Ken Borland

Christiaan Bezuidenhout must have felt a bit like an ant standing next to an elephant back in the 2000s when he followed Ernie Els around the Gary Player Country Club; now Bezuidenhout has inherited The Big Easy’s mantle as South Africa’s main hope in the Nedbank Golf Challenge that starts at Sun City on Thursday.

The 2000s were an era of dominance for South African golfers in the event, with Els winning in 2000 and 2002, Retief Goosen in 2004 and Trevor Immelman claiming the famous trophy in 2007.

Bezuidenhout, and compatriots like George Coetzee and Zander Lombard, were impressionable youngsters back then and the prestige of Africa’s Major is ingrained in them. The 28-year-old Bezuidenhout is based on the U.S. PGA Tour and is South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer in the field, and he also won the SA Open on the Gary Player CC course in 2020.

“Since 2000, we watched every year until 2012,” Bezuidenhout recalled on Wednesday. “I would watch the practice rounds, the short games, out on the course and inside the ropes.

“It was always my dream to play in this event and I’m very glad it’s back on the schedule. A lot of really good names are on the trophy, like Ernie, Retief, Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Seve Ballesteros.

“As a South African, you really want to put your name on that trophy because it’s a special event for us, there’s a bit more for us South African guys to play for.

“Playing in the United States, I’ve learned a lot. It’s a different style of golf, the grass is different. The strength and depth of fields is so good that you’ve got to try and save every single shot,” Bezuidenhout, who made his NGC debut in 2019, the last time the event was held due to the Covid pandemic, said.

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood has owned the title since then, bringing the daunting Gary Player Country Club course to its knees with a final-round 65 that saw him into the playoff he won against Sweden’s Marcus Kinholt.

“This is a very special event for me. I’m not South African but I grew up watching it with my dad every year. I love the history behind it and the winners,” Fleetwood said.

“When you walk down the ninth hole on the left and you see all the winners from all the years on that walkway, I often thought it would be great to add my name on there.

“To get that win was very cool and we’re all excited to come back. I love the game in this country and how popular golf is over here. I’ve always enjoyed playing out here,” the top—ranked player in the field said.

Although LIV Golf has caused much heartache to the DP World Tour, participants in that breakaway league are teeing it up at Sun City, including South African Branden Grace, the 2017 champion.

I don’t know whether Proteas captain Dean Elgar was boarding or not when he went to St Dominic’s College in Welkom in the early 2000s, but much of his language in the week building up to the second Test against Bangladesh was straight out of the manual of boarding school lingo.

To my horror as I wishfully think of myself as still being young, Elgar was born in 1987, the same year that I matriculated from boarding school.

But to hear phrases like “harden up”, “man up” and “dry your eyes” certainly took me back to my education, both at school and university.

Now I know Elgar’s statement that Test cricket is a man’s game has raised some eyebrows for bordering on sexism, but, as ever, it is important to consider the context and intent of such a declaration. What is far more sexist to me is that the world’s best women cricketers hardly ever play any Test cricket at all these days, which is why such a legend as Mignon du Preez retired this week having played just one Test in her 15-year career.

I also believe Bangladesh have deserved such criticism.

They won the toss at Kingsmead in the first Test, but were too scared to give their batsmen first use of the facilities. This was basically admitted by coach Russell Domingo – who it later emerged had urged them to bat first – when he used words like “uncertainty”, “lack of confidence”,  and “not able to front up” to explain the decision at the toss.

While the inconsistency of the Proteas team suggests they could do with the services of a sports psychologist on the staff, Bangladesh, it seems, should hire a mental toughness coach.

They matched South Africa blow-for-blow for most of the Test match, following on the steel and intent they showed in the ODI series, only to then fold completely in the last two sessions.

I would suggest their problems started when they began to blame the umpires, and judging by the reports coming out of Bangladesh media, some of the team went so far as to accuse Marais Erasmus and Adrian Holdstock of being biased in favour of the Proteas.

Covid has forced the ICC into dispensing with neutral umpires – although it probably is time to reinstate them – and for an umpire of Erasmus’s quality (he is also the reigning ICC Umpire of the Year award-winner), he did not have the best of matches. Holdstock, who has proven he is a quality umpire as well, also made a few mistakes.

But to accuse them of bias was ridiculous, particularly since of the eight decisions overturned on review, four of them were against South Africa.

The Proteas certainly don’t have a reputation for being silent on the field, and we’ve got a real chatterbox in Sarel Erwee, although his talk is more a stream-of-consciousness jumble designed to distract rather than a concerted plan to annoy.

But for Bangladesh to allege that South Africa’s sledging was “unbearable” or “deplorable” does not fit with the reality of what was seen at Kingsmead, either at the ground or for those watching and listening on TV.

