Ken Borland

Kathu, Northern Cape (19 September 2024) – Werner Deyzel and amateur partner Hennie Muller had a brush with a count-out on their final hole of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen Pro-Am on Thursday, but in the end a par and a bogey were enough for them to clinch a one-point victory on 93 points.

Deyzel steered Bloemfontein-based 16-handicapper Muller to the trophy after Craig Ross had laid a good platform as his pro on the first day. The Sishen Vodacom Origins of Golf Pro-Am had a slightly different format to other events in the series, with the amateurs pairing with two different professionals over the two days.

Woodhill Country Club golfer Deyzel and Muller beat out four other teams, who all finished on 92 points, for the title on Thursday: Neil Schietekat, Quintin Wilsnach and Tebogo Ruwana were second on a count-out from Rhys West, Regan Steyn and Steve Tshabalala in third; Jovan Rebula, Jbe’ Kruger and Mxolisi Dukwana were fourth; and fifth-placed Matthew Spacey, Toto Thimba Jnr and Luke Saffy completed the prizewinners.

“Hennie had a check on the live scoring on the ninth tee and saw we were tied for first place. So we knew we needed a three-pointer, but unfortunately Hennie hit his tee-shot a bit left. I hit a good drive and managed to make par, and Hennie made a five so we had two two-pointers. We were sure someone would get a three-pointer, but fortunately that turned out to be enough in the end,” Deyzel said. “I played well but it was thanks to my ammie Hennie that we won. He was very solid, played very well and he made a lot of points.”

Deyzel is a rookie player on the Sunshine Tour, having excelled on the Blue Label Development Tour. The 24-year-old is a phlegmatic golfer and, currently 40^th on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy, he knows he is not playing badly, but he also knows a small change of fortunes in terms of posting a few low scores, could be just around the corner with the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen tournament starting on Friday.

“My game is not bad at the moment, but I wouldn’t say it is very good either. I just need some putts to drop and then I will be making the good scores. But it’s been fun playing with the amateurs and Vodacom’s clients and it also allows us to get a practice round in before the tournament proper.

“It’s my second time playing at Sishen Golf Club, I’ve played in an amateur event here before. So I feel like I know the course quite well. Considering the time of year and the amount of rain that they have not had, the course is in spectacular condition,” Deyzel said.

Kathu (Northern Cape) – There were nearly 35 excited children from the Kuruman chapter of the South African Golf Development Board at the Sishen Golf Club driving range on Thursday, taking part in the Vodacom Origins of Golf development clinic and receiving coaching on the basics of the game from Sunshine Tour professionals, but one little guy stood out because he has been teeing it up around the country in junior golf with some success.

Delrico Agterdam is just 10 years old but he already plays off a seven and he is ranked the number two junior in the Northern Cape. For the last two years, he has received his provincial colours for the U13 team.

Considering how much younger he is than his fellow competitors, it is tantalising to think how good Agterdam will be once he fills out a bit.

Annemarie Rabie is the SAGDB coach for the Kuruman area and she was at Sishen Golf Club on Thursday. She says there is little else Agterdam is interested in other than golf.

“Delrico thinks about golf all the time. He eats and sleeps for the game and he really wants to become a professional golfer when he is big. He started playing when he was really small and he puts in a lot of work. The great thing about him is that I can give him a lesson today and tomorrow he will be practising that exact thing and remembering what I taught him,” Rabie says.

Agterdam’s father works at Kuruman Country Club and Rabie first saw him there, just playing around with a club and a ball. The talent was obvious.

Giving disadvantaged golfers the opportunity and exposure to express and fulfil that talent is what the Vodacom Origins of Golf development clinics are all about. But while Agterdam will be aiming to write his name in the annals of the game, the clinics also help engender a love for golf amongst all the other kids. Vodacom wants them to know that there is a place for them in this great game, whether that be as a player, fan, coach or administrator.

“These clinics are really excellent and it was so amazing to see how much the kids enjoyed it. They were like little sponges and they all had a million stories to tell on the 45km drive back to Kuruman. It’s just amazing what Vodacom do, if there weren’t these clinics then these kids would never have been coached by Sunshine Tour pros, or have met them or have played on a course like Sishen Golf Club.

“And when we got to Kuruman Country Club, Delrico climbed out of the car and said he wanted to go and play a few holes, he was so inspired!” Rabie laughed.

Kathu (Northern Cape) – When Martin Vorster tees it up in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen event from Friday, there will be a sense of it being a comeback moment for the 22-year-old from Fancourt.

That’s because it will be Vorster’s first individual event in which he feels properly prepared following the hip injury that kept him out of action for three months.

Vorster did play in the Bain’s Whisky Ubunye Championship last week and finished in a tie for fifth, but that was a team event, the former top-ranked amateur playing with Jovan Rebula.

But the fact that he played so well in just his second Sunshine Tour event since May means he goes into the second Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament of the season in high spirits. It also helps that he loves the Sishen Golf Club course; they do say that if you ever play this astonishing gem set in a lush camelthorn forest on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, you’ll want to come back.

