There is no doubt that sport is increasingly becoming the young person’s domain.
We’ve seen the emergence of the 20-something Major champion in golf, the teenage swimming gold medallists, gymnastics champions and young tennis stars emerging. And when it comes to golf, on the South African amateur scene, only three of the top 20-ranked men were born before the year 2000.
I recall being at the 1988 Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl and reporting on South Africa’s men at that event. It was one in which Ben Fouchee lost in the 36-hole final, while Ernie Els was knocked out earlier in the match-play. Also representing the country were Ian Hutchings and Neville Clarke.
Fouchee was 20 at the time and he turned pro later that year, although never quite reached the heights many had predicted of him. The same could be said of the 20-year-old Hutchings, who also turned pro that year, while Els, who was still 18, waited until he too was 20 before turning pro in 1989 and won for the first time in 1991.
Clarke was the ‘old man’ of that 1988 Amateur quartet, a 36-year-old veteran who had played a full part in the growth of South African amateur golf. He had beaten Els to win the SA Amateur in both 1985 and 1988, which was an extraordinary achievement considering his day job was that of an electrical engineer.
He was never tempted by the riches on the pro Tour, but did join the paid ranks after he had turned 50 and he won the SA Senior Open at the age of 53.
They certainly won’t make any more Neville Clarkes today. Especially with the merger of the LIV and PGA/DP World Tours, and the promise of unprecedented cash on offer for those who are part of the circuits.
I can see a future whereby gifted young amateurs are waiting for the moment they turn 18, not a day longer, before turning professional. As we saw with the ‘defectors’ who turned their backs on the established PGA and DP World Tours, money talks. So many of those LIV golfers said the cash offered was too good to turn down.
Now, with the merger and increased money pots, amateurs with pro ambitions will be holding discussions with their guardians and support staff – in many cases that being mom and dad – and looking to get on the financial merry go-round.
It’s a double-edged sword. No matter how good the 18-year-old is, and how tempting it is to turn pro and attend various Q-Schools with the hope of earning a Tour card somewhere, they are missing out on life. There is definitely a negative to turning professional – in any sport – too early and young, forsaking further education, and thinking that money is the be-all and end-all.
Jovan Rebula won the Amateur Championship in 2018 at the age of 20 while at college in the US. It was only three years later that he turned professional, after many discussions with his uncle, Ernie Els.
‘My uncle got involved, he pushed me to go to college. I wanted to go straight to the pro ranks, but he advised me to try college first and to use it to grow as a person and learn how to be a man on my own.’
Several of those discussions will be taking place now in environments where there are teenage talents looking at the latest developments in the pro ranks and seeing the zeros that are being mentioned after the merger.
Given that 17 of the top 20 South African amateurs are part of Generation Z, you can be sure that there will be plenty of behind the scenes plotting and planning as well.
Whatever the advice, I expect there to be a surge in amateurs wanting to turn pro, some of whom will be making the wrong long-term decision.
– This column first appeared in the July 2023 issue of Compleat Golfer magazine.