The only memorable flashpoint of the Test was when Ebadot Hossain had a go at Elgar, and even that was within the bounds of normal fast bowler grumpiness.

Without detracting from the way Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer weaved their magic in the second innings, it was clear Bangladesh had lost focus and had become distracted by their perceived grievances at the umpires and opposition.

There is a reason teams talk about focusing on the controllables (like your own performance) and not the uncontrollable (what other people are doing or the conditions). Bangladesh’s focus was on matters they could not control and it led to a batting display that rapidly spiralled into ignominy.

There is another phrase from my boarding school days that could be used to describe the tourists in the first Test – sore losers.

Lions hooker Malcolm Marx on the rampage once again. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

When the ACT Brumbies’ style of play dominated rugby in the early 2000s there were many pseudonyms for what they were doing – structured rugby, expansive rugby, multiphase play, all set up by skilful ball-carriers.

The Jaguares reminded me a bit of that multiphase play at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon as they valiantly held on to the ball for phase-after-phase. But the game has moved on since the glory days of Gregan, Larkham and Finegan and these days teams trust their defences to hold out for long periods, eventually forcing the error or a one-off runner that is vulnerable to the breakdown steal.

We saw it in the Crusaders’ victory over the Sharks in the other SuperRugby quarterfinal featuring a South African side earlier in the day, and the Lions’ defence was the biggest factor in their 40-23 win over the Jaguares.

As the Jaguares pushed and prodded with more determination, so the Lions just worked harder and with more physicality in defence, simply not allowing the Argentinians to get their game going. Hooker Malcolm Marx led the way with vital turnovers, but Marnus Schoeman also contributed valuably and Kwagga Smith was also a presence at the breakdown.

“Collectively it was a massive effort and you have to give credit for all the turnovers to the guy who makes the tackle as well because he provides the opportunity. A guy like Malcolm is then just impossible to shift, Kwagga made one or two steals as well and Marnus was excellent when he came on. At stages the Jaguares kept the ball for a long time, but we showed good patience on defence,” Lions captain Warren Whiteley said after his team had clinched their third successive SuperRugby semifinal at home.

Captain Warren Whiteley epitomises the Lions defence with this hit on Agustin Creevy. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

The Jaguares are certainly a force to be reckoned with going forward in SuperRugby, as they showed in the third quarter when they came from 9-24 down at the break to close to 23-27.

They were piling on the pressure, but Marx won three turnover penalties and those are the crucial interventions which win knockout games, with coach Swys de Bruin talking afterwards about “great defence at the right times”.

Jaguares coach Mario Ledesma spoke afterwards about how disappointing it was to concede three “soft” tries in the first half, but the Lions are a clever, innovative side on attack, able to try different things and generally pretty clinical.

All three of the tries came from different kicks: An Elton Jantjies crosskick found wing Ruan Combrinck with pinpoint precision for the first try; centre Harold Vorster followed lovely sleight of hand with a clever kick through that became even more effective thanks to the pace of Aphiwe Dyantyi getting there first to hack through and allow Vorster to score after the Jaguares made a mess of the clean-up operation; and a little dink over the top by flyhalf Jantjies was gathered by scrumhalf Gonzalo Bertranou, but his loose pass was immediately intercepted by Marx, who roared away from the 10m line for the try.

The Lions were cruising with a 24-9 halftime lead, but the admirable Jaguares were not done yet though as Bautista Delguy used his quick feet to score a fine try down the right wing two minutes after the break, and seven minutes later the visitors scored again as flank Pablo Matera crashed over. It was not the best grubber kick by the Lions that had given them broken-play possession.

Flank Cyle Brink, after a barnstorming first half, did not come out for the second half due to a shoulder ‘stinger’, but it was not a problem for the Lions as his replacement, Schoeman, played with tremendous industry. He showed terrific tenacity in the build-up to Andries Coetzee’s try as the fullback wriggled through a couple of tackles.

Lions flank Cyle Brink on another storming run. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

A typically combative Marnus Schoeman. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

Being a knockout game, coach De Bruin had deemed shots at goal acceptable and Jantjies, who produced a polished performance that included a seven-from-seven success rate from the tee, then slotted a sweetly-struck drop goal to take the Lions’ buffer to two converted tries (37-23).

The seventh successful kick at goal by Jantjies was the penalty that completed the scoring with five minutes remaining, confirming that they will host the Waratahs at 3pm next Saturday in the semifinals.

The other huge positive for the Lions was the tremendous dominance of their scrum. The number of set-pieces was relatively low, but whenever the home side needed it, their scrum won them penalties or gave them strong front-foot ball.