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By Michael Vlismas

Louis Oosthuizen believes South African golf is in a great place at the moment, and the proof of this will be on display at this week’s South African Open hosted by the City of Joburg at Randpark Golf Club.

Oosthuizen, speaking on the eve of Thursday’s first round and in his role as both defending champion and the new Player-Host of the second oldest national Open in golf, said the depth of golf worldwide has increased substantially, and that South Africa also has a deep well of talent coming through.

“Golf is very competitive worldwide. At any Major Championship now there are 50 to 60 players that can win it. It’s such a small margin between a top-10 finish in a Major and a win. But I think South African golf is in a really good spot. We’ve got lots of young players coming through and it might not happen right now, but I do think we have a few Major champions coming,” said Oosthuizen.

As he spoke, the driving range at Randpark Golf Club was filled with 65 children from the townships of Soweto, Alexandra and Diepsloot who were attending a golf clinic with professionals from the Sunshine Tour and European Tour as part of the City of Joburg’s ongoing efforts to grow the game.

Soweto Country Club this week hosted the South African Open Pro-Am for the first time in history, and the newly refurbished course also has a South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) chapter for the coaching of young golfers in the iconic township. At a professional level, this week’s field will feature six golfers from the Gary Player Class, the Sunshine Tour’s talent identification squad for historically disadvantaged professionals, who have been given invitations by the City of Joburg to participate in the championship. They are Dwayne Basson, Thabiso Ngcobo, Franklin Manchest, Keelan van Wyk, Makhetha Mazibuko and Musiwalo Nethunzwi. And four young golfers – two from Soweto Country Club and two from Diepsloot – have been given the opportunity to spend the week inside the ropes with the professionals and experience the South African Open as Honorary Observers.

The strength of amateur golf under GolfRSA will be showcased with a record 11 amateurs playing in their national Open.

And with the SAGDB celebrating its 20^th anniversary as the official body for golf development in South Africa, and the other coordinated efforts of foundations and golf academies such as the Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation and Oosthuizen’s own Louis57 Academy, South African golf has a fully integrated and sustainable golf development drive that is the envy of many a country.

“I think golf in South Africa is strong. I have one or two of the golfers in my foundation who are looking forward to starting a career in golf in the near future. It’s just good to see golf in such a good place in South Africa,” said Oosthuizen.

As much as he is enthused about the future of South African golf, Oosthuizen is still very much focused on his own efforts this week.

“Coming back here as a defending champion is great. And then, when I received the call from Ernie Els and Sunshine Tour Commissioner Selwyn Nathan asking me to be the Player-Host, that was a great honour and makes this week extra special for me.

“My win here was emotional because it’s a title I always wanted. It was great to get that victory, and it would be great to put my name on that trophy again. Gary Player won this so many times, and Ernie Els and Retief Goosen won it a few times. Whenever you put your name on a trophy for the second time it’s special.”

Stars such as Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, Eddie Pepperell, Brandon Stone, and Charl Schwartzel will be competing for one of South Africa’s iconic sports trophies in the South African Open Championship hosted by the City of Johannesburg at Randpark Golf Club.

There is a record in a newspaper advertisement in 1909 which refers to the ‘Open Championship Floating Trophy’, which was to be held by the amateur or professional with the lowest score in the SA Open. But there is no indication, either then or since, in the SA Golf Association records regarding how or when the trophy was first acquired or by whom it was presented. It is referred to in all instances as the ‘Open Championship Cup’ or ‘Trophy’.

The South African Open was inaugurated in 1903 after a series of exhibition matches had been played in the decade prior to it. It is the second-oldest national open golf championship in the world, with the Open Championship being the oldest. It is also the second-oldest sporting competition in South Africa after rugby’s Currie Cup, which was first played for in 1893.

The tournament was a 36-hole event until 1908 when it became 72 holes. However, for the next 60 years, it was a three-day event as 36 holes were played on the final day. It was only at the 1969 event at Durban Country Club that it became a four-day event – the format it still maintains today.

