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The 18-year-old sensation Jayden Schaper is on the brink of a maiden Sunshine Tour victory as he heads into Friday’s final round of the African Bank Sunshine Tour Championship in a three-way tie for the lead.

The newest star of South African professional golf shares a one-stroke lead over the field on seven under par 137 alongside Martin Rohwer and Daniel van Tonder, and following his round of two-under-par 70 at Glendower Golf Club on Thursday.

Schaper had an adventurous start to his round with two bogeys and an eagle in his first four holes, and it was not until the 12^th hole where he started to find his rhythm as he made three birdies in four holes from there.

“The course played a lot tougher today because of a bit more wind. I struggled to pick out where the wind was coming from and I just didn’t get off to a good start. I only hit three fairways in my first 12 holes, and I had a few three putts as well so I put myself under a lot of pressure. But the last few holes it came together. I knew the back nine is a lot easier and more accessible with the two par fives and not much trouble on the par fours, and I finished stronger just like I needed to,” he said.

Schaper impressed all when as an amateur he finished tied sixth in January’s South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg. He turned professional shortly thereafter and secured his Sunshine Tour card with a finish of 10^th at the Qualifying School and before the national lockdown came into effect.

But since the restart of the Tour’s Rise-Up Series, he’s wasted no time putting himself in contention. He finished tied 15^th in last week’s Betway Championship, and now has a clear shot at a maiden title.

“I left quite a few out there, but I’m glad I could still post a decent score today. I’m still up there. You’ve got to keep grinding out on this golf course. I’m excited for the final round, and we’ll see what happens.”

Rohwer will be pleased to have kept his place at the top of the leaderboard with a level-par 72 after leading on day one, while Van Tonder moved into contention with a round of two-under-par 70.

Jaco Ahlers is one shot back of the leaders following his second round of 68. Darren Fichardt is on track for back-to-back victories on the Rise-Up Series as he heads into Friday’s final round just two shots off the lead, and fellow multiple European Tour champion George Coetzee is only three shots back.

Martin Rohwer’s form on the Sunshine Tour’s new Rise-Up Series is indeed on the rise as the KwaZulu-Natal professional took the first-round lead in the African Bank Sunshine Tour Championship at Glendower Golf Club on Wednesday.

Rohwer hit the top of the leaderboard only a few days after finishing seventh in last week’s Betway Championship, and he did so with a bogey-free round of seven-under-par 65 that started with a birdie on the 10^th – his first hole – and ended with three consecutive birdies.

He holds a one-stroke lead over the field. Lyle Rowe is his nearest challenger following a 66, while young star Jayden Schaper is in a group of players who opened with rounds of 67. Darren Fichardt is three off the lead and looking for back-to-back wins on the series.

Rohwer is certainly looking to make the most of this new series of five tournaments. He had a busy schedule of international tournaments planned, including an exemption into the Second Stage of the European Tour’s Qualifying School, before COVID-19 changed all of that.

“I was going to go to Europe for a few Challenge Tour events and then the European Tour’s Qualifying School. I was also exempt into the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship over there until that all changed. But fortunately my exemptions will carry through to next year. So I’m just going to play as many tournaments as I can here and do as well as I can,” he said.

Rohwer’s current form is in line with his start to 2020 when he finished tied sixth in the South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg in January.

“I played well in January and February, so it’s good to see that I’ve maintained that form after lockdown. I’m extremely happy with my 65 today. I hit the ball well from tee to green and I gave myself chances throughout the round. I drove the ball really well and hit most of the fairways, so I had a lot of birdie chances out there.”

For Hennie Otto, the Sunshine Tour’s new Rise-Up Series is deeply personal.

When the three-time European Tour champion tees it up at Glendower Golf Club on Wednesday for the start of this week’s African Bank Sunshine Tour Championship, he will do so as a golfer rising up and looking for the next win in his career, as a husband rising up from the recent passing of his wife, and as a father rising up for his two young boys.

“It’s been tough. It’s hard losing your wife. But you know, you can’t sit still. You have to move on,” says Otto.

He took his sons, Hennie Jnr. and JJ, on a 4 500-kilometre road trip around South Africa for the three of them to deal with the loss. “We visited all our friends on farms. We needed that, just to get away. It was nice for us to bond like that, and the boys are in a good space now.”

And at the end of that epic journey, they have arrived at a new adventure. A new beginning. “We’re moving to Paarl because I have a great support system there with my family. The boys are in good schools there, and I can focus on my golf.”

The focus this week will be on a Glendower Golf Club course that has always been one of Otto’s favourites. He finished second in the South African Open played here in 2013, and also second in the BMG Classic that same year.

“It’s an old-style golf course and I always just get a great feeling playing there. You have to actually play that golf course and think your way around it, you can’t just bomb it off the tee. If you can get it going there, you can score really well.”

There will be an added incentive for Otto this week. His eldest son Hennie Jnr. will be on his bag caddying for the old man.

“He is a diabetic and our doctor advised me not to send him back to school because of the Coronavirus. So he’s doing online schooling but also traveling with me and caddying for me on this Rise-Up Series.”

And every evening, they will braai together. “You know me. Every night is braai night for me. It’s like I always have a fire on, I just add more wood every night and keep it going.”

It was akin to the kind of move made from Lockdown Level 5 to Level 2 in one sweep as Darren Fichardt surged through the field with a final round of 64 to win the Sunshine Tour’s Betway Championship by a single stroke at Killarney Country Club on Friday.

With the lowest round of this 54-hole tournament and not a single bogey on his card, Fichardt overcame a six-shot deficit as he stormed up the leaderboard on the final day to win by one on three-under-par 207.

“It looks like I need to take five months off and then play tournaments,” said Fichardt, who wins the first tournament on the new Rise-Up Series that has ushered in the return to action of the Sunshine Tour.

“I’m very happy to win. It was so good to have those butterflies in your stomach going again. Sitting on the couch for five months was tough and I’m really happy to be back.”

Ulrich van den Berg came inches close to holing his long birdie putt at the last that would have forced a playoff. Van Den Berg took second place on two-under 208 with a closing 69 that in itself marked a welcome return to form for him.

But apart from the 65 of Jaco van Zyl to finish tied seventh, Fichardt was in a class of his own as he relied on every bit of the experience he’s gained from his five European Tour victories on his way to claiming his 18^th victory on the Sunshine Tour. It’s also his second victory this year after winning the Eye of Africa PGA Championship in January.

“I worked really hard in the gym during lockdown and on getting my strength up. You know, 26 years on tour, lockdown was good in that it gave me time with my family and time to do some focused work in the gym which you can’t always do when you’re touring every week. And I feel I’ve needed this to give my career a bit more longevity.”

Jaco van Zyl leads the Betway Birdie Challenge after this first tournament on the Rise-Up Series with 13 birdies. The Betway Birdie Challenge will run for the full five tournaments on the series, with the leading birdie maker walking away with R25 000 at the end of the series, followed by R15 000 for second place and R10 000 for third.

The hours spent working on about the only thing a golfer can do during lockdown – putting – paid off for Alex Haindl as he signed for a 67 to take a one-stroke lead going into Friday’s final round of the Betway Championship on the Sunshine Tour’s new Rise-Up Series.

Haindl made some big birdie putts and equally important par saves at Killarney Country Club on Thursday to top the leaderboard on three under par 137 overall.

His nearest challenger is a resurgent Anton Haig, who signed for a second consecutive 69 and whose recent history with Killarney Country Club is a perfect match for this week’s sponsor – Betway. “I recently joined a group of golfers who play quite a few money games at Killarney. It’s helped me so much playing here a lot more in recent weeks. I’ve had probably about 10 practice rounds here in the last couple of weeks,” he said.

And just two shots off the lead is the vastly experienced duo of Ulrich van den Berg and Adilson da Silva.

But after a first round of 70 and then a second round of 67, Haindl definitely feels like he’s moving in the right direction as this tournament progresses. And his putting – particularly in the stretch of three birdies in five holes after the turn – has been a large part of that process.

