30-year-old Swede Jonathan Agren, who has made South Africa his life, is inching closer to a maiden win on the Sunshine Tour, writes MIKE GREEN.
Agren has been on the Sunshine Tour since 2016, a year in which seven top-10 finishes promised much. There were three more in 2017, two in 2018 and three so far this season. What brought the taciturn young man from a country which has a golfing culture nowhere close to that of South Africa?
‘I just wanted to get better and learn to play in a different country from where I grew up,’ he says. ‘I had played a few sessions as a professional back home and felt I needed a change. What persuaded me to travel to South Africa was a good friend, who was a former European Tour player, telling me so many great things about golf in this country. Brilliant courses, the players are unbelievably good and it is
a friendly nation.’
But the culture shock can be like a bucket of cold water for someone young and enthusiastic, and despite his obvious talent – he started with a share of fifth at the 2016 Zimbabwe Open, just four shots off the pace of champion Lyle Rowe – settling down was not easy.
‘It’s tough to be far away from home and sometimes you wonder what you are doing here. Especially when you want to support your family or friends on special occasions,’ he says. ‘But that’s one of the things you’ve got to learn to handle as a professional. It’s pretty much the same as it is for a South African player travelling around Europe. But I have a South African family who treats me like I’m their son and Glendower Golf Club has always looked after me, so I feel like I belong and that makes it a lot easier.’
From the comfort of that home from home, he’s able to look back on a golfing journey that is quintessentially Swedish in its origin and is turning into something quite South African.
‘My dad would take me and my brother to the golf course during the summer in Sweden,’ he recalls. ‘Neither of us was particularly interested at the beginning. It was more fun to wrestle in the bunker or try to hit golf balls at each other.
‘As a kid in Sweden you play golf only during the summer months which are June, July and August, and then the rest of the time I played ice hockey and soccer, which are the two biggest sports there. I realised very late that golf was something I wanted to do.
‘I was interested in a career in ice hockey, but unfortunately I got injured and after that I didn’t have much to do so I took golf more seriously. That summer I was picked for the Swedish national team and that’s when I decided this was for me.
‘We had a brilliant coach in the national team, Peter Ostlund, who helped us with so many things, but most of all he taught us to take responsibility for our own careers. He was just a phone call away no matter what. Then we had a great instructor at my home club, Andreas Westerberg, who taught us from a young age how to score – despite being much older than us he went out “gambling” with us on the course. At that age it’s not fun to lose your weekly allowance from your parents, but it certainly taught us a lot.’
Those lessons could be the cause of much of his near-legendary grumpiness (his word) on the course. He’s well aware that tetchiness and consistent golf are perhaps not the most likely bedfellows.
‘You know me. I can get grumpy during a round,’ he smiles. ‘I’m a straightforward person who says what I think, but I also like to make fun of myself, which most people never see. But it is true that I often get down on myself and it is a problem. I’m trying to handle it so it doesn’t take
too much energy out of me on the course.
‘But it’s like golf. It goes up and down. Some weeks you can handle it very well and some weeks it’s tougher. But I have tried to change my mindset and it is something I have worked on for almost two years. I care if I hit it out of bounds, but how bad can it be if you play one bad shot? Of course I care, but that mentality helps me be more relaxed and just play.’
As we all know, being relaxed is difficult when frustrations mount up.
‘I travelled down to Sishen. I shot seven over in the first round and that was after a good season in Sweden where I didn’t finish outside the top five,’ he says. ‘Was I really that bad? That can knock you down, but a round like my second at Humewood, where I shot an eight-under
64, can change your whole season.
‘I’ve been struggling the whole year in South Africa. I felt like I’ve been playing well, but I hadn’t put a score down, so I’m very pleased with that round at Humewood. I’ve been working hard with my putter and it’s starting to come right. But there are so many other things, like how I handle myself out there, the decisions I make … many things clicked.
‘It’s good to know you’re able to do it. You don’t have to stress about a round and think you have to hit everything stone dead. It’s important to know you can post a good score if you’re patient and play well. So it’s very important for me to realise my game is just around the corner and I’m working on the right thing.’
With that raft of top-10s to his credit, he knows patience is the key to registering a maiden victory on the Sunshine Tour. He believes it’s taken him so long because the Sunshine Tour is of the highest standard and particularly challenging.
‘In my first round at Humewood, I felt it’s not easy out here in South Africa,’ he says. ‘I struggled and I was very pleased with one under. And then I look at the leaderboard and there’s two guys on seven under. I’m just shaking my head … every player is so good. I’m sure they can compete at a high level on the European Tour or on the Asian Tour. Look at Jbe Kruger, who won again in Asia recently, and he hasn’t won on the Sunshine Tour for a long time.
‘Most of the guys on this Tour can play a practice round with someone like Justin Harding and – not taking anything away from him – they can feel like they’re touching him. But to be able to do what he has done over the past 18 months is more than just playing golf. You’ve got to be so strong mentally.
‘So, in terms of golf, most of the guys on this Tour would be able to do what he did, but then you have something between your ears too … it’s tough!
Agren is not surprised that players like Erik van Rooyen, Dylan Frittelli and Christiaan Bezuidenhout are starting to make their mark on the European Tour and the PGA Tour.
‘I’ve played with Van Rooyen a few times and Bezuidenhout once or twice, and they’re great. I’ve never seen Dylan, but he’s doing well. I reckon Van Rooyen can be a top-50 player very soon because of his game. Bezuidenhout too.’
Of course, Agren is looking to convert his Sunshine Tour form into a career next to players like those. ‘Absolutely, my ambition is to play golf on the European Tour,’ he says. ‘I have entered the Q-School twice and just recently, I finished third at the first stage of Q-School so I will play second stage at the beginning of November. We’ll see how that goes, but before that there are some strong tournaments on the Sunshine Tour that I would like to play well at.
‘South Africa has done so many good things for my golf and I think if I hadn’t played on the Sunshine Tour, I wouldn’t be playing professional golf now. It has given me a great education but now it’s up to me to see how far this game is going take me.’
Wherever it is, it’s just a win away