In 1997, the European Tour co-sanctioned the event for the first time. Fiji’s Vijay Singh won that year at Glendower Golf Club, and the tournament has remained co-sanctioned ever since. The tournament has grown over the years and now offers an impressive total prize fund of R17.5-million.

Over four decades, Gary Player won an astonishing 13 SA Open titles which is comfortably the most of any golfer. He and Bobby Locke hold the record for the most consecutive wins with five. Locke also holds the record for being the youngest winner courtesy of his triumph in 1935 when he was just 17, while Sid Brews is the oldest champion with his title in 1952 having come at the age of 53.

In 2011 Hennie Otto claimed his maiden SA Open title to continue South Africa’s dominance of the trophy since the turn of the century. Scotland’s Richie Ramsay broke an eight-year stranglehold that South African golfers had on the tournament when he won at Pearl Valley in 2009, but with Ernie Els winning in 2010 and Hennie Otto claiming victory a year later, the golfers from the Republic re-asserted their dominance.

But Sweden’s Henrik Stenson took the 2012 title from Coetzee at Serengeti and the 2013 title was won by Denmark’s Madsen by two strokes from Otto and Jbe’ Kruger. And along came Andy Sullivan in 2015 to break Charl Schwartzel’s heart with a play-off victory featuring one of the great shots of the South African Open from the trees on the left of the 18^th fairway.

Brandon Stone wrested the trophy back for South Africa with his fine win in 2016, while Graeme Storm defeated Rory McIlroy in a play-off to win the 2017 title.

Chris Paisley of England beat Branden Grace by three shots in 2018, and Louis Oosthuizen finally got his shot when he took the last title at Randpark in December 2018.

South Africa’s national open has a long and prestigious history, and getting one’s name on such a trophy is a proud achievement for any golfer, regardless of nationality. It will thus be all to play for at Randpark as the players in the field this week will be after the lucrative winner’s cheque.

However, the player who lifts the trophy on Sunday will also join a wonderful list of champions and etch himself into golfing history.

By Michael Vlismas

Dr Andrew Mlangeni remembers the day during the 26 years and four months that he was incarcerated on Robben Island when he found three golf balls that gave him hope. Three golf balls, hidden away in the long grass of a field he and his fellow political prisoners were clearing on the island. When he found them, he thought he was dreaming.

At Soweto Country Club on Monday this week, the 94-year-old Dr Mlangeni felt a similar sense of disbelief when the South African Open hosted by the City of Joburg came to Soweto Country Club. The second oldest national Open in world golf hosted its official pro-am on his beloved golf course.

“Nobody ever dreamt that one day we’d play the SA Open pro-am in Soweto and on a golf course belonging to the people of Soweto. When I saw this, I said to myself there is nothing we cannot do if we all have a common goal,” says Dr Mlangeni.

The hope of working towards a better future sometimes appeared bleak for Dr Mlangeni during his time in prison. At one point he even admits that the game of golf he grew up loving seemed all but gone from his memory. And then he found those three golf balls.

“One day we were working in a field picking out clumps of grass. Then I picked up three golf balls. I thought it was a dream. I worried about how I was going to get them into my cell because they would search us, and I needed those golf balls to remind me of the game. I couldn’t understand where the balls came from because the grass was so tall. But then years later, when Tokyo Sexwale was being interviewed by the media, he mentioned something about this nine-hole golf course on the island for the warders. Then I knew I hadn’t been dreaming when I found those golf balls,” he said.

And on Monday he reminded himself that he also wasn’t dreaming as he watched another historic occasion in the transformation of Soweto Country Club.

Dr Mlangeni was there for that first conversation with Sunshine Tour Commissioner Selwyn Nathan, who outlined his vision to the oldest surviving member of Soweto Country Club to give the people of Soweto a golf course they can be proud of and which is good enough to host a major tournament.

