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Ken Borland



Van Tonder providing free tuition on the art of winning 0

Posted on October 05, 2020 by Ken

Danie van Tonder continued to provide free tuition out on the golf course to his fellow Sunshine Tour pros on the art of winning as he claimed the Vodacom Championship Reloaded title by four strokes at Huddle Park on Friday, his third trophy in the five-event Rise Up Series.

It has been an extraordinary run of form for the 29-year-old, Van Tonder becoming the first player to win three times in one Sunshine Tour season since Oliver Bekker in 2017, and he has certainly learnt how to win with something that is now approaching monotonous regularity.

Going into the final round at Huddle Park with a three-stroke lead after a 40-foot eagle on his last hole in he second round, Van Tonder immediately took control on Friday with a birdie at the par-four first hole. An eagle on the sixth and a birdie on the ninth, the two par-fives, completed the perfect front nine when leading, and he ended the round with a six-under 66, playing immaculate, bogey-free golf.

“Everyone wants to try and win every time they play, I wanted to win five-out-of-five, but it’s very hard in this profession. But I had to teach myself the right mentality on the course, I do get cross but now I try to use that to my advantage, hitting the ball further and straighter. I’m very aggressive out there and I just try and make the impossible possible. I’m very happy because I’ve been working and practising hard and I’ve played good golf,” Van Tonder said on Friday after winning another R95 100, which saw him top the Rise Up Series order of merit by more than R132 000 from second-placed Darren Fichardt, who missed the cut at Huddle Park.

While Van Tonder’s game-plan is to simply overpower golf courses, he also had the gall on Friday to not drop a single shot, in fact he made just one bogey the whole tournament, despite his aggressive approach. It was telling that Jaco Ahlers won the Betway Birdie Challenge for the Rise Up Series, with 79 across the five tournaments, but could only finish second on Friday despite shooting a superb 65. The difference is that while Van Tonder ‘only’ made 77 birdies, he is eliminating the mistakes that separate the winner from the also-rans.

“To have three wins, I have no words, and I knew I had to make birdies today because Jaco played very well. Fortunately I don’t hit the ball so skew, I hit it as hard as I can and straight, and I’ve always made lots of birdies. But I saw that my mistake was making bogeys as well, and so many of those are unnecessary bogeys.

“To shoot 21-under-par shows that I’m not making bogeys, there are always birdies out there. My chipping has also always been good, I have a 63⁰ lob-wedge and when I have that in my hand I feel like I have an 80% chance of chipping in,” Van Tonder said.

Brazilian veteran Adilson da Silva shared second place with Ahlers on 17-under after shooting a 66, while Jacques Blaauw finished in fourth on 16-under and rookie Malcolm Mitchell was one stroke further back after both of them closed with 68s.

Remembering the base of the triangle 0

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Ken

Currie Cup rugby players, franchise cricketers and Premiership footballers will dominate the sporting headlines this weekend, but some of them will take time to think back and remember the largely anonymous people operating at amateur level who made such a big difference to their careers.

Similarly, I will remember this last week for the two reminders it gave me of the many people toiling out of love for the game rather than money. In the sports journalists’ industry, we tend to focus on the small elite triangle at the top of the pyramid, while the thousands of amateur and social players and administrators that are the base – the very foundation – are largely ignored.

Take David Bagg, Gordon Brews and Mike Klatz.

At great personal expense and effort, they have restored Huddle Park, the famous Johannesburg municipal golf course, to its former glory; how successful they have been is borne out by the Sunshine Tour hosting their annual – and hugely popular – Media Challenge there this week.

In the last two years they have taken a derelict, overgrown property that had been abandoned by the City of Johannesburg and turned it into a friendly, first-class facility. They had to remove numerous squatters to do so, but they have employed over 80 people and are providing training in greenskeeping and hospitality, as well as once again providing a cheap pay-and-play option (R190pm membership, as little as R90 for a midweek round) for the public who want to get into golf but cannot afford the exorbitant membership fees of the established clubs.

Apart from restoring one of the most popular courses in Johannesburg – between 150 000 and 200 000 rounds of golf were played at Huddle Park annually in the 1970s – to its rightful place, the trio have also developed a mashie course, a floodlit driving range, a coaching academy, restaurant and sports bar, function venues, walking trails and even a trout-fishing dam as tie-ins.

Future plans include a mountain bike trail, cycle track, zip-lining facility, eco park, gym, beer and food festivals and arts and crafts expos as the Public Private Partnership provides a fun space for the community.

Many Johannesburg golfers learnt the game on the spacious fairways of Huddle Park and it is great news that the 75-year-old parkland green lung will continue for many more years.

Bad news I received this week was the passing on of Dave Edmondson, a legendary figure in KwaZulu-Natal sport who played an important part in setting me on my path to sports journalism as a career.

In 1992, when I was on the University of Natal Pietermaritzburg sports executive, I approached Dave, who was the head of sport, to find out what careers were available in sport (sadly, actually making it on the field wasn’t going to be an option!).

He suggested writing about sport and he approached another legend, John Bishop, at The Natal Witness and six months later my career was launched.

The University of Natal sports department did not have nearly as many resources as the likes of Tuks, Maties or UCT, but Dave gathered together some tremendous sportsmen and women during his time – Jonty Rhodes, Mark Andrews and Greg Nicol being amongst the most famous of them.

During his own playing days, Dave represented Natal and South African Universities as a hockey goalkeeper, played Natal U19 rugby and was a premier league cricketer. He went on to become a Natal cricket selector, the president of the Maritzburg Cricket Association and an honorary life president of KZN cricket.

But the mark of the man was the time he was willing to spend – for little material reward – enhancing the careers of others. A nicer man you couldn’t hope to meet and the encouragement and assistance he gave many future stars as a coach, schoolmaster and administrator is the point of sport, even if his name was not at the top of the triangle.

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    1 John 2:5 – “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.”

    James 2:14 – “What good is it if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?”.

    Love without action is useless.

    If you love God unreservedly, you will offer your best to him and be willing to serve him wherever he wishes to use you.

    Love has to manifest itself practically.

    “Love requires uplifting and inspirational deeds.

    “How genuine can your love for God truly be if you are aware of a serious need and do nothing to alleviate it?”- Solly Ozrovech, A Shelter From The Storm



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