“I turned level par and then made a 20-footer for birdie on the first. I had a good chance on two and didn’t make that, but then on the third I made a 10-footer for birdie. The fifth is a par five and I made birdie there as well. I was also good out of the bunkers today and had a few good up-and-downs. Your short game is key on this course because you do miss a lot of greens. The course has been playing very firm and fast and it’s been difficult to get close to any of the pins. It’s been tricky,” said Haindl, a three-time winner on the Sunshine Tour whose last victory came in 2018.

“I’ve been working hard during the lockdown. But you don’t know what to expect until you test it in competition. You can only do so much hitting into a net in your garage. But it’s nice to see the game is decent. It’s just a case of sharpening it up now.”

Friday’s final round will be streamed live on DStv Now Channel 241 and on the Sunshine Tour’s platforms on YouTube and Facebook from 12-3pm.

Dylan Mostert opened with a three-under-par 67 for a one-stroke lead in Wednesday’s first round of the Betway Championship at Killarney Country Club, and in what was a generally cautious start by most of the field in the first Sunshine Tour tournament since February.

Mostert is one clear of Dylan Naidoo, Ruan Korb and Albert Venter who all signed for rounds of 68.

Mostert was one of only eight players in the field who broke par on day one of this Rise-Up Series 54-hole tournament, thanks to a mix of bitterly cold conditions and shaking off a bit of lockdown swing rust.

“I think most of the players are just going out there and getting a feel for it again, and just trying to get back into tournament mode,” said Mostert.

For Mostert, the work he did on his putting during lockdown made all the difference.

“I put in a lot of work during lockdown and I’m glad to see it paying off. I worked a lot on my putting – on my set-up and pace. And it feels great to lead. I think this is the first time I’m leading a tournament on the Sunshine Tour. I had no expectations coming into this week and was so excited just to play.

“But I stayed really patient out there, which was also key. I made back-to-back bogeys at holes seven and eight, and then I made a great par save at the ninth and a good par putt on the 10^th to keep my round on track.”

That kind of patience will be important as Mostert faces an early tee-off time in Thursday’s second round.

“I’m expecting it to be tougher because I’m off early on day two. So it’s going to be freezing and the greens will be rock hard. But it’s just about staying focused and grinding where I need to while staying focused on every shot out there.”

The tournament signals the return of the Sunshine Tour for the first time since February and following the national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And it was Benoni professional Pieter Moolman who had the honour of leading the field in its return as he teed off first at just after 7am.

“It felt great to feel that excitement for the new season and to actually be playing a tournament again. I think we’re all craving that adrenaline and excitement on the golf course, and making birdies,” he said.

After a six-month break, the Sunshine Tour will finally start its 2020/21 season this week with the R600 000 Betway Championship at Killarney Country Club.

Multiple European Tour and Sunshine Tour champion George Coetzee headlines this field of professional golfers, many of whom last played competitively on the Sunshine Tour in February before the national lockdown and who are relishing a return to the fairways in what is also the first tournament on the new Rise-Up Series of five 54-hole events all played in Gauteng.

After months of hitting golf balls into nets in the back garden, training in home gyms and sharpening their minds with everything from Zoom sessions with sports psychologists to deep introspection about their careers, 107 professional golfers will finally have something to play for when they tee off in Wednesday’s first round.

“I think everybody is very excited. It’s been a long wait,” said Coetzee. “Fortunately we’ve been able to play and practice socially, but it’s not the same as playing competitive golf. I’ve stayed busy and played a few money games with some other pros just to try and keep competitive and sharp. I’m not expecting too much from my game. I’ve prepared well but it’s not about the results for me now. It’s more about just getting back into that competitive groove again.”

Fellow professional Jake Roos was just as grateful to be back in action again. “It’s important for us to be playing again. Although we’ve all done a lot of practice at home, you want to go out and test that in a tournament environment. You can’t just play with your mates for a pie and a Coke and think your game is fine. You want to test it in a tournament where you’re playing for money. And especially for those players who have ambitions of getting onto other tours and playing overseas. So just the fact that we are competing again is very important.”

