I never quite grasped how competitive and intense South African golf actually is, until I did my first gig as a golf journalist at last year’s Alfred Dunhill Championship at the picturesque Leopard Creek.
Of course, the words ‘intense’ and ‘golf’ don’t often go together, especially not to people who are not as invested in the dynamics of the game, but during that final round on that Sunday, I experienced a different side to the sport that I’ve probably overlooked for many years.
As a passionate South African sports lover, I’ve followed the country’s top-golfers whenever they competed around the world from a young age.
Names like Retief Goosen, Rory Sabbitini, Tim Clark, Trevor Immelman and nor forgetting Ernie Els all had my undivided admiration and attention.
Since my first stint of covering a European Tour event, with the magnitude of a Dunhill Championship, for Compleat Golfer, I soon realised there is much more to South African golf than what meet the TV eye.
It is unfortunate that most Sunshine Tour events don’t get broadcasted on SuperSport apart from the few co-sanctioned events, because the talent and determination of these local golfers deserve more.
When I found out I would be able to cover the Alfred Dunhill Championship for South Africa’s biggest golf publication, I might have underestimated what such a responsibility would entail. Fortunately, my tasks weren’t over the top, but I quickly realised that if I wanted to provide as big a coverage for our digital platforms from what was happening on the course, then a little bit of sacrifice would be needed.
Due to extreme heat experienced in the North-eastern parts of the country at the end of November, it meant 06:00 tee-times in the morning.
As my responsibility stipulated, I would have to be on the first tee at least 15 minutes prior to that to get the first picture or video of the opening group on the box. However, I soon realised that under those circumstances a 06:00 tee off was much better than a 1pm one, which was the time when the last group got under way in the opening two rounds.
I can confidently say there is something special about watching some of the best golfers in the world hitting their opening tee-shots so early in the morning while the sun rises over the African bush.
Not many golf journalists or photographers have had that privilege, while in hindsight it played a massive role in me wanting to get more involved in covering South African golf.
The people I worked with for those four days from the Sunshine Tour and GolfRSA, as well as the friendly and accommodating assistance from the Leopard Creek staff made for a memorable trip and one that definitely stirred up a passion I didn’t know I had.
Since then I have been monitoring the Sunshine Tour website every weekend to see how the likes of Zander Lombard, Daniel van Tonder, JC Ritchie, Jaco Ahlers, etc are doing.
I know that SA golf is sitting on a pot of talent with dozens of players eager to make it onto the big stage.
It also made me realise that more should be written and said about these competitors who go at it every weekend, whether that is at Leopard Creek or Sishen Golf Club in the Northern Cape, all just to break out onto the next stage.
Rewind: Ernie’s massive Wentworth drive
I was also fortunate enough to witness Branden Grace win his first European Tour title at Leopard Creek when he stormed to victory at the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Championship.
Fascinating enough, that year Danny Willett and Francesco Molinari also competed at the event, before they would go on to become Masters and Open champions respectively. It emphasises that tournaments like the Alfred Dunhill Championship, SA Open and Nedbank Golf Challenge give breeding ground exposure for fields that are mainly dominated by South African flags on the leaderboard.
I personally hope the Alfred Dunhill Championship can continue fulfilling its responsibility and that Leopard Creek would continue sweeping golf lovers – both those in attendance and those watching at home – off their feet with its unique mix of stellar golf action, bushveld scenes and stars producing the goods.
We need these events to continually grow bigger and hopefully in few years’ time, we can look back at a new South African Major winner, who first did the dirty work in 45-degree heat in the African bush.
Photo: Andre Huisamen
