There has been no successful title-defence by any player this season, and Peter Karmis will head into this week’s Sun Sibaya Challenge at Mount Edgecombe Country Club not only hoping to become the first to achieve such a feat this season, but also to make it three victories to his name this season.
Karmis’ 18-under-par 198 victory over Oliver Bekker at this event last year handed him his only win for the season, in which he made only one top-10. Contrastingly however, this season has seen Karmis win twice already, with only three missed cuts in 12 starts, and in good shape ahead of the week in KwaZulu Natal, following an eighth-place finish at St Francis Links.
Having missed the cut in Sishen at the Vodacom Origins of Golf earlier this month, Karmis will want to improve dramatically this week, as this week’s field boasts seven players who have already won this season. Last year’s runner-up at Mount Edgecombe, Oliver Bekker, has already won a treble of titles so far, while veteran Doug McGuigan has a brace of wins, which came in the Vodacom series.
Other winners in this week’s field include Keith Horne, Jared Harvey, Tyrone Ryan, JC Ritchie and young Hennie du Plessis, who won so dramatically at Sishen in a fourth play-off hole with Ockie Strydom. But the game of golf is always unpredictable, and as such all predictions should always be made with a degree of caution.
With that in mind, it is fair to think about other possible candidates to clinch the title, such as Strydom, Neil Schietekat and Jacquin Hess among many others. While Strydom is yet to win a tournament on the professional tour, he has been knocking on the door for some time, and the play-off defeat to Du Plessis at the Vodacom Origins of Golf in Sishen was another exhibition of his hunger to get into the winner’s circle. With five top-10s and four top-20 finishes this season already, one feels Strydom’s time is near.
The same with Schietekat. In one of his most impressive seasons so far, Schietekat has missed cuts twice only in 14 starts, amassing an astounding six top-10 finishes in the process. Even more impressive is the fact that in his last seven starts, Schietekat has only missed one cut, and has five top-10 finishes – signs of a man who is on a serious mission to claim glory. The one-time Sunshine Tour winner is currently in good form and will want to add a second title to his cabinet sooner rather than later.
The dark horse at this week’s tournament is Jacquin Hess. The Robertson golfer finally won something when he won the Big Easy Tour Championship last week at Observatory Golf Club, and is looking to go one better. In his fifth year as a professional, Hess continues to grow, and while results have not come his way on the main tour, his stock has been rising on the BET, culminating in him winning that tour’s Order of Merit.
And while it would be unreasonable to expect him to go on and win a major on the basis of his BET performances, his never-say-die attitude does give him reason to be optimistic. This was vividly expressed when he came from a five-shot deficit last week to claim a maiden win. So, while he will know not to get carried away over that win at Observatory, Hess will be confident enough to think he can give it a proper go at this week’s event in KwaZulu Natal.
