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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

Tristen Strydom’s consistent rise in form carried him to the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the Gauteng Championship presented by Betway at the Ebotse Links on Thursday.

Strydom opened with a bogey-free eight-under-par 64 to lead the field by a single stroke in this Sunshine Tour event. He turned at three under, and then made four consecutive birdies from the 10^th and finished with a birdie on 18 to take the lead.

Kyle Barker is his nearest challenger after a first round of 65.

Jaco Prinsloo, last week’s winner of the Players Championship at Dainfern, was tied for the lead with Strydom playing the par-five 18^th, but double-bogeyed the hole to finish the day on six under with a 66. It was a disappointing end to a round that saw him climb the leaderboard with six consecutive birdies over the turn as he continued the form that earned him his second Sunshine Tour title last week.

But Strydom has long been hungry to translate his prodigious amateur success into professional success on the Sunshine Tour since he turned professional in 2017, and feels he edging ever closer to that goal.

“It was a great way to start. I haven’t been starting tournaments too well of late, and it’s good to get those first round woes oout of the way. We’ve been playing tournaments for three weeks now and the first couple of events there was still a bit of rust. But today I was really comfortable. I really putted well and holed some nice putts. No bogeys also helps.”

Since the Tour’s return following lockdown in August last year, Strydom has been making a strong push for a maiden Sunshine Tour title and came close in last September’s Titleist Championship on the Rise-Up Series before finishing second to George Coetzee. This year he’s been on an upward curve, finishing tied ninth in the Kit Kat Group Pro-Am and then tied sixth in the Players Championship.

But Strydom is not about to get ahead of himself after the first round.

“I’m just trying to control what I can. That’s my mindset. I’m not too worried about results but more concerned with sticking to what I believe in and enjoy. I refreshed my body and mind in December and it’s been good to play without any doubts in my mind. It’s only the first day so I won’t make too much of it yet.”

The 55-year-old James Kingston is also continuing his resurgence. After challenging for the lead in last week’s Players Championship before falling back on the weekend to eventually finish tied 27^th, the former European Tour campaigner started strong again at Ebotse. Kingston opened with a bogey-free six-under-par 66 that places him tied third with Prinsloo and Paul Boshoff.

Michael Hollick scored the first hole-in-one of the week during an adventurous opening round. Hollick’s three-over-par 75 included three birdies, two bogeys, three double bogeys, and his ace. – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

By Michael Vlismas

Jean Hugo is often named as one of the most naturally gifted professionals on the Sunshine Tour, even by his peers. But to describe him only as a “natural talent” who has never had to work hard at his craft would be to miss the finer details of what has made him one of the most consistent champions in Sunshine Tour history.

Hugo ranks sixth on the Sunshine Tour’s list of all-time winners. In the context of this week’s Gauteng Championship presented by Betway which tees off at the Ebotse Links on Thursday, Hugo perfectly represents Gauteng’s slogan as “The Home of Champions”.

The 45-year-old won everything he could locally as an amateur, including the South African Amateur in 1998 and 1999. He represented the country as a member of a 1998 Eisenhower Team that included Trevor Immelman, and in a tournament which that year included Luke Donald, Aaron Baddeley, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar.

In 1999 he finished ninth in the South African Open at Stellenbosch Golf Club, while still an amateur. He ended that week one shot behind Ernie Els and Thomas Björn, and five shots behind champion David Frost. He turned professional after this, making his debut in no less than The Open at Carnoustie that year but missing the cut.

A month later Hugo finished fourth in the Challenge Tour’s Norwegian Open. Back home on the Sunshine Tour he won the Zimbabwe Open in his rookie season. In 2000, a victory and four top-10s on the Challenge Tour earned Hugo his European Tour card, bypassing the gruelling experience of Qualifying School. As they say in the classics, he went straight to the ‘Big Show’.

He has had eight top-10s on the European Tour, but has yet to win there. And he has won 19 times on the Sunshine Tour, the most prolific of which was in 2010 and 2011 when he won six times. In one of those, the 2010 Vodacom Origins of Golf at Copperleaf, he shot a final round of 62 to beat Charl Schwartzel by one stroke.

But Hugo offers incredible insight to the notion that all of this has been fuelled only by the kind of natural talent Ernie Els once admitted surpassed even his own.

“When I was younger and turned pro in 1999, the game felt easy and exciting. I couldn’t wait to turn pro just to see how good I was compared with the rest. Winning my first event on the Sunshine Tour in 1999 felt natural, and it felt like I belonged. It came easy. But I was never over-confident. So I’ve obviously been blessed with natural talent, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t work at it,” he says.

“The difference is, I didn’t have to work that hard when I was younger. When I was young I could win when I didn’t have my A game. I’ve never had a swing coach or video analysis of my swing. I’ve always played by feel, and still do. It just came naturally.”

Hugo is the boy who, with his brother, discovered golf by pure chance.

“Nobody in my immediate family played golf. Then one December holiday we went and stayed with my grandparents in Humansdorp. My grandfather’s neighbour was a golfer. He gave my brother and I a five iron and a few balls, and we would go down to the Gamtoos River, which was mostly a dry riverbed, and hit balls. That’s how it started.”

Another common misconception about Hugo is that he’s the guy who loves his braai and a brandy and Coke, and the next day can just waltz onto the first tee and shoot a little 62.

It’s definitely not an analogy Hugo agrees with, but he’s made peace with the fact that this is often how he’s viewed.

“I’m not a dop and golf guy. I’d love to lose that tag of being a natural golfer who doesn’t work hard, but I suppose misconceptions are part of the game. I have balance, because that’s what my father taught me. He always used to say you can do what you like as long as you have balance. So go out with your friends, but make sure your homework is done for school the next day. I’m able to enjoy myself off the course, but it doesn’t get in the way of my preparation because I have a job to do when I get out there.”

In a sense, it’s reminiscent of Els himself. Despite the tag of being a man who loves life and lives large, those close to Els will tell you nobody works harder at the game than he does, or spends more time practising than he does.

In the case of Hugo, that early blaze of talent and success created an expectation amongst his fans, which perhaps they feel has not been met. Hugo admits he thinks about this himself, but has no regrets.

“If I worked then like I do now, maybe I could’ve done better. I would’ve loved to have been better at what I did when I was younger. You always have the what-ifs about the European Tour.

To be honest at that stage I didn’t even think about the PGA Tour. I was offered two bursaries to colleges in the United States, but turned them down to stay here and study in Stellenbosch. Remember, golf wasn’t as big a school sport then as it is now. When I was at school, our Science teacher would kind of be the golf coach or in charge of golf. It was a different time. I should’ve gone to the US, because at Maties I played rugby and wasn’t just focusing on golf like I would’ve done in the United States. It was quite daunting for me to go and study overseas. But I don’t have regrets.”

And, with a Sunshine Tour career that has earned him almost R12 million in prize money, he also has no desire to chase a European Tour dream now either.

“For me, right now, I don’t need to be overseas. I don’t feel the pull to go to the European Tour or Qualifying School. You know, a Tour School card is very hard to keep because you only get limited starts and in the smaller tournaments.”

In his last year on the European Tour in 2016, Hugo played 18 tournaments. He made the cut in eight of them, with one top-10, and earned a little over R1.5 million for his efforts. In comparison, in 2015 on the Sunshine Tour, the 21 tournaments he played earned him just under R1.2 million. While the rewards at the highest international level are obviously far greater, the sums Hugo was doing weren’t adding up in terms of the effort involved to play overseas.

“I kind of lost a bit of interest going back there. For now, I’m living life in South Africa and enjoying raising my kids, Victor (8) and Daniel (6). I think I’m as good a golfer as I was, and I just feel blessed to still compete. For me, it’s about going out there and proving my worth on the Sunshine Tour.”

The game has certainly changed, and he’s witnessed this.

“It’s changed a lot in terms of the equipment. I can’t shape the ball like I used to because the equipment doesn’t allow it. I’m a shotmaker, and I enjoy shaping the ball. While still an amateur, I once had the opportunity to play a round with Gary Player at Erinvale. Mr Player was shaping all of these shots, and I could do the same and enjoyed it. I just couldn’t explain how to do it. I’m not a very technical golfer. But my feeling is that for all the aspects of your game to be competitive, you need a feel for every shot. That’s talent. That’s golf. We forget how to just play the game and want to be so technical.”

It’s this kind of wisdom that Hugo enjoys passing on to some of the younger stars on Tour, many of whom gravitate to him.

“I have a lot of young friends on Tour because I like helping where I can. And we’ve got such stars out there like Garrick Higgo, Jayden Schaper, Wilco Nienaber and others. Hennie du Plessis is also something very special. If we can support them and get them out there, it’s only going to be good for our Tour.”

And as he prepares to tackle the youngsters yet again in this week’s Gauteng Championship presented by Betway, Hugo does so as a man very much content with his life.

“I often still look at my trophies and tournaments I’ve won for inspiration. When I see that, it’s amazing for me. I’ve had a good career. I’ve got a great life now and want to see my kids grow up. I’m a happy golfer and a happy dad. Happy and blessed.”

Photo Credit: Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour

The Sunshine Tour’s professionals are helping to bring much-needed relief to communities which have been hardest hit by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Through the Birdies for Kit Kat Group initiative, the professionals have helped to donate an incredible 2 543 food hampers that are being distributed to the South African Caddie Association (SACA), the South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB), and FeedSA.

The Birdies for Kit Kat Group campaign teed off at the Kit Kat Group Pro-Am and forms part of the Sunshine Tour’s ongoing effort to bring an element of social consciousness to its tournaments.

Throughout the current run of seven tournaments on the Sunshine Tour, every birdie made by a professional golfer will count towards one food hamper.

“The Kit Kat Group is an extremely socially responsible company. They have been working hard, together with local NGOs, to distribute food hampers to areas that have been hardest hit by the Coronavirus pandemic,” says Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.

“As a Tour we are grateful for the opportunity to partner with them in making a difference in the rebuilding of South African communities during this pandemic.”

Jaco Prinsloo won on the third hole of a three-way playoff in a frantic final-round chase to Players Championship glory at Dainfern Golf Estate on Sunday.

On a day not for the faint-hearted as the final groups attacked the leaderboard with red numbers, Jaco Prinsloo, Jake Roos and Daniel van Tonder all finished regulation play tied for the lead on 25 under.

Playing the par-five 18^th again, both Prinsloo and Van Tonder eagled the hole as Roos fell out. That took the two of them back to 18. Prinsloo showed absolute nerves of steel as his second found the greenside bunker, and he then pitched out to within three feet to make birdie. Van Tonder matched him with a birdie of his own, taking them back to 18 again.

Van Tonder pulled his drive, but then produced an incredible shot from the left rough to just short of the green. He chipped to about six feet, but missed his birdie putt. That left Prinsloo to hole his two-foot putt for birdie and his second Sunshine Tour victory.

“The playoff was almost the easier part. Just getting there was more nerve-wracking,” said a relieved Prinsloo.

“Jake, Daniel and myself are all good friends, and luckily today I came out on top. To get this title is very special. I have to thank the Sunshine Tour for making this tournament possible. I love this golf course and the whole atmosphere here.”

It was hardly surprising that four incredible days of low-scoring golf should end in a playoff for this Sunshine Tour event.

The leading players never relented on the final day as they kept building on the lead with a slew of birdies. And the closing holes again provided the opportunities.

Roos birdied two of the final three holes for a 63 and to set the clubhouse target at 25 under par. Van Tonder then eagled the par-five 18^th for the second day in succession to join him on 25 under with a final round of 65. And Prinsloo had the greatest opportunity of all as he stood over an eagle putt on 18 to win outright. But the miss and resultant birdie earned him a 65 and the final place in the three-way playoff.

Thriston Lawrence closed with the low round of the week, a brilliant 62 that saw him birdie six of the last seven holes. He finished tied fourth on 22 under par alongside Jean Hugo.

The Sunshine Tour remains in Gauteng this week for the R1-million Gauteng Championship presented by Betway at the Ebotse Links. – Michael Vlismas

Photos: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

Daniel van Tonder finished birdie-eagle for a back nine of 29 and a 63 that shot him into a three-way tie for the lead going into Sunday’s final round of the Sunshine Tour’s Players Championship at Dainfern Golf Estate.

Van Tonder led another day of low scoring that finished with him on 18 under par. Jaco Prinsloo joined him there with a 66 after lipping out for an eagle on the last that would’ve given him the sole lead. And Oliver Bekker completed the trio with his bogey-free 67.

They are two strokes clear of Jacques Kruyswijk and Jake Roos.

But with the kind of scoring this tournament has seen – including a halfway cut of six under par – the three leaders are all in agreement that there is no holding back on the final day.

“This course isn’t that long so most of the holes are birdie holes. But saying that, you’ve still got to hit the fairways here because the rough is thick,” said Van Tonder, who has been in great form since the Tour resumed last August following the lockdown. He won four times in 2020, including three of the five tournaments on the Sunshine Tour’s Rise-Up Series last year.

“It’s going to feel like a shoot-out on the final day,” added Bekker. “You can’t play defensively because every hole is an opportunity to score. In the third round I just didn’t really capitalise on the front nine, and then finally made something happen on the back nine.”

The feeling was shared by Prinsloo.

“This course gives you the opportunities. I think it will help if you can get off to a fast start in the final round and try and keep the rest of the field at bay, but having said that, it usually comes down to the final few holes on the back nine.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

Jake Roos says he is at the stage of his career when it’s a case of “Go big or go home”. After rounds of 65 and 63 to lead the Sunshine Tour’s Players Championship by three strokes going into the weekend at Dainfern Golf Estate, he’s clearly going big.

For the second day in succession Roos played bogey-free golf and he tops the leaderboard on 16 under par with 36 holes remaining.

Oliver Bekker is his nearest challenger on 13 under following a second round of 66, while Jean Hugo and Jaco Prinsloo are both next best on 12 under following respective second rounds of 64 and 67.

On Friday, Roos gave himself some much-needed distance at the top of a previously cluttered leaderboard. And a new grip, new putter and new mindset are all working in Roos’s favour on a course that is rewarding aggressive play.

“I’m at the stage in my career where it’s kind of go big or go home now. In a sense that frees you up and you can just go for the shots out there and not think about it too much,” said the six-time Sunshine Tour winner.

“I’m quite surprised that the scores are this good. It shows that everybody has been practising hard in the lockdown. For me it’s been a nice two days. The first round was solid and it’s not always easy to follow that up. But I felt good again and just managed to keep it flowing. It’s been a combination of things I think. I’ve changed my grip a bit and weakened my right hand. I’ve also changed my putter. It’s all helped. I’m very pleased,” said Roos.

And he’s determined not to take his eye off the ball this weekend.

“I’ll just keep going. I’ve got some good players behind me. There’s lots of talent on this Tour, and on this kind of course everybody is going to make a lot of birdies. So I’ll just try and keep going.” – Michael Vlismas

Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

Ulrich van den Berg turned back the clock and signed for a bogey-free round of eight-under-par 64 to share the first-round lead with Jared Harvey in the Sunshine Tour’s Players Championship at Dainfern Golf Estate on Thursday.

They are one stroke clear of Jacques Blaauw, Ruan Conradie, Jaco Prinsloo, Steve Surry, Jake Roos, Oliver Bekker, James Kingston and Roberto Lupini who all opened with rounds of 65.

It was an opening day of aggressive scoring on a golf course suited to that game, and Van Den Berg certainly took advantage to put himself back at the top of a Sunshine Tour leaderboard for the first time in a while.

Van Den Berg followed a decorated amateur career with seven victories on the Sunshine Tour, his last coming in 2013. But a hip injury that eventually required surgery in 2019 kept him away from the game for all of that year, and he’s spent a large part of recent months working more than playing golf.

“By the time I had the hip operation in March 2019 I was very badly inhibited in terms of my swing,” said Van Den Berg.

“The hip op put me out for the rest of that year. But fortunately it was a successful operation. I am now playing pain-free golf for the first time in a while, and it feels amazing. It feels like I have a new lease on my career.”

Van Den Berg has certainly shown a welcome return to form of late. He finished second in the Betway Championship on the Sunshine Tour’s Rise-Up Series after the lockdown last year. He then had a share of fourth in the Vodacom Championship Unlocked on the same series.

The Johannesburg professional teed off the 10^th on Thursday and opened with a birdie. He added a further three birdies to the turn, and then came home with two birdies and an eagle.

“I’m thrilled with the round.It was just a really steady round of golf, and I putted very well. I’ve also had past success at Dainfern so the comfort level here is high for me. I’m just enjoying myself out there.”

In the group behind him, the 55-year-old Kingston is hoping to show up the younger players on Tour over the next three rounds.

And Conradie is certainly relishing the current run of tournaments on the Sunshine Tour. “It’s really nice to get that rhythm going where you are playing for a few weeks in a row, and then to get a low round like this in there. It’s just nice to get going again and find some normality,” he said.