours from 14 to 16 and closed with a double-bogey 7 at the 18^th.

Schietekat was moving in the other direction, however, and birdies on the last two holes gave him a 67 and the clubhouse lead on 10-under-par.

Keagan Thomas fired a 69 to finish third on nine-under, while Anton Haig and Albertse tied for fourth on eight-under.

Thriston Lawrence shot a remarkable 64 to catapult into sixth place on seven-under.

But it was Johannesburg-based Brown who ended a popular winner by two strokes, having learnt the harsh lessons from the KitKat Championship at the start of the season when he squandered a five-shot lead in the final round.

“I was thinking about the KitKat Championship on the 17^th and I always wanted to get back into that position. The leaderboard swings up and down and it’s difficult to keep track of, so I’d rather not worry about that. From that experience I learnt to be more patient because I felt I should have won that one.

“I felt my game was close to getting back to that level in the last month, but I just focused on getting on the green and giving myself a chance at least. It shows how tough the Sunshine Tour is that it’s taken me so long to win when I’ve been playing well,” Brown said.

JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng (23 October) – Louis Albertse notched his first Sunshine Tour title five weeks ago at Mount Edgecombe and is in prime position to add a second on Sunday after a top-class round of six-under-par 66 gave him a one-stroke lead after three days of the Blair Atholl Championship on Saturday.

Albertse’s remarkable round on a blustery day on one of the longest courses on tour included a double-bogey on the par-three 17^th, when he found the large greenside bunker, but that was the sandwich in a pair of birdies on 16 and 18.

An eagle on the par-five fifth gave the winner of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at Mount Edgecombe some momentum and a pair of birdies took him to the turn on four-under for the day.

The 25-year-old from Dundee then birdied the next two holes as well, soaring up the leaderboard when the second-round frontrunners could not make much headway on a testing day.

“This is a long course, the wind was tricky and I didn’t always get it right, but tough conditions get me going and to shoot six-under was very pleasing,” Albertse said. “There are more scoring opportunities on the front, but the back nine is harder, there are a few really long par fours and the wind got up. But I still played really nicely.

“It’s hard to get close when you’re hitting five or six irons in, so it helps when your putter gets hot and to have just 24 putts today was very nice.”

Anton Haig had three successive bogeys from the 15^th hole to shoot a level-par 72 and stay two shots back on seven-under, Rupert Kaminski also remaining on his second-round score.

Jayden Schaper was putting together a great round, six-under-par through 10 holes to take the lead, but the highly-rated youngster then dropped five shots in the last four holes and came home in 42, finishing the third round on five-under for the tournament.

Albertse is being pursued though by two hugely experienced golfers in Ulrich van den Berg and Trevor Fisher Junior, who are both just one stroke behind after shooting 68s on Saturday.

Van den Bergh is an eight-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, although it is more than seven years since he last took the honours, at Euphoria Golf Club, also in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series.

Fisher Junior is in a good run of form with four consecutive top-20 finishes and is a nine-time winner on tour.

A dozen golfers are within four shots of the lead and the Blair Atholl Championship is set for a thrilling conclusion on Sunday.

But Albertse is already in the top-10 of the order of merit in a breakthrough season for the third-year pro, he is high on confidence and good in the wind.

“Winning changes your frame of mind a bit, you know you can do it, you did it once so you can do it again. It frees up your game a bit and you give yourself more chances,” Albertse said.

JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng (22 October) – “This is a very demanding course and you have to know where to miss,” Anton Haig said on Friday after he seized a share of the lead midway through the Blair Atholl Championship delivered by The Courier Guy.

This knowledge came in very handy for the 35-year-old golfer as he fired a three-under-par 69 to catch joint first-round leader Rupert Kaminski on seven-under-par.

“It’s a very demanding course, the fairways look quite wide but they’re not and the course is so long. You need to miss in the right spots and fortunately I’ve played a lot here so I know which side not to miss on. I know the back ledges and slopes better than most, which definitely helped,” Haig said after his impressive round.

Haig said his play from tee-to-green on Friday was excellent, but his putter, which was hot in the first round, went cold in the second round. He will try to get both aspects of his game working well on the weekend as he chases what would be a confidence boosting win on the Sunshine Tour.

“The greens were really receptive after the rain came in in the morning – fortunately for just three or four holes – and I was hitting the ball really well. I had 32 putts today and 26 yesterday. So my ball-striking was really good today but my putting was a bit off.

“I’m definitely looking to score on the par fives, but you have to really knuckle two shots to get on to some of them – four of the par fives are more than 600 yards. So my length is a good advantage,” Haig said.

Kaminski, off in the afternoon in a fresh wind, shot a one-under-par 71 on Friday to go to seven-under for the tournament, while Riekus Nortje, who shared the lead with him after the first round, dropped two shots coming in to finish with a level-par 72.

That left Nortje tied for third with three other golfers – Heinrich Bruiners (71), Neil Schietekat, whose 68 included a double-bogey at the tough par-four 15^th, and Luke Brown (69).

Jayden Schaper produced the round of the day, a tremendous 65 which included an eagle three on the 606-yard fifth hole, to climb to five-under-par, sharing seventh with Kyle Barker (71).

JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng (21 October) – Rupert Kaminski and Riekus Nortje both birdied the par-five 18^thhole to roar into a share of the lead in the first round of the Blair Atholl Championship delivered by The Courier Guy on Thursday.

The Johannesburg-based pair were both off in Group 4 from the first tee and both shot six-under-par 66s to lead Heinrich Bruiners by one stroke in the R1.25 million event.

While Nortje is a relative veteran in his eighth season on the Sunshine Tour, the 25-year-old Kaminski only earned his card in 2019.

And Kaminski actually birdied the par-three 17^th as well, having overcome the frustration of a double-bogey five on the short eighth hole.

The Parkview golfer three-putted from 15 feet after missing the green right and chipping too firmly.

The short stick has been a problem for him lately, but on Thursday it was a rare mis-step on a day when he generally putted superbly.

“The putter was behaving really nicely and I made a lot of birdie putts. The challenge with the Blair Atholl course is that we don’t often play on a course this long,” Kaminski said. “So the par-fives are not necessarily the holes you’re going to score on, so my nine birdies were mostly because of my putter.

“I didn’t hit the ball that great, but I managed my game nicely and hit the ball in the right spots. Game-management is very important here because if you go for the flags and push too hard, you can find yourself in very awkward situations.

“I’ve been playing really nice golf the last two/three months and a low score has been there, but I’ve struggled with my putter. So today will give me a lot of confidence, although the three-putt on eight was really annoying,” Kaminski said.

At 7527 metres long, the Gary Player designed Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate is a unique challenge when it comes to Highveld courses but Bruiners, the talented 34-year-old from Fancourt, also stamped his mark on the day with his bogey-free 67.

For spectacular finishes though, nothing could beat Kyle Barker.

Blair Atholl is also unusual in that the front ‘nine’ is actually just eight holes and Barker, who started his round on the ninth, aced the 178m par-three with an eight-iron to catapult himself to four-under-par and a share of fourth place with Jared Harvey, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Chris Cannon, Hayden Griffiths and Anton Haig.