Ken Borland

PORT EDWARD –  Jaco Ahlers showed the experience of a mature golfer and the determination that comes from plenty of hard work as he withstood the threat of the on-fire duo of Shaun Norris and Brandon Stone to claim a one-stroke victory in the SunBet Challenge hosted by Wild Coast Sun on Friday.

The 42-year-old held a four-stroke lead going into the final round, but with the weather having turned nice after two days of strong wind, Norris and Stone launched a ferocious charge for the top of the leaderboard.

Norris, who has won 13 times around the world, produced a tremendous round after an early bogey on the par-four second hole. Thereafter the 2021/22 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner reeled off three birdies and an eagle on the front nine, and collected another six birdies on the back nine. Norris played the stretch of holes from the seventh to the 12^th in six-under-par, and he needed a birdie at the last to become just the third golfer in the Sunshine Tour’s modern era to score 59, after Peter Karmis in 2009 and Casey Jarvis last year.

Norris could only make par on the par on the par-four last hole, leaving him with a 60 for 11-under-par overall.

Stone, meanwhile, produced a superb, bogey-free seven-under-par 63 to finish on 12-under for the tournament, just failing to add to his five professional titles.

When Ahlers double-bogeyed the par-four ninth and then dropped another shot on the par-three 13^th, he slipped to 11-under, tied with Norris and with Stone blossoming. But the 12-time winner overcame a tough day for him by knuckling down when it really mattered and birdied the par-four 15^th and then the par-five 16^th, before finishing with two pars.

“I made it tough for myself, conditions were good but it was a fighting day for me, full of poor ball-striking,” Ahlers said after his second professional win at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club. “But I just had to keep going. I felt it was my tournament the whole day, that kept me going and I didn’t think of losing.

“My experience definitely helped and counted for a lot in the end. It was a bad golfing day, but I always thought the tournament was mine to lose.”

Having seen what Norris had done when he teed off on the 10^th, Ahlers then saw Stone’s score on the 15^th. He responded with a drive that left him with an ideal number to hit a sand-wedge at the flag, hit it close and then boxed the putt.

On 16 he hit an even better tee-shot, describing it as the most crucial shot of his round, leaving him with an easy iron into the green and a birdie.

While Ahlers’ two-putt for par and victory on the 18th may have looked devoid of drama, he said he still felt like he had a mountain to climb on the last hole.

“There’s always drama on 18! But I hit a good shot and then hit a wedge away from the flag, for a reasonable two-putt for par. It may have looked drama-less, but there’s always those thoughts in your head,” Ahlers said.

But the Centurion resident silenced those negative thoughts in impressive fashion, signing for a final-round 69 for 13-under-par.

Dirkie Chamberlain endured three-and-a-half tough years in the international hockey wilderness, but when the 37-year-old runs on to the park on Sunday for South Africa’s opening match of the Olympic Games, against perpetual gold medal contenders Australia, it will complete a remarkable comeback for the seasoned goal-scorer.

It is a personal triumph for Chamberlain, because she was overlooked for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, despite having 241 caps and having scored 65 goals for the South African women’s senior outdoor team. But suddenly last November she was back in the picture, called up by returning coach Giles Bonnet, who guided the team from 2010-2014, for two Tests against Germany. Having just turned 37, she ended a relatively lucrative career with HGC in Holland and returned to South Africa to push for her second Olympic Games, having played in 2012 in London.

“I’ve had a couple of setbacks in my career since the 2012 Olympics and I just really wanted to go there again, because it is the pinnacle of hockey and was always my dream,” Chamberlain told Rapport. “I had to give myself the opportunity again, otherwise I knew I would regret it once I’ve retired. So I’m really happy to be in Paris!

“And Giles Bonnet coming back to coach was one of the reasons I came back and worked really hard to get back in the national team. I had worked with Giles before and I knew the strength he would bring to the team. We couldn’t ask for a better coach, he has coached the China, Belgium and Canada national teams. And he has also worked with lots of other top coaches.

“So I’m just super-happy he’s coaching us, we’re lucky to have him. That’s what you need if you’re playing in the Olympics – the best. We don’t have the resources and sponsors that push other teams like the top four, but Giles is so passionate and he gives us a sense of calm and belief,” Chamberlain said.

The hurt of being rejected for so long, despite being one of the country’s best ever strikers, was channelled into improving her body and mentality; her ‘other’ career as a fitness instructor has certainly helped Chamberlain prolong her career and give her an unlikely second bite at the Olympics.

“I pride myself on my fitness and keep my body as healthy as I can,” Chamberlain said. “It’s about being the best you can be physically and mentally. Having the right mindset and work ethic definitely helps me keep playing. A lot of players get injured when they are past 30 and that’s when their career ended.

“I find it’s the small details that really help and I spend so much time in the gym to prevent injury. It’s also to maintain my strength and I also watch my nutrition. If you are going to stay at this level, then you have to keep up with the youngsters and the energy they have.

“So I have to put in extra work because mobility and stretching are so important if I’m going to still be able to compete with the strongest and the fastest,” Chamberlain said.

The Pretoria-born Chamberlain will also be helping the youngsters in the squad to get through the whole Olympic experience, which can be daunting, given the crowds will be the biggest they have ever played for.

“With my previous experience at the Olympics, I know what to expect. It’s going to be a packed stadium and you can hardly hear each other, it could be distracting. So we have to focus on that more in our preparation and I will help the others in the team who don’t know what it’s going to be like. We just need to stay calm and shut out the noise, and at least we know what’s coming,” Chamberlain said.

South Africa, ranked 18^th, have been placed in a pool with four teams who sit in the top-10 of the world rankings – Argentina, Australia, Great Britain and Spain.