With the support of original course designer Gary Player, who upgraded the golf course at no cost, as well as the City of Joburg, The R&A, the PGA Tour, the European Tour and a wealth of private and corporate benefactors, Soweto Country Club has already hosted a Sunshine Ladies Tour professional tournament and now the pro-am of a major international golf tournament. It is also home to a South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) chapter named after Dr Mlangeni.

All of it is another powerful representation of the Sunshine Tour’s core statement that #Gr8nessBeginsHere – whether it’s the greatness of a future Major champion emerging from this Tour, or the greatness of what has taken place at Soweto Country Club.

And in the mind of Dr Mlangeni, it represents even the greatness in the potential of South Africa.

“If we don’t work together, we won’t be successful. So, to the people who want to leave South Africa, I would say please learn from those who left and came back. Come back home. This country belongs to all of us who are South African. Let’s build it together.”

And it’s given him renewed hope that at the age of 94 and still recovering from several serious health setbacks, he will again play golf on these fairways.

“I’m losing my eyesight and my hearing has also been affected. The doctors told me I need to remember I’m 94 and not a young man anymore. Then I had an issue with my leg. I said to myself when my leg heals, I want to play again. But I am worried about my eyesight. My brother-in-law said to me, ‘Don’t worry. Practice just a little bit every day and don’t worry. Remember, bietjie bietjie maak baie (little by little becomes a lot). Keep on practising every day’. So that’s what I’ll do. I’m really hopeful I will play golf again.”

It’s the same hope that carried him when he found those three golf balls on Robben Island. When he was released from prison, he still had those three golf balls with him. He took them straight to Soweto Country Club and used them to play his first round of golf as a free man.

And he knew he wasn’t dreaming.

Teenager Rasmus Hojgaard of Denmark gave a nerveless display in a tense sudden-death play-off on Sunday to win the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at the third hole after three players shared the lead after regulation play.

He made eagle on the third play-off hole, after Italy’s Renato Paratore had been eliminated at the first, and France’s Antoine Rozner was unable to match his distance and accuracy on the third attempt to find a winner in the tournament sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, the European Tour and the Asian Tour.

“I can’t put it into words right now,” said Hojgaard after he was drenched in champagne by fellow- Danes Jeff Winther and veteran Soren Kjeldsen. “I didn’t think I’d win this early. Even to be on the tour this young is something I didn’t think would happen.”

He became the third-youngest winner on the European Tour behind Matteo Manassero of Italy and New Zealand’s Danny Lee. “That’s cool,” he said. “I never thought about that. To win so early in my career is amazing, and I’m already looking forward to the next tournament.”

He started the final round in a hurry, with a birdie and an eagle in his opening two holes, but a pair of bogeys on the fourth and the fifth seemed set to put the skids on his charge to the top. But he maintained an equilibrium that would have been admirable in one much older, picking up birdies on the seventh, the 10^th and the 18^th to get himself into the play-off.

“I just tried to be patient and set up as many birdie chances as possible,” he said of his approach to the final round. “I knew I had to make a birdie on 18 in regulation to get into the play-off or an eagle to win. It was all about putting the drive in position, and from there on, I won’t say it’s simple, but you’ve got a good chance from there.”

Once he got into the play-off, things changed a bit for him. “I was obviously nervous,” he said, “but I had nothing to lose in the play-off, so it was driver all day. Then, for the approach shots, I just kept telling myself to believe in myself and get the number right.”

In the play-off, he made birdie-birdie-eagle on the par-five 18^th to pull off the victory. “That was pretty cool,” he said.

One shot behind Rozner and Paratore was South Africa’s Louis de Jager who closed with a flawless eight-under 64. After he eagled the 14^th, he was unable to capitalise on birdie opportunities, notably on the 16^th and 17^th, which would have put him in the conversation for the title. He was joined in a share of fourth by Frenchman Benjamin Hebert, Scot Grant Forrest and Thomas Detry of Belgium, whose bogey on 17 cost him dearly.

