Ken Borland

It was a case of the early birds getting the worms on the first day of the Hornbill Classic Golf Tournament at Kruger Park Lodge Golf Club on Friday, as the Kranspoort four-ball claimed opening-round honours in the two-day event in the Lowveld.

The Kranspoort team, who travelled from the Mpumalanga highveld to participate, teed off early when the wind was not up yet and really hit their straps, especially their lady golfers, as they tallied 89 points in the four-ball alliance format that is being used for the highly popular tournament.

Kirstin Kemp, who plays off a 35 handicap, failed to score on only one hole, while Michelle Higgo, playing off a 29, also played very well. Seventeen-handicapper Theo van Niekerk led the side, using his 15 years of experience on the Gary Player designed course which he describes as his favourite, while Kevin Kemp (23 handicap) also enjoyed a successful day.

Kemp admitted starting early had been a benefit because the wind definitely picked up through the day as there was a foreboding change in weather from the Lowveld’s usual clear blue skies at this time of year to overcast and cooler conditions.

He related how, early in the shotgun start round, he had hit a seven-iron on the 124-metre par-three seventh hole, and when he returned later in the day to attack the same green from the 144-metre 16^th tee he had hit driver in a successful attempt to find the putting surface, such was the impact of the blustering wind.

There was a tie on points for third and second place, with the Fairbridges team counting out Sabie River Sun for second after they both finished on 87 points.

Fairbridges are a team of attorneys who travelled all the way from Cape Town to participate, such is the allure of this tournament. Bok and Max Groeneveld were joined by Conrad Fraser and Sharjah Jonsson, and they readily admitted that one of their pars was recorded when an errant approach was deflected on to the green by a passing Pajero!

Sabie River Sun was the team they counted out into third place and it was clearly a good day for the four-ball of Darren Lane, Brendon Steele, Luke Baumer and Wayne Smith as they said the tremendous hospitality of the Kruger Park Lodge was the highlight of their round.

The Hornbill Classic concludes on Saturday on a Kruger Park Lodge Golf Course that has been universally praised for its superb quality.

HAZYVIEW, Mpumalanga (3 September, 2026) – The 29th edition of the Hornbill Classic will be held at the Kruger Park Lodge on Friday and Saturday, with the leading golf tournament in the Lowveld once again attracting numerous golfers from all over South Africa.

The two-day tournament is a four-ball alliance, played on the marvellous Kruger Park Lodge Golf Course, which is a Legacy Hotels and Resorts property. The field of 128 golfers will be tackling the 6100m, par-72 course with an array of prizes on offer thanks to the generosity of the tournament’s many sponsors.

The highlight in terms of the prize list has to be the ingenious Omoda C5 crossover vehicle on offer as the hole-in-one prize for the 194m par-three fifth hole, sponsored by Jaecoo Mbombela.

With spring well underway in the Lowveld, Kruger Park Lodge Golf Club representative Pierre van Nieuwenhuizen says the course, which was designed by golfing legend Gary Player back in 1992, is in superb condition for a weekend of quality, competitive golf.

“The course is playing magnificently well at the moment and the one thing that has really come on in leaps and bounds are the greens. Historically they have been quite slow, but now they are quick because we have removed a lot of the thatching build-up on the greens.

“We had a bit of rain not so long ago, so the course is soft and with the greens playing so well, I think this weekend’s layout will be the best the Hornbill Classic golfers will have played on, they’re going to be blown out of the water,” Van Nieuwenhuizen said this week.

Apart from the wonderful hole-in-one prize from Jaecoo Mbombela, successful golfers will get way more than just a pat on the back, with wonderful prizes on offer from suppliers like Srixon, Cleveland, Global Golf, most of the Legacy properties around the country and safari companies in the Lowveld, including elephant interactions.

Other sponsors involved in the tournament are MET, STN, CSG and Hi-Tec.

Defending champions Pieter Burger, the Kruger Park Lodge GC club captain, and the Srixon and Cleveland team will be back to defend their title. Renowned entertainer Piet Pompies, who is the MC and chief entertainment at the two prizegiving dinners, has also entered a four-ball.

The challenge from the rest of the field will be anything but lame however, as winning the Hornbill Classic, which was started in 1997 by Frikkie Levendal and has only not been held in 2020 when Covid struck, is high up on the bucket list of many Lowveld golfers and others from as far afield as Cape Town.

Kruger Park Lodge will also be unveiling a new fleet of golf carts on the opening day of the Hornbill Classic.

Despite having won three times previously in South Africa on the Sunshine Tour, including one co-sanctioned event with the European tour, Shaun Norris was not on the lips of most fans as a potential winner of last weekend’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, adding to the sense of surprise when the 42-year-old snatched the prestigious title at Leopard Creek.

Norris fired an inspired five-under-par 67 in the fourth round to post 13-under for the tournament and overturn a six-shot deficit in the final round to win one of the major South African championships. He saw off more fancied opponents like Sweden’s Marcus Kinholt, reigning Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner Ryan van Velzen, record-breaking Frenchman Romain Langasque, well-travelled former SA Open champion Dean Burmester, veteran campaigner Joost Luiten and the ‘King’ of Leopard Creek, Charl Schwartzel, who has won this tournament four times and finished second on five occasions.

It was Norris’s 13^th professional win, but perhaps the reason he is so under-rated at home is because seven of those triumphs have come in Japan. That is despite winning the Africa Open and the Nashua Masters, prime events on the Sunshine Tour, as well as the Steyn City Championship co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour, and now the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

The Johannesburg-born golfer has been ranked as high as 54^th in the world, but does not always get mentioned as one of South Africa’s best golfers.