“It’s going to be very nice to get going again,” Vorster said after the first day of the popular pro-am that always precedes the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournaments. “I returned to the Sunshine Tour three weeks ago at the Gary and Vivienne Player Challenge at Kyalami Country Club, but I had just started hitting balls and it was more about testing whether my body was ready. Everything went well on that front, but my game was not ready yet and I didn’t play very well.

“But then I had a good week’s practise and it was a blessing to then play in a team event, which was less stressful. There were still a few rusty shots, but it’s just great to be back competing again. This is an unbelievable course and I always look forward to playing here,” Vorster said.

It was the eagle eye and intimate knowledge of the kinetics of the golf swing of coach Doug Wood that saved Vorster from a potentially more serious hip injury.

“I started working with Doug at the end of 2022 and he said my then-swing could cause problems for my hip. So I had to change it and we worked on it for a long time and made so much progress. But it was just too late and I tore my labrum.

“Thankfully it was not a complete tear. But it was not ideal and I had to rest for six weeks before starting rehab. I still have two or three weeks of rehab to go, but I am so thankful to be back on tour,” Vorster said.

After a difficult 2023/24 season in which he finished 83^rd on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy, Vorster made a fine start to the current campaign with top-10 finishes in his first two events – the FBC Zim Open and the KitKat Cash & Carry Pro-Am. But then his hip gave way.

“It was very frustrating and it happened just when my game was heading the right way after last season. It was my first time in Europe, playing on the Challenge Tour, and I struggled more with the off-course stuff, the travelling, the language barriers – everything was new.

“I also just played too much golf. I only had 10 weeks off last season, but it was a great experience. But now I’m more focused on the Sunshine Tour and doing well here will open more doors, it allows you to skip certain stages of the DP World Tour qualifying school.

“My first goal now is to be in the top-10 on the order of merit because then I can get back in a re-rank category that qualifies me for the DP World Tour co-sanctioned events,” Vorster said.

Vorster will be up against experienced campaigners like Danie van Tonder and Jean Hugo, who have both won twice this season, at Sishen, as well as the in-form duo of Yurav Premlall and Jacques Blaauw, both flying high on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

JOHANNESBURG – Danie van Tonder’s ability to ignore all the bumf that comes with the pressure of winning and simply trust his attacking instincts once again paid off as he eagled the 18^th hole to put himself in a playoff which he then won in the Gary & Vivienne Player Challenge at Kyalami Country Club on Friday.

Van Tonder, who started the final round four strokes off the lead, first of all chipped in to eagle the 480m par-five closing hole in regulation play to complete a brilliant six-under-par 66 and leap to 14-under-par for the tournament.

The 33-year-old then had to wait to see if his clubhouse lead withstood the challenge of the last three two-balls. The eagle proved crucial as both Yurav Premlall and Martin Rohwer shot four-under-par 68s to also finish on 14-under, sending the trio into a sudden death-playoff on the 18th.

Premlall was eliminated on the second play-off hole as he made par and Van Tonder and Rohwer both birdied the par-five. After replaying the last hole three times, they then took on the par-three 17^th, which Van Tonder had bogeyed in regulation play. Another excellent chip shot, this time out of a bunker, set up victory for the 10^th time on the Sunshine Tour.

“I was frustrated when I stood on the 18^th tee in regulation play because I was unlucky twice on 17. First I had a bad bounce with my tee-shot that went over the green, but I hit a great chip, only for the par-putt to horseshoe out. I knew it was a big putt,” Van Tonder said.

“I also knew I had to make eagle on the last to have a chance, so we took driver and tried to get as close as possible to the water. I had a five-iron in, which finished just right of the green. I said ‘Take the pin out!’ because I knew there had to be space for the ball, and then I chipped in.

“We then went back to 17 in the playoff and Martin and I were both in the greenside bunker. He hit a good shot to about three metres, but I was able to put it within a foot and make the par,” Van Tonder said matter-of-factly about two extraordinary moments of self-belief.

The Serengeti Estate golfer has earned himself a hunky wad of cash in the last month, having also won the FNB Eswatini Challenge on August 3, and the 2021 SA Open champion (winning at Gary Player Country Club) said he was pleased his hard work on his game since returning from Europe is paying off.

“I’ve been playing well for a while, so it’s nice to be able to pluck the fruit from the tree, so to speak. They call me the Silent Assassin and the camera is never on me back in the field, but the game is there,” Van Tonder said.

Premlall had birdied the 18^th to get into the playoff, but fell just short of his maiden Sunshine Tour title, while Rohwer had moved to 14-under with a birdie on the par-five 13^th, but he just could not grab another opportunity to move ahead.

Ruan Conradie (66), Christian Kriek (68) and Altin van der Merwe (69) finished tied for fourth on 11-under-par, while overnight leader Jonathan Broomhead made too many mistakes in the final round, suffering five bogeys in a 74 that left him on 10-under, tied for seventh with Malcolm Mitchell (68), Lyle Rowe (69), Christiaan Burke (71) and Jean Hugo (71).