Ken Borland

This year’s Tshwane Open will really be played in the heart of the city after the announcement yesterday that the co-sanctioned golf tournament will be hosted by the Pretoria Country Club in Waterkloof from March 12-15.

The Pretoria Country Club is 105 years old and is renowned for being a quality sports and social venue in the capital. Set in the magnificent surrounds of Waterkloof, the Country Club boasts a par-71 parklands golf course, designed by the Gary Player Group.

Sunshine Tour commissioner Selwyn Nathan explained that the tournament has been moved from Copperleaf near Centurion after two years because the Tshwane Metro would like to see the European Tour event move around the city every couple of years. Nathan said he hoped Pretoria Country Club would also be hosts for at least two years.

Subesh Pillay, the MMC responsible for Economic Development and Planning, explained why the City of Tshwane were investing in the tournament again.

“We took a bit of flak initially because many people asked why we are spending money on golf when there are backlogs in housing, electricity and water. But the decision was not taken lightly and we did it because of what the tournament meant for the city, because it added value.

“Tourism is the biggest contributor to our economy and the Tshwane Open received coverage in 47 countries last year and it reached 217 million households. The global media coverage we received was worth $67 million and the direct impact to the city was R44.5 million. Plus 202 temporary jobs were created by the tournament in 2014,” Pillay said.

Pretoria Country Club is not by any means long by professional standards at 6459 metres, but she will be able to protect herself through tight fairways and rough that can be brutal at the end of summer.

Nathan said the Tshwane Open provided an important platform for the rising stars of the game both in South Africa and from Europe.

“It’s an enormous platform for young players, it tests their skills and enables them to compete all over the world. Look at our previous two winners: Dawie van der Walt was nowhere in world terms and now he’s playing in both the United States and Europe and is having big success; Ross Fisher, last year’s winner, is now second on the Race to Dubai,” Nathan said. “I can almost guarantee that whoever wins this year will also go on to great heights.”

Nathan said he was optimistic Fisher would return to defend his title, while most of South Africa’s regular European Tour campaigners should also tee it up because there is no other competing tournament for them on the schedule that week.

“I have commitments from a big group of European Tour golfers, there’s no reason for them to be anywhere else that week plus there’s prizemoney of 1.5 million euro – about R18 million – for them to play for,” Nathan said.

The Tshwane Open will once again attract many of the European Tour’s rising stars when it is held from March 12-15, but this year, it will be hosted by the Pretoria Country Club in Waterkloof, the Sunshine Tour announced on Thursday.

Defending champion, Ross Fisher, currently second in the Race to Dubai order of merit, is expected to enter again, while the bulk of South Africa’s European Tour campaigners should also be there because there is no other tournament on their schedule that week.

Pretoria Country Club is a parklands course, a Gary Player design since 2004/5, set in scenic woodland in a pristine environment that attracts such notable bird species as Rose-ringed Parakeet, Black Cuckoo, Burchell’s Coucal, Crested Barbet, Gymnogene, Ovambo Sparrowhawk and Spotted Eagle Owl.

Sunshine Tour commissioner, Selwyn Nathan, stressed the importance of the event in providing a platform for up-and-coming stars, saying both the previous champions, Dawie van der Walt and Fisher, rose to prominence on the European Tour after their victories at Copperleaf, where the first two editions of the Tshwane Open were held.

The Tshwane Open is the last co-sanctioned event of the season in South Africa, signalling the end of the Summer Swing, which will pick up again in November when the beautiful pink petals of the Cape Chestnut trees will be making Pretoria Country Club even more beautiful than it already is.

Subesh Pillay, the MMC responsible for economic development and planning, said the Tshwane Metro were delighted to reinvest in the tournament because of the benefits it brought to the city.

“We took a bit of flak initially because many people asked why we are spending money on golf when there are backlogs in housing, electricity and water. But the decision was not taken lightly and we did it because of what the tournament meant for the city, because it added value.”

“Tourism is the biggest contributor to our economy and the Tshwane Open received coverage in 47 countries last year and it reached 217 million households. The global media coverage we received was worth $67 million and the direct impact to the city was R44.5 million. Plus, 202 temporary jobs were created by the tournament in 2014,” Pillay revealed at the launch at Pretoria Country Club.

Van der Walt, in particular, used the Tshwane Open to progress from a journeymen pro who had never won a tournament before to someone who now has two victories, plays in both Europe and the United States and has even made two appearances at the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City, courtesy of winning the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in 2013.

Even for those who don’t end up winning the co-sanctioned event and the European Tour exemption that comes with it, there is prize money of 1.5 million euro – about R18 million – for them to fight over.

http://citizen.co.za/321173/tshwane-open-moves-to-pretoria-country-club/

Thomas Aiken has been watching the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City since he was seven years old and now he will finally be playing in the event following his nailbiting triumph in the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit in the final event, the South African Open, at Glendower Golf Club at the weekend.

Aiken faced a terrifying two-putt from about 90 feet on the last hole for par to ensure a top-10 finish in the SA Open and enough of a payday to overtake Danie van Tonder in the final Order of Merit, and the 31-year-old left himself with a knee-wobbling 10-footer, which he curled into the hole.

The three-time winner on the European Tour eventually finished in a six-way tie for fifth and earned R430 000, while Van Tonder shot a 75 in the final round to finish tied-55^th and made R52 500. That meant Aiken beat Van Tonder to first place on the Order of Merit by just over R157 000, but if he had bogeyed the last hole, that one stroke would have left him R1300 behind his young compatriot.

