Ken Borland

There may still be a lot of water to flow under the bridge in terms of LIV and a deal to unify golf once again, but the Stinger GC team, made up of four South Africans, is pushing ahead with plans to grow their popularity at home and ultimately bring the breakaway league to this country.

Latest reports suggest Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV’s chief backers, is in advanced talks over buying a 6% investment in PGA Tour Enterprises.

Richard Glover, the general manager of Stinger GC, which comprises Louis Oosthuizen, Dean Burmester, Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel, says LIV is here to stay and eager to expand their presence in South Africa.

“It’s a team that really works and now we are trying to build a business brand for it. South Africans understand team sport and Stinger comprises four very authentic people, what you see is what you get with them. They are great friends and they have a great relationship,” Glover, who was previously the CEO of Tennis SA and a vice-president of the ATP Tour, told Rapport at Leopard Creek this week.

“I’m absolutely convinced LIV can work in South Africa and there is definitely an interest in hosting an event here. The when and the where are still open for discussion, but I believe there is a big opportunity for that moving forward. Maybe in 2026 or 2027?

“The obstacles are the exchange rate and the economic situation here, but LIV see it as a key market because of the history of golf here and the support base it has. LIV would resonate with our fans and it would be incredibly exciting to see some of the best golfers in the world up against our South African boys on their home turf.

“Ultimately we want to grow the Stinger and LIV brands here. We want to have a year-round footprint, so you will see Stinger clothing in the pro shops,” Glover said.

Burmester and Schwartzel were both in contention at the weekend in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, while Oosthuizen is the defending champion. There is clearly nothing wrong with the standard of play in LIV Golf.

“We’re still all competitors. It may be a different tour, but it’s definitely not the case that our games have become worse,” Schwartzel said. “There are great players on the LIV tour, names all the way through like Mickelson, Johnson, De Chambeau and Cam Smith, and we work extremely hard. We still arrive on the Monday and have an extra day to practise. Playing three rounds actually makes it harder to win because there is no let-up. I shot 71 on the first day here [Leopard Creek] and in LIV that would put you out of contention. With four rounds, you have more of a chance to make up the deficit. People who doubt the standard of play are just looking for excuses to criticise the tour.

Some of the brash new elements LIV have introduced would be considered terrible behaviour on the established tours, but this year’s event in Adelaide provided incredible entertainment.

Stinger GC and Ripper GC went head-to-head in a playoff for the title and the intensity was incredible, perhaps because they are the two teams with the strongest identities, being composed of South Africans and Australians respectively.

“Growing up, I played cricket and used to dream of the stadium-style contest. That was the closest I’ve got to experiencing that,” Burmester said. “There were thousands of people within yards of the golfers. I could barely make my backswing in some places, you’re asking 30 rows to move back. It was nervewracking and we lost, but it really helped my game.

“South Africa would be an incredible fit for LIV and there is work behind the scenes to make it happen, we are pulling on many strings. I feel we can create that Australian vibe, that stadium-style finish.”

Imagine a rematch at Sun City, South Africa versus Australia? With the Chasing the Sun documentary team doing behind-the-scenes coverage as they are currently doing for Stinger GC …

“That playoff was a critical moment for LIV and the scenes in Adelaide were incredible,” Glover said. “South Africa against Australia is always a grudge match because we both have such strong national identities. We would love a rematch with the Rippers!”

Local golf fans angry at the lack of a South African winner in the Nedbank Golf Challenge found a new hope to shout for on Saturday as Aldrich Potgieter stormed to the top of the leaderboard ahead of Sunday’s final round at Sun City.

The last South African to win the country’s most-watched tournament was Branden Grace in 2017. Potgieter is a young man on a meteoric rise though, and the 20-year-fired a blistering six-under-par 66 on Saturday to claim a three-stroke lead on seven-under-par.

As impressive as his four birdies and an eagle on the famous par-five 14^th hole – now shorn of the love-grass however – were, it was even more admirable that Potgieter went around the daunting Gary Player Country Club course bogey-free on another day of furnace-like heat.

It just continues a phenomenal last few months for Potgieter, who was born in Mossel Bay and attended the Louis Oosthuizen Academy before emigrating to Australia and enjoying amateur wins over there.

He returned to South Africa in 2022 and won The Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham and St Anne’s, gaining him places in the Open Championship, the Masters and the U.S. Open, where he made the cut. Potgieter turned pro in June 2023 and this year he became the youngest ever winner on the Korn Ferry Tour (U.S. PGA Tour second tier) when he won the Bahamas Classic. He also shot a 59 at the Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, making him the youngest player to shoot that in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.

Potgieter finished high enough in the Korn Ferry Tour order of merit to get his PGA Tour card for this season.

Little wonder then that Gary Player and Sun International felt he was worth an invite to the Nedbank Golf Challenge. The sizeable crowd following him and roaring their support further validated the decision.

“I was loving the crowd, it was pretty awesome to have them following me,” Potgieter said. “I’ve never played in front of a crowd like this before and it would be a dream come true to win tomorrow. A lot of friends and family are on their way to watch me and it was great to get the invite and then be able to play good golf.

“I made a putter switch from the mallet to the blade on the second day because I was leaving a lot of putts short. But I capitalised on my opportunities today, there was a lot of pressure, but it was good pressure.

