Ken Borland

The sheer length of the Els Club Copperleaf course will be the most obvious challenge for the 156 golfers teeing it up from Thursday in the European Tour/Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned Tshwane Open.

At 7281 metres, Copperleaf is the longest course in European Tour history, superseding the 7175 metres of the Ritz Carlton Golf Club which hosted the World Golf Championship Accenture Matchplay Championship from 2009-2011.

While the views of the professionals were varied, one man who is certainly not afraid of the distance is defending champion Dawie van der Walt.

“I think it’s fun to play a course like this. It’s long and everything, but it’s not tough. If it was tight, it would be a different story, but the fairways are pretty generous, so if you hit driver well, it’s not all that bad, you’ll hit a lot of mid-irons,” Van der Walt said on Wednesday.

Van der Walt claimed the first major tour title of his journeyman career in the inaugural edition of the Tshwane Open last year and has since won the Nelson Mandela Championship at Mount Edgecombe and the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, but he is far from being the top-ranked player in the field.

That honour goes to George Coetzee, number 53 on the world rankings and the winner of the Joburg Open three weeks ago. The 27-year-old from Pretoria believes the tournament will be decided off the tees and on the greens.

“I really like this golf course, it suits me. It’s kind of a bomber’s track and then a putting contest, and those are the two parts of my game that I work on the most and I’m probably best at. It should be good fun,” Coetzee said.

Darren Fichardt, the 2013 Sunshine Tour Players’ Player of the Year, and Jaco van Zyl, the 13-time local tour winner, will also be amongst the favourites, but there are many overseas golfers eager for victory.

Perhaps the most dangerous of them will be Denmark’s Morten Orum Madsen.

At the end of last July, Madsen was ranked only 231^st in the world but he came to these shores in the summer and won the South African Open, leading to a steady rise up the rankings to his current 115^th spot.

“ This course suits my game very well, long with undulating greens. You need to be sharp with your approach shots and putt well and those long par-fives are good for me.

“It was great to get my first win in a tournament like the South African Open, you feel the fire and you want more. I’ve grown in confidence, I know the game is there and I know I can compete. If I play as well as I can, then I know I can win. That gives you a great sense of calmness and no fear,” Madsen said.

But the likes of Englishmen Ross Fisher, Chris Wood, Tommy Fleetwood, David Howell and Danny Willett, and Frenchman Romain Wattel, cannot be barred from contention either, with all of them ranked in the top 115 in the world.

As Van der Walt showed last year in cracking the Copperleaf code, finding the fairways off the tee and precise long-iron play will be key when the seventh and final co-sanctioned event of the summer gets underway.

“From all the rain over the last couple of weeks, the ball’s not rolling. It’s just pitching and stopping dead, so you’re playing very long holes. It’s going to be quite demanding on your long-iron play and also obviously on your chipping and putting,” Fichardt said.

With a heavy storm hitting Copperleaf on Wednesday afternoon, the challenge has become even tougher.

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Overnight leaders Thomas Aiken and Justin Walters were overtaken by charging fellow South African George Coetzee, who sealed a long-awaited maiden European Tour victory with his three-shot triumph at the Joburg Open on Sunday.

The first nine holes at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington’s East Course were the key for Coetzee as he started the day four strokes behind Aiken and Walters, who began the final day on 17-under-par. The 27-year-old also had to contend with South Korea’s Jin Jeong on 15-under, Finland’s Roope Kakko on -14, and Scotsman Alastair Forsyth, who was level with him on 13-under-par.

Coetzee birdied the short par-five first hole and picked up further strokes on the par-four fourth and the two par-fives on the sixth and eighth.

“I knew I had to play well and the plan was to be four-under on the front nine. I got that and then thought that anything else from there would be a bonus. Two more birdies on the back nine was good enough. But if I had not gone four-under on the front nine, then I wouldn’t be sitting here,” Coetzee said at the final press conference with the crystal trophy beside him.

Having been a nearly man for so long on the European Tour with eight top-three finishes in the last three years, Coetzee shocked many when he showed no great relief at notching his breakthrough victory.

“Sitting here with the trophy is not that important, playing your best out there on the course is what matters. It’s the mindset you’ve got to have otherwise winning becomes too important.

