Ken Borland

Akasia Country Club, in the northern suburbs of Pretoria, takes its name from the many Acacias that line the fairways so it was no surprise that my February visit should throw up that great lover of thorn trees, a Willow Warbler, scurrying through the branches.

Set in bushveld country in the shadow of the Magalies Mountain, Akasia Country Club is a very pleasant place for a soothing stroll in the middle of suburbia but a potentially tense, if rewarding venue for a round of golf.

Unusually, the 6431m course features five par-threes and five par-fives and the number of short holes provides a hint that there could be plenty of water around.

And there is. The Boepensspruit runs through the course and comes into play on numerous holes.

The front nine is classical parkland with lots of water as well as trees just off the fairway, while the back nine has more of an estate feel to it, but is tighter and still has plenty of water to get over. The greens are bent-grass, with kikuyu on the fairways.

Water and trees are, of course, magnets for birds and my stroll around the course netted me 35 species, as well as sightings of Springbok, Impala and even Common Duiker in the more wooded patches. Look out too for the Southern Tree Agamas scuttling around the tree-trunks, always peering at you from the other side of the tree.

Apart from the cute Willow Warbler, I also enjoyed the Whitewinged Widows in the scrubby areas, with their soft, scratchy, rasping calls sounding like a piece of paper being crumpled up.

A Yellowbilled Kite was flying about and I fancy other raptors will be around due to the proximity of the Magalies Mountain, while the stream shelters Hamerkop and Greenbacked Heron.

Blackthroated Canaries were dashing around near the clubhouse and Blacksmith Plover breed just off the fairways … look out for the black-blotched eggs!

Eggs of the Blacksmith Plover

Your round of golf will begin with an absolute knee-trembler of a shot between two trees and over water to reach the green on the par-three first hole, 163 metres away. A nasty fast putt awaits from the back of the green.

And then it’s over Waterbok Road and into the parklands of the rest of the front nine. The par-four second hole features another sloping green with a fast putt from the back while a long par-three awaits on the fourth. Measuring anything from 166 to 196 metres from the tee, there is a stately Old Cape Dutch building to aim at behind the green running the width of the fairway, but beware going right because a road and out-of-bounds lurks there.

The first par-five of the front nine is a short 436m, but it is uphill and a stream runs across the fairway. When I was walking this hole, the entire three-ball playing it put their balls in the water!

The stroke one, par-four sixth is next, measuring 395m with a tricky elevated green.

The front nine ends with a short par-three, but once again you’re hitting over water.

Looking down the par-three fourth fairway

A stream brings water into play again on the 10th and 11th holes, while the front of the 13th green slopes away from the hole, making distance control on the 418m par-four a priority.

The par-five 14th is rated the easiest hole on the course, but the approach to the green is narrow, as it is on the next hole, also a par-five, which also features water.

The last par-three is the 16th hole, where a narrow green is well-protected by bush close-in on the right and a hazard on the left.

The final two holes are doglegs. The par-four 17th goes sharply to the left and there are awkward mounds in the semi-rough on the left-hand side of the fairway in case you try and cut the corner, while the green slopes from back to front.

The final hole is a wonderful 548m par-five, stroke two with the fairway doglegging right in a broad curve, with out of bounds tight on the left. You then have to hit your approach over a dam on to the green, with bunkers at the back.

Sightings list

Laughing Dove

Redeyed Dove

African Hoopoe

Common Myna

Blacksmith Plover

Wattled Plover

Spotted Flycatcher

Southern Masked Weaver

Southern Red Bishop

Whitewinged Widow

House Sparrow

Cape Sparrow

Blackeyed Bulbul

Willow Warbler

Crowned Plover

African Palm Swift

Whitethroated Swallow

Greater Striped Swallow

Yellowbilled Kite

Whitebellied Sunbird

European Swallow

Tawnyflanked Prinia

Cape Wagtail

Fiscal Shrike

Blackheaded Heron

Southern Tree Agama

Egyptian Goose

Little Swift

Hamerkop

Greenbacked Heron

Springbok

Cape Turtle Dove

Blackthroated Canary

Common Duiker

Hadeda Ibis

Redfaced Mousebird

Impala

Little Egret

Bronze Mannikin

The Nedbank Golf Challenge (NGC) is set to once again go ahead at the end of the year at Sun City, thanks to the demise of the Tournament of Hope that sounds a clear warning to the international golf tours that they are losing control of their players.

The Sunshine Tour, in conjunction with the International Federation of PGA Tours, had initially announced that the Tournament of Hope, an $8.5 million event modelled on the World Golf Championship tournaments, would take place in late November and it is an open secret that they had hoped Sun City would host it.