For Hojgaard, it is all about getting home to celebrate with family and friends. “I’m over the moon right now,” he said. “That’s all I can say.”

He’s almost breaking the door down now, and Thomas Detry of Belgium kept knocking hard on Saturday with a five-under-par 67 to head into the final round in a three-way share of the lead of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.

Despite bogeys on 12 and 16, the 26-year-old made seven birdies, including three consecutively around the turn at Heritage Golf Club as he set himself up for a tilt at his maiden European Tour title in the tournament co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, the Asian Tour and the European Tour. He shared the lead with Scotland’s Calum Hill and Antoine Rozner of France.

“I’ve been in this position a few times,” said Detry. “I was in this position three weeks ago in Sun City at the Nedbank Golf Challenge. A few weeks before at the French Open, I gave myself a chance to win too.

“I got off to a better start today compared to yesterday – two-under after five. A great drive on nine, hit the green there and got it going. I made two silly mistakes. I think we misjudged the yardage on 12, we hit the wedge shot about 25 metres short. Don’t know what happened there. The 16^th is a bit of a tricky green very firm. But very, very happy with the way I played today.”

Detry has produced round of 67, 66 and 67 in this tournament, and, with his only professional winning coming on the Challenge Tour when he won the 2016 Bridgestone Challenge by 12 shots from Thriston Lawrence with a record score of 259, 29 under par, it’s clear he can go low once again and run away with things.

He turned in three-under 33, showing nary a sign of pressure, but the bogeys blotted his copybook on the homeward nine after he had started it so well with birdies on 10 and 11. However, he steadied things with birdies on 15 and 18 – the latter thanks to an aggressive approach from the left of the fairway to the pin placed close to the water on a narrow green.

“We had a few good breaks, took advantage of the birdie putts we had. Very pleased with the way I played. Ball striking wasn’t 100 percent on the first few holes, but I got some confidence and felt pretty good out there,” he said.

Rozner looked as if he were going to be the sole leader as he reached the turn in five-under 31 with an eagle and three birdies. But he was unable to register another birdie from the 10^th until the 16^th where he dropped his first shot of the day. However, he made up for that with a pair of birdies to finish.

Hill, the 25-year-old Scot, made six birdies and two bogeys to continue his good week and edge ahead of Danish teenager Rasmus Hojgaard and America’s Sihwan Kim who shared fourth place one stroke back on 15-under ahead of the final round.

One of the most remarkable rounds of the day came from first-round leader Brandon Stone, who opened with a triple-bogey. He made three more bogeys in his first 10 holes, while somehow keeping his challenge barely alive with three birdies in that stretch. Then he turned on the turbojets as he raced home with six birdies in his final eight holes to card an unlikely three-under 69 and join Italy’s Renato Paratore in a share of sixth, two shots off the pace.

For Detry, the push for victory will involve pretty much what he always does. “I think it’s all about keeping it simple,” he said. “Just play like you have been playing in practice rounds. It’s easy to say, but I think that’s how you approach the fourth day.”

Calum Hill of Scotland weathered the heat and humidity at Heritage Golf Club on Friday to card a fine eight-under-par 64 to move to 12-under and a one-stroke lead after the second round of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.

It was very nearly a flawless round for the 25-year-old who won twice on the Challenge Tour this year, with just a single bogey coming on his homeward nine after he started on the 10^th. He turned in five-under 31, and dropped the shot on the sixth – his 15^th – to be just clear of first-round leader Brandon Stone, Thomas Detry of Belgium, and Matthieu Pavon of France in the tournament sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, the European Tour and the Asian Tour.

“I’m happy with that, especially to make a putt on the last hole to finish off a good round,” said Hill. “I made a lot of long-range putts – 20, 25 foot – probably made four of those. Managed to get the putter going well today, which added up to a good score.”