“When I won the Telkom PGA Championship in 2011, I said it was bloody hard to achieve which actually made it very hard for myself to win again. It actually wasn’t that difficult and a couple of tournaments I’ve lost in, I actually played better than I did today,” Coetzee said.

But any inspector of Coetzee’s faultless scorecard, a brilliant six-under-par 66 to win by three after being four behind, will find it very hard to believe the Pretoria golfer did not play very well indeed.

“I just kept believing and tried to stay focused. I told myself Thomas and Justin were making birdies, so I had to keep positive and stay aggressive. I kept telling myself that anything on the greens could go in for birdie. In my last three events, I’ve had one or two bogey-free rounds in each of them, so I’m comfortable doing that. There’s a lot less to handle if you’re doing that,” he said.

It was always going to be a stiff ask overtaking both Aiken and Walters, but Coetzee was helped by his compatriots both shooting over-par on the final day.

It’s become run-of-the-mill for Aiken to shoot low on the East Course in recent years, but, after playing the first seven holes in one-under, his game started to go down the drain, possibly due to the scoreboard pressure Coetzee was exerting with his thrilling charge.

Some wonkiness off the tee and some really poor iron play were the obvious problems, leading to five bogeys from the eighth hole; birdies at 14 and 18 did not stem the bleeding as Aiken finished in a tie for fifth on 15-under after a 74.

It is one of just five over-par rounds Aiken has played in the 26 times he has gone around Royal Johannesburg and Kensington in the Joburg Open and, having been the favourite of many to win the title, he didn’t even manage to claim one of the automatic places in the British Open that were up for grabs.

Walters, the USA-based 33-year-old, finished in the three-man group tied for second on 16-under, the par-fives on the eighth and 18th proving the thorn in his side as he bogeyed both of them.

On the last tee-box, he was still in the running, needing to eagle the 504-metre par-five, just as he did on the third day, to force a playoff with Coetzee. But his tee-shot found the second fairway bunker down the right and his second, from the up-slope, was hopelessly short of the green.

One of the rounds of the day came from the 22-year-old Englishman Tyrell Hatton, who matched Coetzee with a 66 that lifted him into a share of second place, the European Tour rookie earning € 101,097, the biggest cheque of his fledgling career.

Jeong, the Australian-based winner of the Perth International towards the end of last year, was very much in contention after successive birdies on the seventh and eighth holes lifted him to 16-under, but the putter deserted him on the back nine and he could only add one more birdie, despite hitting the ball close to the flag several times.

But the real momentum was with Coetzee and he proved unstoppable, adding birdies on the par-four 10th and 15th holes.

He admitted the three on the 15th was the product of some great good fortune as he pulled his drive towards the water, but his ball hit a tree and bounced back into the fairway, from where he found the green and then the cup.

The calm and methodical way in which Coetzee seized victory on Sunday mirrors his approach to his career.

“I will take it one step at a time and just focus on the next box I want to tick. Winning a co-sanctioned event was kind of the next step – as a youngster I always said I wanted to win the junior club champs, the club medal, the senior club champs, a professional event, a Sunshine Tour winter tournament, a big Sunshine Tour event and then one of the co-sanctioned ones.”

Asked what the next box he wants to tick is, Coetzee said “It’s my box, not yours” as he preferred not to make his goals public.

There is no doubting Coetzee’s force of will, he was well-nigh unstoppable on his march to victory on Sunday and the floodgates could well open now for the highly-talented South African.

After being “pretty pathetic” on his two previous visits to South Africa, Scotland’s Craig Lee has a share of the Joburg Open lead after two rounds of the European Tour co-sanctioned event at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.

Lee held a share of the lead after shooting a seven-under-par 65 on the East Course in the opening round and, after an intriguing day in Johannesburg’s eastern suburbs, he was still at the top after adding a 67 on the West Course on Friday, although now there is only one other golfer alongside him.

Italy’s Edoardo Molinari is the other man at the top of the leaderboard on 11-under-par, having shot a 68 on the East Course, while the other overnight leaders – Justin Walters and Alastair Forsyth – have both dropped back to nine-under-par.

“It’s my third time here and I don’t normally play well at all in South Africa, my record here is actually pretty pathetic, although it’s probably a course that should suit me.

“Obviously the goal today was not to fall back, there’s a strong field behind that will always come at you. On four-under through the bend I had a good chance to distance myself from the field, but I didn’t capitalise,” Lee said.

David Horsey of England fired a brilliant 63 on the West Course to soar to 10-under-par and a share of third place with George Coetzee, the leading South African who is finding his way back into top form after six weeks out with a broken wrist.

There are two other locals in the top 10, with Andrew Georgiou and Walters tied for fifth on nine-under-par with Danny Willett, Roope Kakko, Forsyth, James Heath and Jin Jeong.

The golfers are finding the West Course more of a challenge than in previous years and amongst the casualties on the supposedly easier 18 holes were two-time champion Charl Schwartzel, who could only shoot a 70 to make the cut on the mark at four-under.

Defending champion Richard Sterne, who also won the title in 2008, slumped to a 73 on the West Course and missed the cut by one stroke, while former SA Open winner James Kingston shot 75 and missed by six shots.

“The wind blew today which makes the West Course a bit tougher than usual and the greens more bumpy,” Coetzee said.

The 27-year-old has eight top-three finishes in the last three years on the European Tour but is still looking for his maiden title and he admits that the push for first place affected him negatively last year, when he finished 54th on the order of merit.

“Last year I tried to force it and my finishes went from good to worst, so that definitely doesn’t work. Now I’m just trying to get into contention, staying patient,” Coetzee said.

Coetzee has dropped just one shot over the first two rounds, so clearly the patient approach is paying dividends, but he was still hard on himself at the halfway stage.

“I’m still upset about that one shot! Just for once I’d like to go through a tournament with no bogeys. Plus it feels like you’ve dropped shots when you don’t make the most of opportunities, and I had a lot today, a lot of putts shaved the hole,” Coetzee said after shooting a 68.

“I felt I played a bit better yesterday, but I’m more or less where I want to be and looking forward to the weekend. It’s just a question of hitting fairways and making putts. Just hit a lot of good shots and hope the birdies come,” Coetzee said.

Horsey had an impressive haul of eight birdies, four on each nine, adding a 63 on Friday to his 70 in the first round and he said the difference was the putter being able to get the ball in the cup with minimum fuss.

“I played really nicely in the first round but the score didn’t do it justice. I went out with the same approach today and, even though there are some easier holes, I played it very similarly. I was a little bit more aggressive today, but I made a whole lot of putts and that was it, hey presto!”

But the in-form Molinari, a two-time winner on the European Tour, is in the pound seats at the moment: sharing the lead, feeling good and having the experience of having done the job before.

“It was another very good round of golf today, and I hit the ball very well. Maybe not as well as yesterday, but I gave myself a lot of chances, which is what you have to do around the East Course. I am very pleased with four-under today.

“It’s still two rounds to go, but I like the way I am hitting the ball. I made a few putts today, but the most important thing is to keep hitting the ball like this.

“I’m very happy with pretty much everything. I missed a few putts, but that always happens and the greens are not perfect, to be honest. I am very happy with my position and my game right now,” Molinari said.

One man who certainly wasn’t happy with his game was veteran Frenchman Thomas Levet.

After missing a one-foot putt for bogey on the eighth, he suffered a mental breakdown, hitting the ball off the green in the opposite direction to the hole, smashing a sand-wedge over the green and then, after a couple of other angry hacks at the ball, he inadvertently sunk a backhand sand-wedge.

Levet then stormed off the course for an early bath, citing a sore back.

He will surely find himself in hot water as the European Tour certainly don’t look kindly on such boorish behaviour.

Dawie van der Walt held off the challenge of the in-form Darren Fichardt to win the inaugural Tshwane Open and claim the first major tour title of his career at the Els Club Copperleaf on Sunday.

The 6’5” Van der Walt shot a 67 in the final round to finish the co-sanctioned European/Sunshine tour event on 21-under-par, two strokes ahead of Fichardt, the new Order of Merit leader who won the Africa Open two weeks ago and finished in the top-10 last week at the Dimension Data Pro-Am.

Van der Walt began the final round in a four-way tie for the lead with compatriots Fichardt and Charl Coetzee and Chilean Mark Tullo. And the 30-year-old was under some early pressure as both Fichardt and Coetzee birdied the second and third holes.

But the Paarl product made his move on the par-five fourth hole, which began the tournament as the longest in European Tour history at 626m. With the tees moved forward on Sunday, a player of Van der Walt’s length was able to reach the green in two and he nailed the 15-foot putt for eagle.

Birdies followed on the sixth and seventh holes and, although there was a bit of a wobble around the turn, Van der Walt sealed the biggest victory of his career with further birdies at the par-four 12^th and par-five 15^th holes.

There is no secrecy when it comes to what made Van der Walt successful around Copperleaf. Hitting the ball long is always useful at the Centurion course, but the U.S.-based golfer was impressively precise off the tee and especially with his irons.

“Lately I haven’t been hitting the ball so good, I’ve been playing terribly, but I found something in my swing at the Dimension Data and I felt something in my game coming here. I hit the ball really well and I missed just two fairways today and one green. It meant I hardly had to chip at all and that’s not my strength.

“It’s unbelievable to play well and win. Golf is a game where you don’t get many chances to win, some people never do, and often you play well and don’t win,” Van der Walt said.

The genial giant said his victory was all about goal-setting and not getting distracted by the bigger picture.

“I just wanted to play solid, I was aiming for five-under today and 10-under for the weekend, which worked out well. I’ve been in these situations a couple of times and if you think ahead you lose it. I just set a goal of being 10-under for the weekend and that would ensure I make a whole lot of money. I didn’t think it would be enough to win the tournament, but I would have taken second. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself,” Van der Walt admitted after shooting a pair of five-under-par 67s to finish the tournament on top.

It certainly did earn the six-year pro a whole lot of money – R2,781,675 to be precise, which translates into €237,750, considerably more than the €148,974 he had won in total on the European Tour before Sunday.

Van der Walt campaigns on the Web.com Tour in America, the level below the PGA Tour and formerly known as the Nationwide or Challenge Tour, and it presents the Kingwood, Texas resident with a conundrum in terms of where to play now that he has a two-year exemption on the lucrative European Tour.

“It definitely helps that the purses are a lot bigger in Europe! But I live in America now and I have full status on the Web.com Tour. My ultimate goal is to get on the PGA Tour but I can make my own schedule now and maybe I can go through the European Tour, that might be a lot easier,” Van der Walt said.

Van der Walt has four victories on satellite tours in the U.S., but a regular tour triumph had eluded him until Sunday. He admitted that there were times when he sat eating his cornflakes and wondering when the breakthrough would come.

“I’ve been a pro for six years and this is the first time I’ve won a big event. You see your friends doing it, you see other people winning, and you wonder when it will happen for you, whether it will ever happen for you, you wonder if you’re good enough.”

Fichardt finished at 19-under 269 and his third birdie, at the par-three fifth hole, gave him the lead on his own. But at that stage the putter went cold and 13 successive pars meant Van der Walt remained at arm’s length.

Louis de Jager shot a 69 on Sunday to finish third on 18-under, with former world number one amateur Peter Uihlein fourth on 17-under, the American also notching a three-under-par final round.

Sweden’s Bjorn Akesson, with a 65 on Sunday, Englishman Danny Willett (66) and Coetzee, who picked up a one-shot penalty for slow play at the 15^th, were tied for fifth at 16-under.

Tullo, the other overnight leader, fell away badly with a 77 which included a double-bogey 6 at the 13^th, where he twice hit into the water left of the green.

Van der Walt, meanwhile, tempered his attacking instincts with the sort of composure that turns the contenders into the champions. He showed this on the final hole when he took less club for his second shot to cater “for the adrenaline”.

The horrors of recent weeks – he said his father suggested he visit a sports psychologist, to which he replied “he’s not going to be able to tell me I’m hitting the ball straight when it’s going sideways” – are now a distant memory.

What is still fresh in Van der Walt’s mind though is the long, hard road he had to take to the podium at the Els Club Copperleaf.

“Playing on the mini-tours, where you have to pay your own fees, makes you hard. I have the instinct to win, every time I play, I’m trying to win,” the newest South African European Tour winner said.

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