“The Nedbank Golf Challenge has always been such a big thing for my Dad, for the last 20 years he’s been talking about it. So I’m excited to put on a show in the final round and it’s going to be great to have all that support. There’s one day left and hopefully then I’ll be standing on 18 holding up the trophy,” Potgieter said.

The energy levels of our DP World Lions men’s team are obviously high and they have had the benefit of a full week’s preparation ahead of their first outing in the defence of their CSA 4-Day Series title as they host the Momentum Multiply Titans from Tuesday.

Our Pride’s last outing saw them clinch the CSA T20 Challenge title in the most emphatic of fashion, hammeriing the self-same Titans in the final, having beaten their Gauteng derby rivals earlier in the week in Qualifier 1.

The Titans will now return to the DP World Wanderers Stadium bullring and Russell Domingo, #ThePrideOfJozi head coach, has warned that their neighbours will be hurting and keen for revenge.

But most of the DP World Lions squad named for the four-day opener played a major role in last season’s triumph, as well as being key members of the squad that won the CSA T20 Challenge last month, so there is plenty of confidence in our Pride’s camp.

“We played a warm-up game and we’ve had net sessions in the last week, so it has been good prep. There’s a good vibe in the squad and the energy levels are high. If you asked us what was the trophy we most want to win, it would be the red-ball one.

“It would have been a nightmare week if we had lost the final, but the Titans will bring a really good team and they will be hurting. There are never any easy games against them, but we are all up for the challenge,” Domingo said.

Connor Esterhuizen, who finished as the DP World Lions’ leading run-scorer in the triumphant T20 campaign, will again be wearing the wicketkeeper’s gloves with Wandile Makwetu still recovering from his broken finger.

The seasoned Josh Richards and the exciting young Mohammed Manack are set to open the batting, with the class of captain Dominic Hendricks and Zubayr Hamza to follow. Mitchell van Buuren will be the mainstay of the middle-order, while Delano Potgieter, the hero of last season’s four-day final, fills the all-rounder berth.

The exciting trio of Lutho Sipamla, whose demolition job on the Titans in the T20 final earned him a recall to the Proteas squad, Tshepo Moreki and Codi Yusuf will look after the pace bowling department, while Bjorn Fortuin and Junaid Dawood, the joint leading wicket-taker in the T20 competition, are the spin bowlers in the squad.

Khaya Fakude is the new face in the team, the DP World Lions Academy batsman having impressed the coaching staff with his ability and talent. The KES and University of Johannesburg representative hails from Kanyamazane near Nelspruit.

When former Knights pace bowler Dillon du Preez took over as the interim coach of the Proteas women’s team, he felt like he had a mountain to climb. Now that he has scaled that peak by leading the side to the T20 World Cup final, the flats, much like the terrain around his Free State home, surely now lie ahead?

But Du Preez himself is not sure he wants to continue as the head coach. This is despite the obvious rapport he has built up with the team – starting in September 2020 as an assistant – and his fellow management team at the World Cup.

Replacing Hilton Moreeng, who stepped down as head coach in May after 11 years at the helm, has proven problematic for Cricket South Africa. Finding a suitable candidate with a Level IV coaching certificate (which Du Preez has) has been the stumbling block.

The 42-year-old Du Preez wonders whether he has enough experience for such a key role, having only been coaching for two tears when Moreeng hand-picked him as his bowling consultant in 2020. Firm friends off the field from their playing days, they led South Africa to the T20 World Cup final on home soil in 2023, losing to Australia.

“It’s been difficult for me,” Du Preez told Rapport when the team returned to a heroines’ welcome in Johannesburg this week. “Doing things like handling the media has been fairly new to me and I do wonder whether I’m the right person to continue. The cornerstones are there, you have to learn how to get past semi-finals and we have done that, and now we are one step away from winning finals.

“But we are on our way. The one thing I question though is do the team need more from their head coach? I will be taking a few days off now and then I will sit down with Enoch Nkwe [director of cricket] and we will discuss everything,” Du Preez said.

He also praised his two assistants, Paul Adams (bowling) and Baakier Abrahams (batting), for their valuable input that has certainly added value to the team.

“They have been very valuable, you can see that in the huddle, which Paul runs. He brings such focus and calmness, he’s been around so when he speaks, people listen.

“And Baakier has been a coach for a while. He has got buy-in from the players and they all know their scoring areas now,” Du Preez said.

Even though the Proteas fell at the final hurdle, losing to New Zealand by 32 runs in the T20 World Cup final in Dubai, they were highly impressive in the daring cricket they played, and their upset victory in the semi-finals over six-time champions Australia was one of the most complete all-round performances in South African cricket history.

“I’m very proud of the ladies. We had a discussion after the final and we told them all the positives that came out of the World Cup, but we also said nothing we say is going to make you feel better.

“But you have to take the positives out: making back-to-back finals in very different conditions and there were lots of individual accolades too. We were outplayed in the final and in hindsight there were things we could have done differently.

“I think our confidence started to grow after the India series, there were a few areas we identified, and some tools we gave the players in two skills camps we had, in which Paul and Baakier were heavily involved.

“Then we went to Pakistan and we could see from game one that things were starting to fall into place. Especially in terms of more aggressive batting, for which we got buy-in from the players.

“So real belief was there when we went to the World Cup, even though conditions were incredibly tough – the heart rates went up to 140-160 just standing still in the heat, so we had to have lots of water breaks.”