Despite entering the event slightly undercooked, Jabu Price-Moor is targeting a top-10 finish at the Canon Kwazulu-Natal Disabled Open, Craig Stirton reports.
After being in a car accident as an infant, Price-Moor was placed in a full-body cast. Unfortunately Jabu spent too long in the cast as he and his family awaited an appointment with a surgeon. Consequently, scar tissue formed over the ends of the nerves which had snapped off the spinal cord and left Price-Moor with paralysis of his right-arm.
Nevertheless, Price-Moor was a very happy baby which prompted his dad to nickname him Jabu – short for Jabulani – which means rejoice in Zulu. The name stuck and today people seldom if ever call him Cameron – his birth name.
Throughout his life Price-Moor exhibited a steely refusal to become bogged down by his disability.
More to the point: He has thrived in spite of it. As a nine-year-old he held the Zambian U/10 400m Butterfly national record among able-bodied swimmers.
Swimming was just one of a number of Price-Moor’s sporting pursuits and in many ways he feels his disability opened his eyes to what he was truly capable of.
“I definitely think leading an active lifestyle helped me cope with the disability incredibly well,” Price-Moor reflects.
“Without a doubt I think that it had a major positive impact on my life being active because my disability opened my eyes to my true ability. Through living an active lifestyle of playing sport, swimming, hunting, farming, all that kind of stuff helped me deal with the disability and I wouldn’t change it.”
Given Price-Moor’s love of sport, it’s no surprise that when his friends gravitated toward golf in the latter stages of their school careers that he did too.
“As with any of my other sports basically a lot of my friends were playing golf at high school properly and I decided that I’d tried hockey and everything like that and I’d like to try golf.”
Price-Moor’s talent for the game was readily apparent as he claimed victory in the Stableford division among Les Autres golfers at the 2016 SA Disabled Open though the triumph was not without a late hiccup.
“My dad was caddying for me and I think I played off 19 or 21,” he recalls.
“I think I only won by one point – I missed probably a 30cm putt on the last hole as well cause I was so nervous to win but I still won by one point after that!”
While Price-Moor turned out for Team North at the SADGA Provincial Challenge earlier this year, preparations for the Canon Kwazulu-Natal Disabled Open have taken a back-seat owing to competitive equestrian riding commitments.
““I haven’t played as much golf as I would have liked to building up to it,” he says.
“I’ve been training for the provincial championship for equestrian riding which is happening a week before the KZN Open so haven’t played as much as I’d like to but I’ve definitely put in some decent hours in terms of practice and just getting used to my new clubs.”
Price-Moor believes The Woods at Mount Edgecombe will be a fantastic host venue and is of the opinion that the course won’t be particularly physically-taxing for his fellow competitors.
As for what will constitute a successful event from a personal standpoint, Price-Moor is striving for consistency with hopes of being in the upper-reaches of the leaderboard come the conclusion of the 36-hole event.
“A top-10 would be awesome but at the moment I’m not really where I want to be in golf and my consistency is not there at the moment.
“A successful tournament would be playing consistently over the two days and a top-10 would be awesome.”
The Canon Kwazulu-Natal Disabled Open will be played at Mount Edgecombe’s The Woods course on the 23rd and 24th of August.