It was a common theme amongst the professionals who gathered for their practice rounds on Tuesday.

“It’s nice to be out here again,” said Jaco Ahlers. “This was the longest break from the game I’ve ever had in my career. Just to be out here again with everybody and not sitting at home is great. I’ve put in a lot of work on my own game, but I suppose the biggest adjustment will be to get your head into that competitive mode again.”

“I’m so excited just to be able to be competitive again and get those competitive juices flowing,” said Heinrich Bruiners.

Jacques Blaauw was so starved for competitive golf that when South African golf courses were allowed to open again, and before the Sunshine Tour resumed, he arranged a money game with several fellow professionals.

“I did a little Monday dash for cash to get the guys playing some competitive golf again. We played for our own money and it was good fun,” he said.

The field this week also includes young professional Jayden Schaper. Schaper made headlines as one of South Africa’s top amateurs who finished sixth in the South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg in January. He turned professional thereafter, securing his Tour card with a 10^th-place finish at the Qualifying School.

Multiple Sunshine Tour champion Jake Roos says his fellow professionals are “Ready to rumble” and excited to return to action in the Tour’s new Rise-Up Series which tees off in Gauteng on 19 August.

The Rise-Up Series marks the official resumption of the Sunshine Tour’s schedule under the new COVID-19 government regulations. The series will feature five 54-hole tournaments, each with a purse of R600 000 and with a full field of professionals, and all played in Gauteng. The final round of each tournament will be streamed live on the Sunshine Tour streaming platforms and DStv Now.

“The professionals are very excited. It’s been a long time coming. The last tournament we played in was the Tour Championship in February, so everyone is really grateful for this new series,” said Roos.

“These are tough times and it shows a lot of dedication from all involved to present a new series of five tournaments. As professionals we are very grateful for this opportunity to compete again. I think it’s uncharted waters for many of us. Some of the professionals have hardly ever taken a week off and now it’s suddenly been a few months off. Fortunately the golf courses have opened and we have had the opportunity to start practising again. Until you get into a tournament and feel the pressure of tournament play again, I think none of us are really certain where our games are at. But the positive is that everyone is well rested and ready to rumble again.”

Thomas Abt, the Deputy Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour, said the new series represents a rising up of professional golf on a number of fronts.

“Everybody understands that professional golf is critical to the health of the whole golf industry, and with the support of our sponsors and partners we’ve put together a series that we believe will create a lot of interest in professional golf again.

“We’re delighted that Betway, the sponsors of our first tournament on the series, the Betway Championship, will sponsor a new Betway Birdie Challenge. The top three professionals who make the most birdies throughout the entire series will win their share of a R50 000 prize, starting with R25 000 for the winner, R15 000 for second place and R10 000 for third place. And we are also pleased to announce that Betway will be a new partner to the Sunshine Tour going forward. AfricanBank also jumped at the opportunity to be a sponsor of this series, and we’re equally grateful to SuperSport for their support and the live-streaming of our final rounds on DStv Now. We also have a number of other new digital elements planned and ways to give our professionals the platforms to showcase their skills to a new audience and at a time when there are no spectators allowed at our tournaments.

“In terms of the host golf courses, we’ve selected courses that don’t regularly have the opportunity to host Sunshine Tour events with courses that traditionally do host a lot of tournaments. In this way we want to give other courses that opportunity in what has been a challenging time for all golf courses.”

Abt said the Sunshine Tour has a comprehensive risk mitigation strategy in place that incorporates the official GolfRSA Risk Mitigation Strategy as approved by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and elements of the strategies that have been employed by the PGA Tour and the European Tour in their restarts.

“All of our professionals and Sunshine Tour staff are undergoing a screening process and this started two weeks before the first tournament. We will also have a screening station at the various tournaments for all who enter the premises. If there are any inconsistencies that become prevalent in that screening, the player will be taken to a holding room for 20 minutes. He will then be subjected to a second screening. If there are still inconsistencies, then that player will have to leave the facility. And we will be vigilant in ensuring our players follow this to the letter of the law and as per the government regulations around all professional athletes and competition.