“I didn’t want to know the permutations but I knew a top-10 finish may be enough, so I was aiming top-five to make sure. With three holes to play, I knew I was tied eighth or ninth, so I said to myself that the worse-case scenario was three pars.

“I made good putts on 16 and 17, but then a really poor iron shot on 18, because I was trying to be too safe. I was far enough from the hole that I couldn’t see it and then my second putt was a good 10 feet away. It was maybe worse than having a putt to win a tournament, but I managed to make one of my best putts ever,” Aiken said.

“Winning the Order of Merit is something I’ve been looking forward to since I started playing on the Sunshine Tour in 2002. I’ve been close before and it’s nice to finally get it under the belt. Winning the Sid Brews Trophy is very nice and winning the money-list is obviously a feat because this is one of the five main tours in the world. But it also comes with substantial perks that can make your career – I’m into the British Open, the Memorial, three World Golf Championship events and the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which I’ve dreamed about playing in since I was a kid in the early 90s,” the born-and-bred Johannesburger said.

Winning the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit means Aiken, who has a full card on the European Tour, must have sacrificed to so strongly support his local tour and he said it was because he loves the grand old courses that so many of the co-sanctioned events are played on.

Glendower is certainly one of those and Royal Johannesburg and Kensington, where he will tee it up in the Joburg Open from February 26, is too, but he will sadly miss out on the Africa Open at the old-style East London Golf Club because of his qualification for the WGC Cadillac Championship at the Blue Monster in Florida at the same time.

When Van Tonder shot 78 in the first round at Glendower, his Order of Merit hopes seem to have been dashed, but he birdied his last three holes in the second round to make the cut and Aiken said this typified the gutsy youngster.

“Danie has played extremely well all year, there are few 23-year-olds that can be that consistent all year and he’s had multiple wins. He’s a very tenacious young man  and he has the fiery spirit to make it, he grinds through when the chips are down, he has BMT – like he showed when birdieing the last three holes to make the cut,” Aiken said.

When Charl Schwartzel walked off the 13th green at Glendower Golf Club on Sunday after his second successive birdie, he was enjoying a four-shot lead in the South African Open, his dream of a first national open title looking a near-certainty.

But  a disastrous finish that saw Schwartzel bogey both the par-threes coming in and rack up a double-bogey at 16 meant he was embroiled in a playoff with Andy Sullivan, and when the Englishman fashioned a superb approach shot from the rough and then sank a pressure 12-foot winning putt on the 18^th, the local favourite’s dream had become a nightmare.

Sullivan admitted afterwards that he was just about to leave Glendower to head for the airport and his flight to Dubai when Schwartzel began unravelling, his final-round 74 leaving him on 11-under for the tournament.

“I was nearly ready to go and I didn’t see Charl do what he did. I was reflecting on the week and thinking ‘yeah, second is good for the first tournament of the year’, but the unbelievable happened,” Sullivan said.

He went to warm-up again on the driving range, but his tee-shot in the playoff was way left and in trouble in the rough, behind the low branches of a tree. Schwartzel, however, had been ropey all day off the tee and with his irons, and he had earlier sent his playoff drive way right, even further from the fairway than Sullivan’s.

The 28-year-old from the English midlands town of Nuneaton produced a superb stroke, setting up his maiden European Tour win, as he left his second a mere 12 feet from the hole.

“I thought I was in trouble because to miss the fairway right is better on that hole, it’s a lot clearer. But I thought ‘it’s all about what I can do’ and I didn’t allow Charl’s position to have any influence on what I did.

“I only had 131 metres to the pin, but I had low branches in front of me so I had to hit a low nine-iron to keep under those. I was aiming at the grandstand and trying to cut it back, and I hit it perfectly. I thought I’d still be 20 feet from the flag, but instead I was 12 feet and pin-high,” Sullivan said.

He said it was “without a doubt” one of the best shots he has ever played, and he made it count by ramming in the putt for birdie and becoming the first English winner of the SA Open since Tommy Horton in 1970.

The man who famously won a trip into space for a hole-in-one at the KLM Open last September said he would be celebrating and “milking it for all its worth” till he was seeing space.

The enormity of his achievement, coming to the lairs of Schwartzel, Els and Grace and claiming their title, was starting to sink in for Sullivan when he spoke to the media about an hour after sinking the winning putt.

“South Africans are so good on their home turf, to beat guys like Charl, Branden and Ernie here is just unbelievable. I’ve dreamt about winning a tournament since I was a little boy and what a championship, one of the oldest in golf and with all that history, to win. To think that my name will be on that trophy forever … “

Life is great on and off the course for Sullivan, who celebrated the birth of his daughter Ruby in late 2013 and has now converted a promising 2014 season into a maiden European Tour title.

Sullivan started the final round eight behind Schwartzel and knew he had to go low to have any chance. But he was only one-under through the front nine, before a stellar four-under-par back nine, including an eagle on the short par-four 12^th catapulted him into contention.

He chipped in on 12 and was able to make birdies on the par-four 10^th and 16^th holes to earn himself R2.2 million.

Fellow Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick began the day five off the lead in second place, but the young rookie faded to a 73 on Sunday, but will still cart off just over R400 000 for his impressive efforts.

 http://citizen.co.za/305273/schwartzel-sullivan-showdown/