Ken Borland

Reeza Hendricks will not be based at his beloved DP World Wanderers Stadium for the SA20 tournament that starts on January 9, but that’s not to say the Lions star is not looking forward to the event.

Hendricks has been an ever-present in the Joburg Super Kings line-up in the first two seasons of the SA20, but was released this year. That was not the setback it seemed, however, as the 35-year-old fetched the highest bid at the auction for the 2025 edition, netting R4.3 million from MI Cape Town.

He will be joining fellow DP World Lions stars Kagiso Rabada, Connor Esterhuizen, Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen and Delano Potgieter at MI Cape Town. And Hashim Amla, the vastly-respected batting coach for the Central Gautengers, is also with the Newlands-based T20 franchise.

It’s not for nothing that there is such a concentration of #ThePrideOfJozi that has been signed by head coach Robin Peterson. The DP World Lions are the back-to-back domestic T20 champions and Hendricks has starred in both winning campaigns.

In 2023/24, he was the third-highest run-scorer with 440 at 36.66 and a strike-rate of 140.12, with four half-centuries. In this season’s triumph, he was again in the top-10 run-scorers with 194 at 38.80 and a strike-rate of 135.66, with two fifties.

Given that he has been starring on the domestic T20 stage since 2010/11, it is not a surprise that Hendricks this season broke former Knights team-mate Morne van Wyk’s record for the most domestic T20 career runs.

Van Wyk held the record with 3183 runs in 113 innings, averaging 31.83 at a strike-rate of 124. Hendricks went past that tally in the final against the Titans and has scored 3184 runs at an average of 36.18 and a strike-rate of 125.35.

And it’s not just the DP World Lions that Hendricks has been shining for: He has been one of the premier T20  batsmen in international T20 cricket, scoring 1222 runs for the Proteas in the last three years, at an average of 33.94 and a strike-rate of 141.92.

“I’ve had a good run, although I had a bit of a slump in the World Cup. But I made a few runs since then and hopefully I’m close to my best again and the runs keep coming. A little slump like that is not uncommon in your career, but hopefully I’m out of it now,” Hendricks said.

“It’s a part of the game and you just need to accept it and move on. Conditions were quite challenging at the World Cup and it wasn’t anything to do with technique. It was just a time I had to go through, although it continued longer than I would have liked.

“It’s nice to win trophies and be the highest run-scorer ever in the competition. Milestones are a part of it, it’s quite an achievement to have most runs ever, but a winning team and culture is more important.

“The record tells you that I’ve been around for a while and I just try to keep my batting as simple as possible, I formulate plans that work for me. Hopefully they continue to work going forward.”

Even a move away from the DP World Wanderers Stadium for the SA20 is okay with the typically phlegmatic Hendricks.

“I still feel good and I will keep playing for as long as I can, as long as I still have the desire, the passion is still there and I’m still scoring runs. I just try and keep my standards and keep building on my game. I like to think my game is still evolving and now I have a new coach to work with [Peterson] in January,” he said.

The DP World Lions are well-represented throughout the SA20 with 13 players in all taking part in the six-team franchise competition. The other Western Cape side, the Paarl Royals, also have a clutch of #ThePrideOfJozi with Nqaba Peter, Mitchell van Buuren, Codi Yusuf, Bjorn Fortuin and Kwena Maphaka chosen for Trevor Penney’s side.

All-rounders Wiaan Mulder and Evan Jones will turn out for the Durban Super Giants and Joburg Super Kings respectively.

JOHANNESBURG – England-based James Mack shot a six-under-par 66 on Wednesday to lead the Gary & Vivienne Player Challenge after the first round at Kyalami Country Club, but there is a hunk of prime South African Sunshine Tour talent chasing him down just one stroke behind.

Simon du Plooy, Jacques P. de Villiers, Ruan de Smidt, Christiaan Burke, Martin Rohwer and Jonathan Broomhead all posted five-under-par 67s on Wednesday to ensure Mack has plenty of challengers in his rearview mirror.

De Villiers, whose only bogey came on the par-five 13^th when he three-putted, said the key to doing well at Kyalami Country Club on Wednesday was shaping the ball on the 6631m course with tight fairways.

“The fairways are very hard and they’re tight, so it’s tough to hit them with the ball bouncing so much. You’ve got to be able to shape the ball off the tee and I did that well today,” De Villiers said.

“I also putted really well and even though I made four birdies and an eagle, I still had a few horseshoes, including one that came right back at me. But it was a really solid round, I played well today in conditions that were very nice. It wasn’t too cold this morning and the wind didn’t blow too much either.”

The highlight of De Villiers’ season thus far has been finishing third in the FBC Zambia Open, which was then followed by a long break. His finishes since the Sunshine Tour returned to action have been 20^th, 43^rd, 35^th and 37^th, but the Schoeman Park golfer still feels his game is well-toned as he looks towards the co-sanctioned events in the summer.

“I’ve been working hard on my swing with Doug Wood and the changes are there or thereabouts. But the game has been trending in the right direction for sure over the last couple of weeks. It’s all preparation now for the big events on the summer swing,” the 34-year-old said.

Mack started his round on the par-four 10^th hole and immediately picked up a birdie. Two more birdies in a faultless back nine saw him go out in three-under, and he collected four more birdies on the front nine, although a bogey on the par-three fourth hole was a hiccup.

Ten other golfers are two shots behind on four-under-par.

Danie van Tonder says it feels marvellous to be based back in South Africa again, but the challenge of making it on an overseas tour still appeals to him, and the 33-year-old is thinking about perhaps having a go at the Asian Tour and hopefully the LIV.

