Ken Borland

Branden Grace is back at his most beloved Major, reunited with his coach and back in the top 100 of the world rankings as he looks to lead the 11-strong South African challenge at the PGA Championship starting at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island on Thursday.

Grace has the best history in the tournament of that record South African contingent vying for the famous Wanamaker Trophy, having finished third in 2015 and tied-fourth the following year. Gary Player was the last South African to win the PGA Championship, way back in 1972.

The 32-year-old Grace’s career had been in the doldrums a bit and he lost his father to Covid at the beginning of the year. But Grace rebounded to win the Puerto Rico Open on the U.S. PGA Tour and has made the cut in four of his five events since then, climbing to No.92 in the world rankings, having ended 2020 in 126^th place. He also has his coach Peter Berman with him in South Carolina, and expressed his happiness on social media that they will be able to work together for the first time since last year.

In the golf movie Tin Cup, protagonist Roy McAvoy talks of a course being like a “river full of all manner of disaster, you know, piranhas, alligators, eddies, currents” and the Ocean Course, which was also the venue for the 2012 PGA Championship, has been described as the most difficult layout in recent Major championship history. Measuring nearly 7900 yards, it also features strong coastal winds and cruel slopes.

Hopefully the potential for trauma won’t mar the debut experience of Major golf for South Africans Garrick Higgo, in red-hot form after his two European Tour wins in the Canary Islands, and Danie van Tonder, who has been given an invite after his breakthrough European Tour victory in Kenya.

Louis Oosthuizen is the highest-ranked South African in the field at 31^st in the world rankings, followed by No.41 Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Dylan Frittelli is another South African who regularly competes on the U.S. PGA Tour and is also inside the top-100, while veteran Charl Schwartzel rose 48 places to No.109 after his tied-third finish in last weekend’s Byron Nelson Classic.

Brandon Stone has been doing well on the European Tour lately, while George Coetzee and Erik van Rooyen both enjoyed their best Major showings at the PGA Championship. Dean Burmester, who also won during the European Tour’s Canary Islands swing, is making his PGA Championship debut, having played in two U.S. Opens previously.

One bad game does not define the Sharks as a team and they will bounce back to defend their honour against the Stormers at Kings Park on Saturday, flank Henco Venter promised on Tuesday.

The Sharks went to Pretoria last weekend on top of the South African log but were mauled 43-9 by the Bulls, whose pack simply overpowered them, by the admission of the KwaZulu-Natal team themselves. The Stormers are another side who bring plenty of fire and fury up front, and their captain, Steven Kitshoff, said last weekend that they owe the Sharks after losing their last two matches against them.

“The score at Loftus spoke for itself and we are not feeling good about it,” Venter said. “We have had time to reflect on it and we will be ready for the weekend. We’re not being negative, but positive. One bad game does not define us as a team. The previous weekend we stopped 14 Lions mauls and held them off with six forwards against eight.

“I’m very glad that Kitshoff said that because we want the Stormers to be at their best, we don’t want them at 50%, hopefully they have no injuries. We are 100% up for their forward pack and we’re definitely not going to just lie down on our backs when they come here. Kings Park is our place and criticism can either be taken positively or negatively, and I can assure you we have taken it positively,” Venter added.

Bulls coach Jake White acknowledged after last weekend’s dramatic result that the Sharks are still a very good side and they are certainly still in the running for a place in the Rainbow Cup final against the winners of the European section, and Venter said there will be no backing off from the Durbanites.

“We’re playing to be in that final and then play in the European Cup next season. We’ve had our bad part of the competition now, and now, if we win all our games, we will be in the final, it’s in our hands. Having a Rainbow Cup final has made it more lucrative and exciting, it’s something to play for. Being the best in South Africa is one thing, but being the best in the whole Pro16 is another matter,” Venter said.

Bulls coach Jake White on Thursday welcomed Springbok legends Duane Vermeulen and Morne Steyn back into his starting line-up and then couldn’t help but list the terrible loss of players afflicting the Stormers ahead of their Rainbow Cup clash in Cape Town on Saturday.

White said he expects the Stormers to be without Ruhan Nel, Seabelo Senatla, Willie Engelbrecht, Kade Wolhuter, JD Schickerling, Nama Xaba and Salmaan Moeraat on Saturday. That just adds to the unavailability of Siya Kolisi, Juarno Augustus, Tim Swiel, Chris van Zyl, Jaco Coetzee and Angelo Davids from the Western Province team that played in the Currie Cup semi-finals in January.

“It’s a massive boost to have Duane back, he’s an unbelievable leader who will bring calm. Obviously things are going well with his knee and hopefully he can make an impact although I don’t expect him to be at his best physically. He’s trying to make his way back for the Lions tour, but I’m sure he will show leadership and get the team to gel. I know what he means to the team.

“Morne has been brought into the alignment camps with the Springboks, so obviously he’s an important cog too. If it had been a one-off game we could probably have pushed Trevor Nyakane to play as well, but the bigger picture of the Springboks comes to the fore there, he’s helluva important for them. Plus Mornay Smith was really good at tighthead last weekend.

“But the Stormers will have a completely different pack of forwards to what we’re used to and a very different backline. We don’t know their players as well as we used to. But we saw against the Lions, who did not have a lot of their big names, that we will still be up against a real challenge and we’re mindful of that. It is a North/South derby after all,” White said.

The Bulls were also able to advise their supporters of the signing of former Lions centre Harold Vorster on Thursday.

“At the age of 27 he has been around the block a bit. We have some real young talent here, but we probably have too many youngsters. We need that age-group that’s the middle tier, guys like Harold, Jacques du Plessis, Johan Goosen and Marcell Coetzee. Harold comes from Panasonic Wild Knights, who are an incredible club, always in the playoffs in Japan.

“So he’ll have experience of knockout rugby and having been coached by Robbie Deans, I’m full of confidence that he would have developed as a player. I know how good he was at the Lions and I’m sure he would have added more strings to his bow since then,” White said.

Bulls team: David Kriel, Madosh Tambwe, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Morné Steyn, Embrose Papier, Duane Vermeulen (Captain), Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench – Schalk Erasmus, Lizo Gqoboka, Jacques van Rooyen, Janko Swanepoel, Nizaam Carr, Zak Burger, Chris Smith, James Verity-Amm.

The Indian Premier League did all the arrangements for the South African players to get to the tournament a month ago and now that the IPL has been suspended due to Covid-19, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as hosts will again look after the logistics of getting the 10 South Africans back home.

The IPL was suspended on Tuesday amid the surge of Covid-19 cases in India, which has now seen three of the franchises having players and/or staff testing positive for the virus.

Under the current Level I restrictions, South Africa’s border with India is still open, but all travellers are required to have proof of a negative test within 72 hours of travelling. A Cricket South Africa statement released on Tuesday said the returning players would have to “undergo home quarantine in line with the current World Health Organisation recommendations”.

CSA said they and the players’ association, SACA, did have contact with the players “and are assured of their safety and comfort in their respective locations”.

A handful of Australian cricketers had already pulled out of the IPL before Tuesday’s suspension, but with their government now instituting a travel ban, threatening a five-year prison sentence for anyone entering the country who has been to India recently, their remaining players have been agitating for a chartered flight to be organised to fly them home.

But Cricket Australia and their players’ association issued a statement on Tuesday saying they would support their government’s closed-border policy, which means the Australians are likely to head off to the Maldives or Dubai to wait until May 15 when their country’s borders might reopen to people who have been in India.

Fortunately for them, South Africa’s players don’t have that problem.