“We have also been in contact with our colleagues at both the PGA Tour and European Tour and they have shared their risk mitigation documents and strategies with us, and we have considered all of this in the development of our own strategy. So we are confident in our strategy and looking forward to this restart of our schedule.”

Professional golf is back on South African fairways, with the Sunshine Tour set to resume its schedule this August with a new Gauteng swing of five tournaments that will be known as the Rise-Up Series.

The Rise-Up Series will feature five 54-hole tournaments each with a purse of R600 000 and with a full field of professionals, but played according to the COVID-19 Risk Mitigation Strategy submitted by GolfRSA and approved by the Departmernt of Sport. The final round of each tournament will be streamed live on the Sunshine Tour streaming platforms and DStv Now.

The Rise-Up Series will tee off at Killarney Country Club with the first event from 19-21 August. It will then travel to Glendower Golf Club from 26-28 August, followed by Pretoria Country Club from 2-4 September, ERPM Golf Club from 23-25 September, and Huddle Park Golf Club from 30 September to 2 October.

“We are delighted to be able to announce our return to tournament golf with the new Rise-Up Series and extremely grateful to Betway and African Bank who will be sponsors on the series and whose immediate support has helped us to develop this series,” said Sunshine Tour Commissioner, Selwyn Nathan.

“It has been a long wait for our member professionals and our sponsors, and we thank them for their patience and understanding. Ever since we suspended our activities in March this year, we remained resolute that we would not resume playing until we had the necessary confirmation from government and had consulted thoroughly with our sponsors. That is why we are only now announcing this resumption of our schedule as we are confident that under the current government lockdown Alert Level 3 and with our planning in place, we can resume tournament activity in a safe, responsible and controllable manner.”

The Sunshine Tour has worked closely with GolfRSA and its official Risk Mitigation Strategies in order to meet the full compliance necessary for the resumption of its tournaments.

Only professional golfers and their registered caddies, as well as Sunshine Tour staff and officials and limited media and TV crew will be allowed on-site at each tournament. The professionals and their caddies as well as tournament staff will be screened prior to the start of the Rise-Up Series, and monitored and tracked with the use of the official HealthDocs platform. There will also be daily screening and processing of all persons entering the tournament venues. No spectators or player support staff will be allowed at the tournaments. There will also be no hospitality facilities for the professional golfers and their caddies.

“Our main focus is to ensure that none of our member professionals or staff is in any way compromised from a health standpoint. We are confident we have taken every possible step to make this not only a safe return to professional golf, but also a welcome one with a Rise-Up Series that will reflect the role our game plays in representing the spirit of sport and its ability to help uplift society in challenging times,” said Nathan.

Rise-Up Series Tournament Schedule

19-21 August: Rise-Up Series Event 1 Betway Championship at Killarney Country Club

26-28 August: Rise-Up Series Event 2 sponsored by African Bank at Glendower Golf Club

2-4 September: Rise-Up Series Event 3 at Pretoria Country Club

23-25 September: Rise-Up Series Event 4 at ERPM Golf Club

30 September – 2 October: Rise-Up Series Event 5 at Huddle Park Golf Club

For many professional and aspiring professional golfers, competing on the biggest Tours and in the biggest tournaments in the world is a long-held dream, and when opportunities to explore such dreams come along, the natural instinct is to “grab the bull by the horns”, as the old adage goes.

But not all that glitters is gold.

Five years ago, a 26-year old Michael Palmer was one of the hottest players on the Big Easy Tour, notching up a fourth spot finish in the Order of Merit in a season whose highlights included two runners-up finishes, three top-fives and three top-10s. Having turned professional in that very season and with the Sunshine Tour Qualifying School beckoning, Palmer had one idea in his head.