Hill got a start on the European Tour in July when he played in the Scottish Open and finished in a share of 26^th, and has found it relatively easy so far to step up from the Challenge Tour from which he graduated.

“I haven’t noticed a huge difference yet coming from Challenge Tour,” he said. “Obviously the fields are stronger, but it’s the same as every tournament you play – you go out and do your best, see where that puts you at the end of the week, and dig in when you need to.”

The Scottish Open of 2018 was Stone’s last victory, and, after a tough 2019, he is starting to round into form again. He also dropped just a single shot on his way to a five-under 67. “I was always in play, gave myself a lot of opportunities and managed to convert a fair number of them,” said Stone.

Detry, who is yet to win on the European Tour, but has looked likely to do so soon, overcame a poor start with two bogeys in his first four holes. He went on to make an eagle and seven birdies, together with one more dropped shot as he signed for a 66.

Pavon had a bogey-free journey around the course on his way to a six-under-par 66, with a birdie on 18 lifting him into a share of second.

Five players were another shot back on 10-under at the halfway mark – Sihwan Kim of the United States, Connor Syme of Scotland and the French duo of Antoine Rozner and Benjamin Hebert – after a hot and humid day.

“It’s been very warm – Leopard Creek was slightly different, it’s a lot drier,” said the leader Hill of the difference between the head for the Alfred Dunhill Championship and that on the Indian Ocean island. “Here it’s hot and humid so you are sweating buckets for the whole round, but I seem to be getting used to it.”

The Heritage Golf Club also offered a different challenge. “Leopard Creek is very demanding off the tee. This course is a bit wider but there has been more wind this week which makes it tricky. You have to position it quite well. There are a few holes where you’ve got to keep an eye out. One errant shot can cost you quite a lot,” said Hill.

He’s relishing the experience as he builds on the lessons of each successive tournament. “The last couple of days the game has been nice,” he said. “Last week was a slow start and I played better at the weekend. It’s just built on from there.”

The heady mix of laid-back island life and the need to go low is what will exercise Brandon Stone’s mind as he goes into the weekend at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open on 11-under par and very much in contention at Heritage Golf Club.

After a second-round five-under-par 67 to go with his opening 66, he had the afternoon off to contemplate how he was going to approach the final two rounds as he tries to close out his year with a victory which would be his first since July 2018 when he won the Scottish Open.

In the surrounding beauty, as well as the tropical heat, it’s tough to keep the focus on golf laser-like as it should be if you’re chasing a win as well as a place amongst the world’s elite in the sport.

“This week consists of doing a little bit of practice, playing 18 holes and then putting your feet up by the pool,” he said. “Yesterday for the first time this year I had a 45-minute nap poolside and then took a long romantic walk on the beach with my wife. It’s just spectacular. It’s a perfect way to end the year. You know, 2019 has been quite a tricky year with a lot of ups and downs, and to come here and de-stress is just fantastic.”

That approach clearly had its benefits, as his six birdies and just a single bogey in his second round showed. “I’m very happy with how things went today,” he said. “I got off to a nice start this morning; a couple of birdies early which kind of settled the nerves a little bit. And then from there I just played great all day. Very low stress, always in play, gave myself a lot of opportunities and managed to convert a fair number of them and sitting 11-under-par going into the weekend is exactly where you want to be.”

It was a dramatic change from the previous week at the Alfred Dunhill Championship where he played well enough but battled to make the cut. “Putting is an important component every week,” he said. “I think that was the missing factor I had last week because I felt like I hit the ball as good last week as I am this week, but I just didn’t convert. It felt like your back was against the wall, whereas this week, I’m giving myself a lot of opportunities and managed to convert the majority of those and that’s why I see myself at the top of the leaderboard and not at the cut line like I was last week.”