“This is my fourth win in South Africa so I’m not sure why golf fans don’t know me so well,” Norris told SportsBoom.com after his dramatic Leopard Creek win by one stroke. “I love playing on the Japan Tour though, it brings out my better golf.

“But the Japan Tour don’t advertise that much, they’re not on TV everywhere, but there are great golfers there who a lot of people don’t often get to see. Winning the Japan Open in 2021 is still my biggest win because it’s a national open, that was massive. This Alfred Dunhill Championship ranks next, and my next step is to try and win the South African Open,” Norris said.

Even after winning the Steyn City Championship in Johannesburg in 2022 and earning a DP World Tour card, Norris has continued to focus his energies on playing in Japan and also on the Asian Tour, where he has won twice.

But this time his schedule could change a bit, with Norris telling SportsBoom that he will add more DP World Tour events to his roster.

“I’ve got so much to look forward to over the next few years and I will definitely be making some changes. Right now it’s time for a holiday and spending time with the family.

“But this win shows that my golf is good enough to compete with the guys in Europe and to put my name on the same trophy as Ernie Els, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen is very special. I’ll definitely be starting a few more tournaments in Europe, in places like Dubai, Qatar etc,” Norris said.

Schwartzel, Grace and Oosthuizen are members of the Stinger GC in LIV Golf and three of that team were at Leopard Creek last weekend – Schwartzel, Burmester and defending champion Oosthuizen (who missed the cut).

Grace was absent because he was trying to save his spot on the LIV Tour in the Promotions event in Riyadh. He had to win the tournament to retain his card, but narrowly failed as he finished runner-up, two strokes behind Lee-Chieh Po from Taiwan.

Stinger, who have one of the strongest team identities on the LIV Tour because they are all South Africans, will now have to make a “business case” to the organisation for Grace to retain his place. This was confirmed to SportsBoom by Norris’s agent, who was wearing Stinger GC branded kit.

And Norris has previously played on the LIV Tour, winning $1 million in 2022. So perhaps that is another option, if Grace falls out, for someone who surely wants to gain the appreciation and respect his exploits and more than €7 million in career—earnings deserve?

There may still be a lot of water to flow under the bridge in terms of LIV and a deal to unify golf once again, but the Stinger GC team, made up of four South Africans, is pushing ahead with plans to grow their popularity at home and ultimately bring the breakaway league to this country.

Latest reports suggest Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV’s chief backers, is in advanced talks over buying a 6% investment in PGA Tour Enterprises.

Richard Glover, the general manager of Stinger GC, which comprises Louis Oosthuizen, Dean Burmester, Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel, says LIV is here to stay and eager to expand their presence in South Africa.

“It’s a team that really works and now we are trying to build a business brand for it. South Africans understand team sport and Stinger comprises four very authentic people, what you see is what you get with them. They are great friends and they have a great relationship,” Glover, who was previously the CEO of Tennis SA and a vice-president of the ATP Tour, told Rapport at Leopard Creek this week.

“I’m absolutely convinced LIV can work in South Africa and there is definitely an interest in hosting an event here. The when and the where are still open for discussion, but I believe there is a big opportunity for that moving forward. Maybe in 2026 or 2027?

“The obstacles are the exchange rate and the economic situation here, but LIV see it as a key market because of the history of golf here and the support base it has. LIV would resonate with our fans and it would be incredibly exciting to see some of the best golfers in the world up against our South African boys on their home turf.

“Ultimately we want to grow the Stinger and LIV brands here. We want to have a year-round footprint, so you will see Stinger clothing in the pro shops,” Glover said.

Burmester and Schwartzel were both in contention at the weekend in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, while Oosthuizen is the defending champion. There is clearly nothing wrong with the standard of play in LIV Golf.

“We’re still all competitors. It may be a different tour, but it’s definitely not the case that our games have become worse,” Schwartzel said. “There are great players on the LIV tour, names all the way through like Mickelson, Johnson, De Chambeau and Cam Smith, and we work extremely hard. We still arrive on the Monday and have an extra day to practise. Playing three rounds actually makes it harder to win because there is no let-up. I shot 71 on the first day here [Leopard Creek] and in LIV that would put you out of contention. With four rounds, you have more of a chance to make up the deficit. People who doubt the standard of play are just looking for excuses to criticise the tour.

Some of the brash new elements LIV have introduced would be considered terrible behaviour on the established tours, but this year’s event in Adelaide provided incredible entertainment.

Stinger GC and Ripper GC went head-to-head in a playoff for the title and the intensity was incredible, perhaps because they are the two teams with the strongest identities, being composed of South Africans and Australians respectively.

“Growing up, I played cricket and used to dream of the stadium-style contest. That was the closest I’ve got to experiencing that,” Burmester said. “There were thousands of people within yards of the golfers. I could barely make my backswing in some places, you’re asking 30 rows to move back. It was nervewracking and we lost, but it really helped my game.

“South Africa would be an incredible fit for LIV and there is work behind the scenes to make it happen, we are pulling on many strings. I feel we can create that Australian vibe, that stadium-style finish.”

Imagine a rematch at Sun City, South Africa versus Australia? With the Chasing the Sun documentary team doing behind-the-scenes coverage as they are currently doing for Stinger GC …

“That playoff was a critical moment for LIV and the scenes in Adelaide were incredible,” Glover said. “South Africa against Australia is always a grudge match because we both have such strong national identities. We would love a rematch with the Rippers!”