“I played really well in 2015, arguably some of the best golf in my career,” he says from his home in Johannesburg. “Between the IGT Tour and the Big Easy Tour. I gained a lot of confidence that I would be able to compete on the Sunshine Tour. I actually managed to get my European Tour Challenge Tour card at the end of 2015. That was a huge achievement for me because I started to believe that I could possibly compete on tours around the world, never-mind just the Sunshine Tour.”

And, so he went!

A host of new challenges lay ahead as he set his sights on transferring his now-oozing confidence to an international stage, and possibly making a success of himself on the European Challenge Tour – with whom we now co-sanction three tournaments.

“My form dropped,” he says of his immediate challenge in Europe. “And my lack of experience was evident in the situation.”

He had made only four cuts all season long and for a player who now knew he could compete against the best of them, these were tough times.

“The 2016 season on the Challenge Tour was an eye-opener for me. It showed me the extent of travel that is involved. Spending months away from home and adapting to new countries, and conditions. It was a great learning experience for me. You learn a lot about yourself travelling alone and being exposed to those challenges.”

Ever so strong through adversity and trying times, Palmer still had an ace in his hand: despite what he admits to being a miserable season abroad, he still had his Sunshine Tour status back home.

“I managed to salvage what was left of my Sunshine Tour season,” he says with aid of hindsight.

“I was disappointed with my efforts in Europe and felt despondent about my future as an international competitor. Since I flew back home from Europe, it took me almost two years to get my game to a place where I could play with freedom and confidence again.”

Those two years was the same 2016 and the 2017 season when he finished 86^th on the Order of Merit.

“A natural reaction to any kind of adversity is to try harder and attempt to fix the issues,” Palmer says of his next move from a place he’d found himself in.

“I went “searching”. Searching for the answers in my swing, in my routines, in my equipment, anything that I could use as the “thing” to get my game back.”

His results in the first seven events of the 2018/19 season didn’t offer much hope as he missed every cut but then, boom! His breakthrough victory in the KCB Karen Masters in Nairobi in July of 2018 and then everything seemed to fall in its right place. The win was followed by a second-place finish in the Royal Swazi Spa Challenge and a fifth-spot in the Sun Carnival City Challenge the next month. Three more top-10s – eighth in the Zanaco Masters of 2019, fifth in the Royal Swazi Spa Challenge and third in the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Sishen and while he could not defend the title, his 15^th place finish at the KCB Karen Masters formed part of the season’s highlights.

“I played some of my most consistent golf of my career leading up to the season, and fortunately, that form continued onto the next season,” Palmer notes.

“I think the most important factors in the success of the 2018/19 season was the growth and building that was done leading up to the season. For two years I improved my swing, mental approach, expectations and that all added up to small incremental improvements that gave me the confidence I needed to play better golf.

“I felt that I was heading for another high finish on the order of merit in 2019. I had a busy schedule towards the middle of the year. I decided to pursue sponsorship opportunities in the states, I competed in the Alfred Dunhill Links in Scotland, played in the Durban stretch in SA, attempted to qualify for my card at the European Q-School in Spain, rushed back for the Alfred Dunhill at Leopard Creek, and finally playing in Mauritius to cap off a stretch of miserable golf and nothing to show for my efforts to compete on tours around the world – my head was fried!

“Golf is a fickle game, one moment you are seeking new avenues to further your career and the next you are tumbling down a negative spiral of disappointment. I got ahead of myself and very quickly I learned you cannot take any achievements in this game for granted.”

Through all that, and even against a season of two-halves such as the one he had before golf was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Palmer yearns for one thing.

“I love competing and the rush of being in contention down the stretch of the final round is addictive,” he states.

“Especially when the outcome would mean a drastic change to your career. Everyone on the Sunshine Tour is able to win an event. We have world-class players on our tour and it makes it so difficult to be consistently successful. Even with the “winners’ mentality, you have to get lucky and hopefully the week your game decides to come together is the week you get the good bounces.”

He is home nursing an injury to his arm right now but he will hope the return of professional tournaments will coincide with his own recovery, and just maybe he might just get the bounces once more. Moreover, up to this point, returning back home was not such a bad idea after all.