Ken Borland

South African golfers continued to make their mark internationally in 2021 with eight of them finishing the year in the top-100 of the world rankings.

Louis Oosthuizen was once again in the forefront of the local effort, finishing in the top-three of three of the four Majors. Having been the runner-up at both the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open, the 39-year-old then finished tied-third at the Open. It left him ranked 10^th in the world.

This continued his incredible run at the Majors, where he now has 11 top-10 finishes, including his victory at the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrew’s. Far from being downcast at being pipped to the post so often, Oosthuizen instead said his record inspires him because it proves he can still compete in the Majors.

South Africa’s next highest ranked golfer is Christiaan Bezuidenhout (48^th) and he also enjoyed a good year in the Majors, making the cut in all four of them, an inspirational performance on its own.

There were good years too for Garrick Higgo (59^th), who enjoyed a phenomenal stretch in which he won three times in eight weeks, including at the Palmetto Championships in just his second start on the U.S. PGA Tour. The fact that the youngster’s good friend, Gary Player, gave him a motivational phone call on the morning of the final round created much excitement in America.

Branden Grace staged a good revival in 2021, winning the Puerto Rico Open and finishing the year back in the top-100 at 66^th, while Dean Burmester enjoyed an even more astonishing rise to reach 67^th. He was 182^nd at the end of last year, but his consistency in Europe – winning the Tenerife Open and having six other top-10 finishes as he finished 18^th in the Race to Dubai – saw him claim his career-best ranking. He also won South Africa’s PGA Championship at the St Francis Links in November.

Shaun Norris (76^th) proved his mettle on the Japanese Tour, winning twice and finishing fourth on their points rankings.

Of the home-based golfers, Daniel van Tonder enjoyed the most success. Having dominated locally in 2020, he gained his European Tour card by winning the Kenya Classic and did well enough overseas to retain his privileges by finishing 75^th on their order of merit. He made the cut in the two majors he played in, the Open and the PGA Championship, and completed another very pleasing year for the 30-year-old by winning the South African Open at Sun City.

The opening of The President’s Links, a golf estate of world-class quality, based on the principles of eco-friendly sustainability and durability, is very good news for the community of Walvis Bay as a whole.

Comprised of over 745 luxurious residential units in about 148 hectares, the estate offers comfort, safety and high-class leisure and commercial amenities. Chief among these is Namibia’s first signature golf course, designed by the legendary Peter Matkovich and leading South African golfer Louis Oosthuizen, who has finished the year ranked inside the top-10 of the world golf rankings.

Matkovich and Oosthuizen chose the specific location of the course, on the edge of the Dorob National Park and on the fringes of Walvis Bay town. The distinctive dunes surrounding the course will be an added attraction and The President’s Links are hopeful of attracting thousands of golfing tourists. Aiming to be on the top-100 list of global courses, they are also optimistic that they can attract the Sunshine Tour back to Namibia and possibly even stage a DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) event in the future.

Anyone investing in The President’s Links will automatically contribute to The Living Desert Fund. Twenty percent of every house sold will go into this sustainability fund, which will enable community development initiatives as well as maintaining the golf course and clubhouse.

The President’s Links will undoubtedly boost the local economy, creating jobs and adding to the sense that Walvis Bay is a centre of growth, especially since the construction of the new container terminal at the port which has a capacity of at least 750 000 standard 20-foot equivalent units per annum.

The estate is a big investment in Namibia as a whole and the Walvis Bay community will benefit through the presence of multinational technology retailers such as iStore, a new state-of-the-art hospital, a hotel and casino operated by an international group, and other retailers of global brands such as Starbucks.

In an extremely arid country like Namibia, water conservation is always a priority and The President’s Links will be using electrocoagulation technology to convert water that was formerly effluent exiting the Walvis Bay municipality into an odourless source of irrigation water for use out on the golf course. The municipality has granted the estate three million litres a day of water that is currently not fit for human consumption and cannot be purified to potable drinking water. All water not used on the estate will then be sent back to the surrounding community for their use.

The President’s Links is complying fully with the Edge (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) Certification system of the International Finance Corporation. Edge certification gives owners the assurance that their homes are built to be resource efficient. By focusing on energy and water saving initiatives, as well as ensuring the maximum use of raw materials in their most natural state, the estate has made a minimum of 20% savings across the board.

For the non-golfers, there will be plenty of other amenities for the amusement of residents, including pet-friendly recreational parks, a sports education centre, restaurants and coffee shops, gym, bowling alley, swimming pool, tennis courts, running and cycling tracks.

The President’s Links offer the ultimate in style and luxury and the ideal opportunity to live, work and retire in Walvis Bay. Investing in this eco-friendly, sustainable and yet modern and sophisticated estate includes free golf membership.

