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South Africa’s number one amateur, Christiaan Maas, will have the opportunity to test himself against the Sunshine Tour professionals in this week’s Serengeti Pro-Am Invitational at Serengeti Estates, which tees off on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old GolfRSA National Squad star and reigning South African Amateur champion will find himself in a field that includes a wealth of in-form professionals who are all contributing to a run of low scoring on the Sunshine Tour over the past three tournaments.

The last two halfway cuts have been at six under par and five under par. There have been two golfers, Neil Schietekat and Daniel van Tonder, who have shot nine-hole scores of 29. In fact, Schietekat posted a back nine of 29 for a 62 in the second round of last week’s Gauteng Championship presented by Betway, and still only led by one shot.

This week’s tournament includes two of the last three champions on the Tour in Jaco Prinsloo and Jbe’ Kruger. Schietekat, who narrowly lost out to Kruger in last week’s Gauteng Championship presented by Betway, is back to try again.

The experienced Hennie Otto is back at the venue where he won the South African Open in 2011, and in fine form as well having finished fourth in two of his last three tournaments. The equally experienced Jean Hugo comes into this week with finishes of fourth and ninth in his last two tournaments. And Tristen Strydom continues his push for a maiden Sunshine Tour victory, having not finished outside the top nine in his last three tournaments.

It will be the perfect highly competitive environment for Maas to test himself. Former Sunshine Tour professional Nico van Rensburg will be keeping a close eye on his progress as well. Van Rensburg has long believed Maas is the next big star of South African golf.

“Christiaan is the first golfer I’ve seen that’s in Ernie Els’s calibre with his short game and his ability to be really creative in this department. He’s now close to six feet tall and his swing is so easy. He’s got a good head on his shoulders and is very strong mentally,” he says.

The format for this week’s five-round tournament will see the professionals compete on their own for the first and second rounds, followed by a cut to the top 50 and ties. Then they take to the Serengeti’s famed Whistling Thorn Par 3 course for their third round as well as the first round of the pro-am. They will return to Serengeti’s main Jack Nicklaus Signature Design Championship course for Saturday’s fourth round, which will include the second round of the pro-am. And they will remain here for Sunday’s fifth round, which is also the final round of the pro-am.

The tournament will be broadcast live on SuperSport for the final two rounds for a minimum of three hours daily, and HotFM will also be broadcasting live from the tournament on Friday. – Michael Vlismas

Photo Credit: Christiaan Maas/GolfRSA

Jbe’ Kruger claimed an emotional two-stroke victory in the Gauteng Championship presented by Betway at the Ebotse Links on Sunday.

Kruger closed with a 66 to win on 21 under par. Martin Rohwer took second place on 19 under following his own final round of 66. Neil Schietekat, who was chasing Kruger just one shot behind with the par-five 18^th to play, made double bogey on the last to finish third on 18 under with a 70.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been as nervous as this in my life,” said a relieved Kruger. “Neil is a very strong competitor and he pushed me all the way.”

While his long game still isn’t quite at the level he’d like, Kruger kept himself in contention with his putting on Sunday.

Kruger and Schietekat battled for the lead for most of the final round. Then Schietekat bogeyed the 16^th to give Kruger a one-shot advantage, and on 18 Schietekat hit his drive into an environmentally sensitive area that led to a double bogey that ended his challenge.

When Kruger tapped in for par at the last, he couldn’t control the tears as he recorded his first victory since 2019. It ended what has been a frustrating few years in which he made swing changes in the hope of improving but which had the opposite effect and caused more problems than it solved.

“It’s tough when you’re not playing great, but I’ve had some wonderful support from my family,” he said.

“I think in light of the whole Covid situation and me trying to fix my swing, this victory ranks in at least top two wins of my career. I’ve never had to win under this amount of pressure. With me playing badly, I didn’t have a great category on the Sunshine Tour so I only had a handful of tournaments I was exempt for to try and do something. So to win under those circumstances is really sweet.”

The Sunshine Tour heads to Serengeti Estates this week for the R1.5 million Serengti Pro-Am Invitational. –  Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

Neil Schietekat birdied the last to maintain his one-stroke lead in the Gauteng Championship presented by Betway at the Ebotse Links on Saturday.

On a day when a good breeze made the Ebotse Links play more true to its name, Schietekat signed for a 69 to stay top of the leaderboard and go into the final round on 16 under par.

Moments earlier, Jbe’ Kruger had set the clubhouse target at 15 under par with a 67 that was a massive boost in confidence for a man who has spent the past few years trying to regain the form, and swing, that carried him to six titles and a one-time place within the top 110 on the world rankings.

For Schietekat, Saturday’s third round was a true test of confidence in the changes he’s made to his swing, especially when two soft bogeys crept in during the middle of the round.

“I was grinding a bit there in the middle of the round. You know, following up a 62 from the second round is tough, and the wind didn’t make it any easier. This course is designed for a bit of wind. But it still feels like I’m playing pretty good and everything is coming out the way I expected it. I’m proud that I was able to pull myself together and get a decent score in on a difficult day.”

Behind him, Kruger also took a lot of confidence from his 67. Kruger has been working hard to rediscover his form, which includes undoing some swing changes that have been detrimental to his game.

“I’m just taking it one shot at a time out there. I can’t even say I’m taking it one day at a time. It’s just one shot at a time in the process to get my swing back. Today I made a few putts which was rewarding. And I like a course where the wind blows and conditions are tough. It’s rewarding to see the results, even if they’re still very small at this stage in my process to get my natural swing back.”

MJ Viljoen heads into the final round in third place on 14 under par following a 67. The leaderboard is still very tightly bunched, with only four shots separating the top 10 players. –  Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

Neil Schietekat added to the incredible run of low scoring on the Sunshine Tour at the moment as he signed for a 62, including a first nine of 29, to lead the Gauteng Championship presented by Betway by a single stroke heading into the weekend at the Ebotse Links.

Schietekat carded only the second 29 on the Sunshine Tour this year, following Daniel van Tonder’s 29 in the third round of The Players Championship at Dainfern last week, and finished Friday’s second round top of the leaderboard on 13 under par.

“Everybody is shooting really low scores at the moment and I knew I’d have to go low to be at the top of the leadeboard,” said Schietekat.

CJ du Plessis and Tristen Strydom are currently second on 12 under following respective rounds of 64 and 68, while Martin Rohwer is next best on 11 under after signing for a 66. Jean Hugo is well-placed at three shots off the lead going into the weekend.

But Friday was clearly Schietekat’s turn to add to the surfeit of low scores on the Tour since the resumption of its schedule this month.

“The course was set up for it today. The greens and fairways are soft, and the tees were forward. As is always the case with Ebotse, if there is a bit of a breeze it makes it tougher. But that said, there are some low numbers out there at the moment,” he said.

Teeing off the 10^th, Schietekat parred the first and then let loose, making seven birdies in his next eight holes. After the turn, he birdied the first, third and eighth holes to top the leaderboard.

Schietekat has been on an upward curve, finishing 27^th and 10^th in his last two tournaments. He’s won three times on the Sunshine Tour, two of which came in 2018. And last year he had two runner-up finishes. He also has the confidence of having earned his playing privileges on the Asian Tour, and was looking forward to competing there before that Tour was suspended because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

“Getting my card in Asia has given me a lot of confidence. I played one event there and then Covid hit. But I took the break as an opportunity to make some changes to my swing, and it’s paying off.” –  Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour