South Africa’s No 1 amateur Astin Wade Arthur is only too aware of what’s at stake this week with the playing of the R&A Africa Amateur Championship which gets underway at Leopard Creek from Wednesday.
The winner of the 72-hole championship between 72 players from 22 countries will earn exemptions into The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush, The Amateur Championship, the Alfred Dunhill Championship, the Investec South African Open and the Waterfall City Tournament of Champions powered by Attacq.
And for the 21 women from eight African nations contesting the 54-hole Africa Amateur Women’s Invitational, also starting on Wednesday, there are starts in The Women’s Amateur Championship, Final Qualifying for the AIG Women’s Open, Joburg Ladies Open, the Investec South African Women’s Open and the Waterfall City Tournament of Champions powered by Attacq on the line.
“The exemptions are massive,” says Arthur. “Words can’t describe what it would mean to me to get my name inscribed on the trophy and to get exemption into The Open. But I’ll take it one step at a time.”
For Arthur, one step at a time means getting over his missed cut in the Alfred Dunhill Championship last December.
“I played terribly then, there’s no two ways about it,” he says. “I got thrown in at the deep end. I was kind of like a sponge and absorbed what I could throughout the week. I’m just going to apply what I learned to this week.”
Someone else who missed the cut in December was Jordan Burnand. Unlike Arthur, he was in the field for last year’s tournament which Altin van der Merwe won in a three-way play-off with Christiaan Maas and Ivan Verster.
“I missed the cut at the Dunhill, but it was a very different setup from what we were used to from playing the course in amateur events,” said Burnand, who finished sixth in the inaugural championship. “But I took a lot of notes that I can implement this week.”
Verster has notes of his own from last year’s playoff loss.
“I have very much the same game plan as last year,” he says. “I have no regrets from last year. I did what I did and what I thought was the best at that moment.”
Arthur brings superb form to the tournament after his win in the GolfRSA International Amateur last week at Royal Johannesburg.
“Mentally, you feel a lot better coming off a win, but we all start on the same score,” he says. “Mentally and physically, I’ve got a bit of an edge, but I’ll just take it one step at a time. I’m really excited. It’s special to come back to Leopard Creek.”
Says Burnand: “I think patience is the biggest thing around this golf course. There are birdies out there, but there are also big numbers. It’s a long championship over 72 holes, but you’ve got to keep your foot on the gas all the time.”
Someone who knows all about that is Zimbabwe’s Keegan Schutt, who set a course record of 10-under-par 62 in the final round last year. That beat the 63 Maas set in the third round.
“I remember every shot about it,” he says. “It was the best round of my life. It took a while for it to actually sink in, but I’m very happy with what I managed to do. If I can do anything like that again this year, I’ll be very chuffed.”
Someone else who has been looking forward to the event since the final round last year is Bobbi Brown, who came second to Kyra van Kan in the Africa Amateur Women’s Invitational. She was nine strokes back on eight over.
This time, Brown brings superb form with her, with two victories to her name already this year, including last week’s GolfRSA International Amateur.
“My game is trending in the right direction,” she says. “Last week was my lowest ever score in a tournament.
“I’ve been looking forward to this since the final round last year. I had a lot of fun last year. It was a bit of a struggle for the first two rounds, but I learned to respect the course by the final day. I attacked the par fives and made quite a few birdies, so it was good.”
She will be up against 14-year-old Lisa Coetzer, a member of the victorious South African Women’s Team last week at Royal Johannesburg, as well as Gia Raad.
Both were still a little jet-lagged last week after competing in the Annika Invitational in the United States, but Coetzer showed her mettle and mental fortitude in a watershed season that saw her rocket to number one in the GolfRSA Open Amateur Rankings, while Raad – third at Leopard Creek last year – brings some valuable muscle-memory to this year’s championship.
The potential opportunities are what make the tournament so important, and all the players are well aware of that.
“South Africa has good tournaments, but there is nothing that can compare to the scale of this for Africa,” says Brown. “The boys and girls in the rest of Africa look forward to this as much as we do.
“The incentives are huge if you do well here, but I try not to think about it too much because it adds a bit of pressure. But of course, it would be amazing to get all of those starts.”
Verster added: “I know Altin really enjoyed qualifying for and playing in The Open last year, and words can’t describe what it would mean for me to be able to do the same.”
“We’ve got to put the thought aside of qualifying for the Open, but it would be an honour and a huge privilege to go the Northern Ireland this year,” says Burnand. “Anytime one can compete at an event at Leopard Creek in a tournament that’s so well-run by the R&A, it’s such an honour and a privilege.”
And Arthur is deeply aware of the importance of the tournament on the world’s amateur stage.
“A tournament like this creates a lot of depth,” he says. “Players are exposed to different levels of golf, to great golf courses. The players from the rest of Africa see the level of golf that the South Africans play, so it’s good for them and good for us too.”
Photo: GolfRSA