“Any pool in the Olympics is going to be tough and we have prepared the best we can in Belgium, against the right opposition, like China. The focus was on our weaknesses and our strengths.

“At the Olympics, every team is so on form because this is what they have been planning for, but anything can happen. We’ve focused on what we can control, like working on our structure,” Chamberlain said.

South Africa’s men’s team may also find the going tough in their pool, but their tenacity was shown when they pushed the Netherlands, the world’s number one team, hard on Saturday before going down 5-3. Matches against Great Britain tonight, Germany, Spain and France follow this week, but ace defender Andrew Hobson is confident of their chances.

“We’re definitely not here just to participate, our goal is to get out of our pool and into the knockouts. The teams there have probably beaten us eight times out of 10, but we have beaten them a couple of times. So they know if they don’t turn up then they could be in for a rude awakening,” the Stellenbosch University product Hobson said.

“We have a wealth of experience in our team and lots of pace, so we can draw on that. We are almost known for our counter-attack, so teams give us a bit more respect these days and don’t dismiss us as lightly.

“The Olympics is of course a different challenge, it takes a little while to sink in, but we are confident we’re able to keep the ball and manipulate space as well, we are a more rounded team these days,” the Paul Roos Gymnasium educated Hobson said.

PORT EDWARD – Jaco Ahlers backed up his opening-day 64 with another six-under-par score on Thursday in the second round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Wild Coast Sun, once again conquering the blustery conditions with barely a hiccup as he stretched his advantage at the top of the leaderboard.

Ahlers only dropped a single shot on Thursday, at the par-three 17^th, but he collected five birdies and an eagle on the par-five 16^th in his second-round 64 that took him to 12-under-par, four ahead of Keegan McLachlan going into the final round on Friday.

Ahlers started his round on the 10^th on Thursday and was cruising from the outset with two birdies in the first three holes. He again did the bulk of his scoring on the back nine, going out in 31, and his bogey-free front nine featured birdies on the two par-fives – the third and the seventh holes.

“I’m pretty chuffed because it was a bit windy today. The greens on the back nine are a bit better, less bumpy, so I was able to roll the ball better and make more putts there,” Ahlers said.

“I missed a few putts coming in, I was a bit cautious on the greens and left a few short. But overall I didn’t miss many greens today and that’s the key at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club, to give yourself opportunities. I will just keep doing what I’m doing: hit the greens and hopefully make a few putts. I play the course as it is because I’m not the longest hitter and I can’t overpower it,” Ahlers said.

The 11-time winner on the Sunshine Tour enjoyed a bit of fortune for his eagle on the 16^th. Having tugged his tee-shot a bit on the 492m par-five, it rode the wind and lay in the semi-rough.

“I got a bit lucky,” Ahlers admitted. “That hole was downwind today and I only had 110 to the flag, I hit it to 10 feet and made the putt. Which I was very pleased about because everyone is going to score on that hole today.”

Trevor Mahoney, who shot 65 in the first round to be second, one stroke behind Ahlers, saw his hopes die an ugly death on the par-five 12^th as he posted a 10, on his way to a 78 and missing the cut by just one stroke.

McLachlan is now second after shooting a 66, also with just one bogey, on Thursday. Gerhard Pepler is one stroke further back after a never-say-die 66, in which he bounced back from a double-bogey on the 12^th by collecting birdies on the 14^th, 15^th and 18^th holes.

Brandon Stone is in fourth place, seven strokes behind Ahlers after a second-round 67, but the leader will be anxious about Stone’s ability to go really low in the final round of events.

PORT EDWARD (KwaZulu-Natal) – Given his lack of joy with his putter recently, Jaco Ahlers made sure he was sinking birdie putts with rapacious intent when the short stick joined the party on the back nine on Wednesday as he soared to the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Wild Coast Sun with a six-under-par 64.

Ahlers came home in a tremendous 30 strokes, making five birdies on the back nine. He leads Trevor Mahoney, who came home in 31 shots to post a 65, by one stroke, with Keegan McLachlan a shot further back after a 66 that included an eagle-two on the short, 315m par-four second hole.

The 41-year-old Ahlers has been playing solidly recently, but has not been getting reward on the greens. His last four finishes have been ties for 13^th, fifth, 23^rd and 10^th.

“I finally made some putts today. The putter was the catalyst for my 64. Not so much on the front nine, where I had 16 putts, including sinking one from off the green for birdie on the fifth. But on the back nine I had just 12 putts, so I capitalised on some pretty good golf and sank nice putts on the 13^th and 17^th holes,” Ahlers said.

“I played two weeks ago in Morocco on the Asian Tour, and the putter was very cold, that probably cost me the win. But I’ve been playing decent golf lately and in the last few months my acceptance of things on the course has been a bit better.

“That’s a big thing at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club where conditions are always different one day to the other. The greens can be bumpy and there are normally strong winds, you just have to not get too agitated. The wind was up today but it was just experience, having played here and done well many times before, that allowed me to manage it well,” Ahlers, who won the 2016 Wild Coast Sun Challenge and lost in a playoff in the 2014 Vodacom Origins Wild Coast event, said.

Mahoney, a former South African amateur star, was level-par after eight holes, but then collected back-to-back birdies on the ninth and 10^th holes. He was then able to further massage his score with a strong finish, picking up further strokes on the 15^th, 16^th and 18^th holes.

McLachlan, from Silver Lakes Country Club, started his round on the 10^th and went out in level-par. But the 25-year-old was excellent on the front nine, birdieing the first and fourth holes to add to his eagle on the second.

Jacques P. de Villiers, Gerhard Pepler, Pieter Moolman, Jaco van Zyl, Matthew Spacey and Leon Vorster were all tied in fourth place after shooting three-under-par 67s.