Set in the beauty of nature in its raw form, the President’s Links mixed development offers spacious living and incredible amenities.

It wasn’t really the weather for playing golf or even flying kites at Sun City on Saturday as the third round of the South African Open was unable to be completed, heavy thundershowers cutting short Justin Harding’s high-flying ascent to the top of the leaderboard.

Harding had just teed off on the 14^th hole, having gone to 11-under-par and a one-stroke lead over Danie van Tonder and Oliver Bekker, when the siren signifying play had been suspended due to the threat of lightning went off at 1.05pm.

It bucketed down for the next two hours, more than 30mm falling, and a typical Pilanesberg maelstrom was accompanied by heavy winds that had the trees waving around like flags at times.

But the organisers were hopeful of getting play back underway at 4pm, only for another storm to arrive, this time depositing a quick 8mm. A putative restart time of 5pm was then in place, but the storms just kept circulating over the ancient concentric rings of volcanic mountains that surround the Gary Player Country Club.

With the thunder and lightning never really going away, the day’s play was called off at 5pm. The third round, with the leaders having five holes to play, will be completed from 7am on Sunday and tournament director Reinard Kilian said they were hopeful of completing the final round in the afternoon.

“The safety of the players is what determined our decisions, that’s the first thing we think about,” Killian said. “The storms were predicted from 2pm and we changed the draw to try and finish by then.

“Unfortunately the storms got to us quicker than expected and then they just wouldn’t go away. And it was quite an intense, violent storm. Unfortunately every time we saw a window of opportunity to get play underway again, it would close with another storm popping up.

“There’s a chance of moderate rain tomorrow [Sunday] in the early morning and showers through the day. Thunderstorms are possible, but there’s not as high a likelihood as today.

“So we have a good feeling that we can complete the tournament tomorrow [Sunday]. The fairways should still be playable and we’re confident we can sort the bunkers out. The course should be as playable as it was this morning,” Killian said.

Harding became the co-leader with his third birdie on the front nine and, when overnight leader Oliver Bekker bogeyed the par-four ninth it meant he surrendered at least a share of first place for the first time in the tournament.

Bekker then bogeyed the par-three 13^th shortly before play was suspended, meaning Harding’s punishment for a bogey on the 10^th was shortlived.

Van Tonder was also flying on Saturday, also collecting three birdies on the front nine.

Oliver Bekker has always seemed to be one of those cheerful, almost happy-go-lucky characters out on the golf course, but in private he was probably anguishing over winning more tournaments.

But the 36-year-old is now experienced enough to know that too much expectation can be as damaging as a lack of confidence.

Bekker still looks so comfortable and under control on the course and his maturity is reflected in how his career is progressing. Having won seven times on the Sunshine Tour, he competed on the European Challenge Tour this year and finished seventh on the order of merit, earning his card for the 2022 DP World Tour.

Now he leads the South African Open by three strokes midway through the tournament at the Gary Player Country Club, adding a 67 on Friday to his brilliant 65 on the opening day.

But proving that he is now at a different level by winning the SA Open is not on his mind.

“I don’t want to put myself under a lot of pressure,” Bekker said on Friday. “Every round I just want to try shoot under par and I’ve learnt that one or two under par every day is generally good enough.

“So I just try to grind it out every day, keep chipping away, and if you do keep under par then you will be there or thereabouts at the end of the day.”

That pragmatic approach combined with a razor-sharp short game saw Bekker collect six birdies in the second round, with his bogey on the par-four second hole his only dropped shot. He chipped in from just off the green for birdies on both the 14^th and 16^th holes, while he sunk a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-four eighth. And then there were also the up-and-downs when he managed to salvage par.

“It was really tough today, especially at the start when judging the wind was so tricky. You had about a five-second window to play your shot otherwise the wind would come from a different direction.

“But it settled down a bit, it was more consistent on the back nine and I got a bit closer to the pins and chipped in twice. I also scrambled really well and made my up-and-downs.

“Having the halfway lead means I’ve done half the job pretty well, now to finish the job. I haven’t made many mistakes and it helps when you’re so sharp around the greens. If I can keep sharp then there should be lots of opportunities over the weekend,” Bekker said.

Neil Schietekat, who shared the first-round lead with Bekker, did not manage quite as good a demolition job on the course on Friday, but still fired a two-under-par 70 to stay in touch on nine-under-par, three shots back.

“I was searching for my swing a bit and if that’s my bad round then I’m chuffed,” Schietekat said.

Justin Harding shot a wonderful 67 on Friday to join Schietekat on nine-under, while Danie van Tonder (68), Lyle Rowe (71) and Hennie du Plessis (70) are on seven-under.