With things as relaxed for him as they are, he’s upbeat about the action ahead of him for the weekend. “The target for the weekend is to go as low as we can go, actually,” he said. “The game feels quite comfortable and I know the guys will maybe tuck a few flags over the weekend, a little bit of breeze is forecast. It’s going to be a challenge and at the same time, there’s a lot of really top-quality players in the field, so you’re going to go out and try to shoot as low as you can and, hopefully, by Sunday evening it’s going to be enough.”

Haydn Porteous has warned first-time participants in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open not to be distracted by the beauty of the Heritage Golf Resorts layout, saying this track can have a mean bite when the conditions allow for it.

Porteous bought property at Heritage two years ago and while he admits that he doesn’t visit the Indian Ocean nation often, he has familiarised himself with the track when he has been down here.

“I must say, it’s quite difficult to work on the game when you are at a place like this, he confesses. “I think every player can say that and we’d rather be spending a bit of time on the beach rather than practising and doing what we’re supposed to do here.

“The wind is the first thing to look out for,” says Porteous, “if you get it on a good day, you want to shoot something worth talking about. But, when it’s windy, it can play very tough and I think then the course can show its teeth.”

How does one go around this layout in order to shoot a good score, then?

“The game plan will differ between what we get weather-wise,” he says, “if we get a windy week, it’s going to be a long and tough week. If we get a pretty flat, calm week, I think the scores are going to be really good.”

Coming to Mauritius at the back of what was not really a trophy-laden season in Europe, Porteous isn’t too worried about the state of his game, and cannot wait to tee it up at Heritage on Thursday.

“I wouldn’t say that I’ve had the worst couple of seasons in Europe,” he argues, “I think I’ve been really consistent but I just have not been able to find the low one in me just yet, but you know how golf goes, it just takes one good shot to change everything.”

Like many Sunshine Tour players plying their trade abroad, Porteous is delighted to return to warmer weather conditions ahead of his Christmas break.

“Europe is tough,” he says with a grin, “sometimes the weather throws a few curve balls at us and no top of that, it is quite intense, so to come here and chill out and just remember why you play golf and enjoy it, is quite nice and refreshing. It’s nice to come out here and not treat it as a major.”

Justin Harding says he will not be putting himself under any sort of pressure when he tees off in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at Heritage Golf Resort this week and that his aim is to fix a few glitches in his game ahead of what’s looking to be a busy year for him.

Harding’s adventures, at home and abroad, have seen him earn praises across the globe in the last two years and now coming to an end of what has been a breakthrough season for him in Europe where he won his first title on that tour, the Stellenbosch Golf Club member is just trying to kick back and relax.

He won his first European Tour title at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in March. He birdied three of his last four holes to post a closing 66 and secure his first European Tour title in his 54th appearance. It was his fifth worldwide win in 12 months after securing two Asian Tour victories and two Sunshine Tour triumphs in July 2018 and May 2018, respectively.

“I’m not putting myself under a huge amount of pressure. I’m out to have a bit of fun and enjoy the Mauritian lifestyle,” said Harding ahead of Thursday’s tee-off time. “I’ve got a few things that I am trying to work on, game-wise, that I’m hoping to implement next year, so I was quite happy with last week’s results. I played solid but the golf course played tough. I gave myself a chance. I had a bit of a bad finish, I played my last six or seven holes over par, which was naughty, but at the end of the day, it was a decent enough week.

“There’s nothing, really, that I need to go in-depth in to in terms of what I am working on. I guess, I kind of felt like I lost my way a little bit, halfway through the year. So, I’m just trying to reimplement a couple of things that I may have forgotten. It’s an opportunity for me to start the new year on the European Tour season with a bit of a bang and if I have another top 10, then it’s good.

“It’s been a decent enough year. If you look at it as a whole; 12 months, it’s been very, very good. It’s opened up a bunch of doors for next year, so I’m just looking forward to a good week and putting my feet up and enjoying a good Christmas at home.”