Ken Borland

BALLITO, KwaZulu-Natal – The wind got up on the back nine but so did Dylan Naidoo as the promising young golfer soared to the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun Sibaya at the Umhlali Country Club on Wednesday.

Naidoo was level-par after the front nine, but blazed his way back to the clubhouse with five birdies, picking up back-to-back shots on both the 10^th and 11^th holes and the last two holes of his round, for a five-under-par 66.

That left him one stroke clear of the group of six golfers on four-under-par 67 – Nikhil Rama, Kyle McClatchie, Jaco Prinsloo, Rhys West, Richard Joubert and Lindani Ndwandwe.

The patience the 24-year-old showed in not letting the back-to-back bogeys he made on the par-five fifth and par-three sixth holes lead to frustration was the most impressive aspect of his round.

“On the front nine the weather was pretty benign, but I knew the wind would pick up,” Naidoo said. “After the bogeys, you start thinking ‘I’m one-over on the easy bit where there’s no wind’, but I was playing super-solid golf and I’d had a couple of unlucky breaks.

“So I just needed to keep playing the way I’d been playing and it all fell into place nicely on the back nine. I’ve been playing really well lately and it’s just that final part on the scoreboard that’s lacking.

“But you can’t force things, you have to let the score happen. You can’t take on flags that you don’t need to because that just leads to compounding errors instead of multiplying birdies.

“You don’t have to play perfect golf to be at the top of the leaderboard, and I’ve shown nice progression in understanding that. Long may it continue,” Naidoo said.

Umhlali Country Club was established in 1960 as a nine-hole course, but the acquisition of the design services of Peter Matkovich in 1970 led to the birth of the current 18-hole course.  It may be short, but it is undulating and there is plenty of water, so the golfers are going to earn their keep in this three-round, R1 million Sunshine Tour event.

On the sort of day when those unaccustomed to Lowveld heat could have ended up needing medical attention, South Africa’s Ockie Strydom stormed up the leaderboard in the third round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship, his 63 giving him a share of the lead as Scotsman Scott Jamieson stubbornly refused to let first place go.

Strydom ended the second round tied for 21st place on six-under, seven strokes behind Jamieson, but he produced an amazing round, eight birdies and an eagle taking him to 10-under through 15 holes.

He bogeyed the par-three 16th though, three-putting from the far reaches of the green, and then parred his way home to equal the course record set the previous day by Jamieson.

With 15-under now the target, Jamieson got to that mark with three successive birdies from the 11th hole and then ensured he made no mistakes and did not drop any shots coming in.

“I played the same golf as the first two days,” Strydom said as he improved greatly on scores of 68 and 70. “I made a few putts though, I holed a chip, hit my wedges closer and did not take any risks.

“The eagle on two, when I chipped in, was my shot of the day because I was in an impossible spot, short and right of the green, with a steep bunker to clear.

“There were quite tough flags and subtle breaks in the greens, which I saw were running at 13.7 at the start of my round. If they make them any quicker they’re going to kill us, but I managed to hit the ball in the right places.

“I made the right decisions out there and you can’t attack this course, you have to let it come to you, otherwise you’ll be done,” Strydom said.

Jamieson was happy with his performance, as firmer greens made for a tougher day for the 39-year-old. And that’s not mentioning the 35° heat.

“It was a solid day, I’ll take two-under especially after my front nine. As expected it was tougher today, the green speeds were right up. I hit poor shots on four and five that killed my momentum, but to be one-over at the turn was not a disaster,” Jamieson said.

“I knew there would be chances on the back nine and I was able to take three of them in a row. I was really disciplined, there were only two shots I was really not happy about, on four and five. I stuck to my game-plan and eventually got reward. I was proud of myself,” Jamieson said.

Both Strydom and Jamieson believe they have the equipment, both mentally and in terms of ball-striking, to get the job done in Sunday’s final round and claim the biggest victories of their career.

“I will do the same I’ve been doing every day, just play the golf and if it works out then it does, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” the phlegmatic Strydom said.

“We are all the same out there, we are all people, no different to each other. They are just names and we will have to see how good they do it in the final round.

“I’ve been there contending quite a few times and I will just keep doing what I’m doing,” Strydom, who has one Sunshine Tour win and 19 runners-up finishes, said.

“The tournament begins on the back nine tomorrow,” Jamieson said. “So far we’ve all just been jockeying for position, but tomorrow the game-plan could change.

“Tomorrow will be all about who plays the best golf and there are some good names up there on the leaderboard. So it’s going to take a good round to win, if I can get to 20-under I will be happy and hopefully that will be good enough. But you can’t control what others do,” Jamieson added.