But with the announcement that the Tournament of Hope has been put on hold, the NGC is no longer under pressure, although it is believed negotiations are under way to alter the format of the tournament from its traditional 12-man field.

It is likely that the NGC will have an expanded field – possibly as many as 50 golfers – while it will also enjoy closer ties with the Sunshine and European Tours, elevating it from a mere exhibition tournament.

The NGC has been in existence for 32 years and it is in many ways a relic of the past, having been designed to bring top overseas golfers to South Africa (or Bophuthatswana as it was then known) during the days of sporting isolation. Having once been the richest tournament in the world, it is now struggling to attract the top players who have so many more options all over the world to choose from.

It is this “player-power” that has effectively sunk (hopefully temporarily) the Tournament of Hope.

Despite offering more prizemoney than any of the WGC events, there was no guarantee that the event would attract the top players.

Even the WGC events face the same challenge these days: Last November, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods withdrew from the HSBC Champions in Shenzhen, preferring to play an exhibition match elsewhere in China instead.

And that’s what the Sunshine Tour and Sail, the Tournament of Hope promoters, feared: No matter how much money they were offering, there was no guarantee leading players would make the trip to South Africa, especially at the end of the year.

Although it wasn’t in the contract, they were hoping that what had been promised to them by the U.S. PGA Tour  – that the event would count for their money-list and for FedEx Cup points, as well as earning the winner a three-year exemption in America – would be delivered.

Unfortunately these incentives have not yet been forthcoming, although Sunshine Tour commissioner Selwyn Nathan is optimistic that they might come through in Masters week in April.

As one Sunshine Tour insider said: “We’re not in the business of over-promising and there wasn’t enough motivation for the top players to guarantee their presence in South Africa”.

Without the top names, the sponsors’ investment would not bring sufficient return and it is to the credit of the Sunshine Tour that they have been honest with their stakeholders about this.

Meanwhile, Alastair Roper, the NGC tournament director, has been praising the event as “the best tournament ever”, using the testimonials of 2012 champion Martin Kaymer, veteran Bernhard Langer and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts as evidence.

The changing landscape of professional golf may force the NGC to alter the shape and feel of the event, but the end-of-year party at Sun City looks set to still be the encore of the South African golfing year.

Richard Sterne’s golf was safe as houses all through the Joburg Open, making just one bogey in 72 holes, but it was his record winning score of 27-under-par that reflected how brilliantly precise his game was at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.

Sterne clinched his second Joburg Open title by a record-breaking seven strokes after shooting a superb eight-under-par 64 in Sunday’s final round and he said it had been his most memorable finish to a tournament.

“I hit the ball really well and I was conservative so I was never really in any trouble. I made the putts that mattered and I drove the ball really well.

“It was quite special, especially the way I finished today. It was probably my best final round ever, to shoot 64 on the East Course is always good, especially in a final round,” Sterne said after his ninth professional victory.

Sterne’s 64 included birdies on the first two holes, three successive birdies from the sixth to the eighth and further shots picked up on the 13th, 17th and 18th holes. He hit 12 of 14 fairways from the tee and 17 greens in regulation on Sunday.

Sterne, who will become a father for the first time in June, said to win for the first time in four years was a relief after battling a serious back injury in 2010 and 2011.

“It’s very special after all the hard work and injury. You think you’re never going to win again or get back to that level. At one time my three bulging discs were quite bad and it was a year before the pain eased, and for sure the thought crossed my mind then that I might not play professional golf again.

“But the key was to be patient and not come back too early. I tried to come back once, felt pain and immediately took another eight months off during which I did not touch a club. Some people play through the pain, but that can affect your confidence,” Sterne said.

The 31-year-old said the string of three birdies he picked up in three holes just before the turn had been crucial, putting him six in front of a faltering Trevor Fisher Jnr.

“Trevor eagled the first and I thought ‘here we go’. But I knew he had not won before on this sort of stage and I just had to do what I do, finding greens.

“Things started to go my way on the sixth. He tried to finish up and missed a short putt, while I had a sneaky 10-foot putt, which was a really important one to make. To then make birdie again on seven and on eight … I knew I had hurt him,” Sterne said.

Sterne’s victory now puts him into the top 60 on the world rankings, having been 165th eight days ago before his second-place finish in the Dubai Desert Classic, and he will now be playing in the WGC Accenture Matchplay Championship in Arizona from February 20.

He is also now in first place on the European Tour’s order of merit – the Race to Dubai – with just over 450 000 euro from four tournaments.

Fellow South African Charl Schwartzel held the previous Joburg Open records for both the lowest winning score (-23) and biggest winning margin (six strokes), set during his 2010 triumph.

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