One of those prime ‘others’ is Dean Burmester (68), who is tied for third alongside fellow South African Oliver Bekker (68) and in-form Englishman Dale Whitnell (66) on 13-under, two behind.

“I’m happy where I’m at. Leading is harder than chasing and Scott Jamieson won once years ago [2013] and Ockie has won once too. We will just have to wait and see what they do in the final round,” Burmester, who won his second DP World Tour title last year in Tenerife and has eight other Sunshine Tour wins, said.

Having grown up in the humid, subtropical climate of Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe, and with the confidence he has gained playing in America, Burmester is unlikely to wilt in the heat.

Six IPL teams are in the shake-up for ownership of the six franchises that will play in Cricket South Africa’s new T20 tournament early next year, CSA chief executive Pholetsi Moseki has confirmed.

The proposed tournament, which is co-owned by CSA, SuperSport and former IPL chief operating officer Sundar Raman, is eager to target the lucrative Indian market.

“There are big things planned for our T20 league and six IPL teams have submitted bids to invest in a franchise, as well as other Indian investors and teams from the Pakistan Super League,” Moseki told Saturday Citizen.

“The global interest has exploded and we’ve had almost 30 Expressions of Interest received. An independent service provider, which is one of the big four global audit firms, will do an evaluation of all the bids.

“This T20 league is quite key to our sustainability going forward and we have a long-term plan along with our partner SuperSport,” Moseki said.

While the unveiling of who the successful bidders are could still take a little while, CSA are expected to announce the appointments of new executive staff like the director of cricket, chief financial officer and chief commercial officer, in the next week or so.

The new T20 competition is scheduled to start on January 12, and CSA are so determined to ensure their Proteas stars are there from the start that they have requested the postponement of the ODI leg of their tour to Australia.

“In terms of the FTP and big tours involving Australia and England, we’ve had to manage some challenges,” Moseki said. “But we’ve cleared our January schedule from 2024 on and want to make the best we can of this tournament.

“When we started our planning in November last year, most of our first meeting was about the scheduling. We considered November and December, and February as well, but January is best.

“There are exams in November and it can’t be December because that would be terrible for our international commitments. It is just the nature of the calendar that you are always competing against someone. Just not the IPL because no-one can compete against them.

“We knew there was talk about the Emirates T20 targeting that January window as well, but we back ourselves. In January, South Africans are still in holiday mode, the varsities haven’t opened yet,” Moseki pointed out.

After losing twice to the Stormers in January and April, the Bulls had to jack up their ability to turn their pressure into points according to captain Marcell Coetzee, and he is confident that their finishing is now on a par with their hosts ahead of their United Rugby Championship final in Cape Town on Saturday.

The Bulls lost 26-30 to the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld in January, a 20-minute purple patch giving them a 26-18 lead with 12 minutes left, but they frittered away their advantage. Then, in Cape Town in April, the Bulls were outscored two tries to one in a 17-19 defeat as the Stormers’ defence showed none of the little losses of concentration that their archrivals did.

“Execution was the difference in those matches,” Coetzee said. “We had a lot of opportunities and we could have sealed the deal. There were a lot of chances that we did not take.

“But the Stormers did, like they did in their semi-final last weekend against Ulster. That’s what makes them dangerous: They take their chances to the best of their ability.

“But we’ve got better at that too and we are more clinical now. So I would say the execution of our game-plans is at an equal level for both sides.

“There was huge jubilation after beating Leinster, but what we were most proud of was how we implemented our plan on the day with 100% efficiency. We showed we can win an away playoff,” Coetzee said.

With so much riding on the game – not just the previous history between the two great North/South rivals of South African rugby, but also the chance to be the first URC champions – it is unlikely the teams will be able to play with unfettered freedom. Adding to the Test match feel will be the fact that the Stormers will give the Bulls little leeway in the scrums or at the breakdown.

The Stormers have the edge in current Springboks and World Cup winners, and the Bulls will be running to the shelter provided by their experienced, internationally-proven men like Coetzee, Morne Steyn, Bismarck du Plessis, Cornal Hendricks and Arno Botha.

“I remember as a young player playing in finals for the Sharks between 2011 and 2013, there’s immense pressure on you, but you feel safe with guys who have been there and done it before. You feed off that,” Coetzee said.

“And those experienced guys feed off the youngsters’ energy, how much we appreciated being in a final. Guys like Morne and Bismarck, they know what to expect and we know what to expect from them.

“It’s not so much about revenge, but a final will be personal on both fronts and it’s always 50/50 on the day. We will approach the final with the humility and respect it deserves.

“Our job is not done yet, there’s still a lot for us to fix. Our plan worked to perfection but then we let Leinster back in the game at the end. But the Stormers were able to keep their composure towards the end of a tight contest,” Coetzee said.