But what about a return to the DP World Tour and playing in Europe, the usual route to the top for South African golfers?

“Never again,” Van Tonder says emphatically.

The 2021 South African Open champion enjoyed a successful first full season on the DP World Tour that year, winning the Kenya Savannah Classic and finishing 75th on the Race to Dubai with more than €340 000 in prizemoney for the season. Having also made the cut in both the PGA and Open Championships of 2021 and won five Sunshine Tour tournaments in the previous eight months, it seemed his career was heading to great heights.

But 2022 and 2023 were years of struggle for Van Tonder as he finished 125^th and 117^th respectively on the order of merit, losing his DP World Tour card. For the self-taught golfer from Boksburg, the slog of campaigning in Europe was not for him.

That realisation was confirmed in August when he won the FNB Eswatini Challenge at Nkonyeni Lodge and Golf Estate, his first victory since his massive SA Open triumph at the Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, in December 2021. Van Tonder’s two-stroke victory in Eswatini came after he had taken a long break from competitive action.

“It was great to win again, my previous title was the SA Open and that was like three years ago. So there was a bit of a drought, but I went through some big changes, I was on the road for so long. It becomes a grind and you’re just not able to fix things in your game,” Van Tonder says.

“I had six weeks at home before playing in Eswatini and that really helped. I felt great coming into the tournament and I’m finally seeing the results of the work I’ve been able to put into my game.

“Playing week-after-week on the DP World Tour, you begin to get into bad habits and you try and fix them, but you don’t really have the time to make the changes you need to or to improve your game. I won’t be doing that again, I need to take breaks.”

The lucrative LIV Tour is obviously still the subject of much chat in Sunshine Tour locker rooms, especially since the Asian Tour sanctions the International Series, made up of 10 events which provides a route to Greg Norman’s breakaway league. South Africans such as Jbe’ Kruger, Jaco Ahlers, Neil Schietekat and Yurav Premlall have already tried their hand at these enhanced events that offer a minimum purse of $2 million.

Van Tonder is forthright in admitting that the LIV Tour, with its unique, non-traditional format, megastar signings and emphasis on fast-paced, more entertaining play, has caught his eye.

“I like to take driver and hit it long and far and straight. That’s why if I do play overseas, I would prefer to be on the Asian Tour because I love the thought of playing LIV. I think they would enjoy me on that tour, the way I play and my personality. I’m always aiming for a lot of birdies,” the winner of more than R17 million on the Sunshine Tour says.

Playing LIV, which only has 14 events a year, would also allow Van Tonder to take those breaks from golf that he needs to keep himself fresh. Plus each event is only played over three rounds and there’s a more relaxed dress code in which shorts are allowed.

The Serengeti Estate golfer is more of a traditionalist though when it comes to equipment and he says he is looking forward to the golf ball rollback that will come into force in 2028.

“I use the Titleist Pro V1 23X which everyone plays with. To use the older one would be a disadvantage because it goes shorter, but I will go back to it when the rollback happens because those are the distances we’ll be going back to. I’m looking forward to the change,” Van Tonder says.

“I still have my old Titleist 620 CB irons and I waited eight months for my old putter to be refurbished. It kinda works so I stick with it.”

Which is typical of a golfer who may be idiosyncratic, but he is his own man and his record speaks for itself.

SIDEBARS

Danie’s favourite courses

Carnoustie

Leopard Creek

Gary Player Country Club, Sun City

Glendower

Serengeti

(“Nkonyeni is very close to the top 5 because that was fun to play,” he says.)

What’s in Danie’s bag?

Titleist TSR3 Driver

Titleist TSi 3-Wood

Titleist GT 5-Wood

Titleist CB irons 3-9

Titleist Vokey SM10 wedge, gap wedge & lob wedge

Scotty Cameron Futura MB putter

How does Danie prepare before a round?

“Every day is different: sometimes I will do weights to get loose, on other days I will listen to music. I really enjoy David Crowder’s music, pump up music or just a whole mix of everything.”

SUN CITY, North-West – United States-based South African Paula Reto may have looked a bit like a fish out of water when she bogeyed the second and third holes on the second day of the SuperSport Ladies Challenge presented by Sun International on Thursday, but the rest of her round at the Lost City Golf Club then went swimmingly as she claimed a share of the lead.

Reto went on a run of five birdies in six holes from the fifth hole, and then added back-to-back birdies on the 13^th and 14^th holes, before returning from a lightning break with another gain on the 17^th. Her superb six-under-par 66 lifted her to eight-under overall and she will go into the final round tied for the lead with India’s Tvesa Malik, who fired a stunning 65.

The 33-year-old Reto won this tournament in 2022, but it was then played at the Gary Player Country Club. But after a tough 2023 campaign on the LPGA Tour, Reto is in a good frame of mind back in her home country, and it showed in her ability to bounce back from two early setbacks on Thursday.

“I don’t know what happened really, I hit a bad tee-shot on the second and suddenly I’d gone bogey-bogey. I just said to myself that I must give myself opportunities and fortunately I then managed to get the ball close to the hole a few times, and chipped in on the eighth, which is always nice for your momentum,” Reto said.

“Lost City is completely different to the GPCC, you have to strategise more off the tees, it’s a course that requires more thinking. To be able to bounce back after those two bogeys felt really good and I was very happy that I kept to the plan. I was able to stay on plan and not let the bogeys get to me.

“Last year was tough because I struggled with my swing a bit and I couldn’t string four good rounds together. It starts to take a toll on your confidence and you start to try and change so much all at once.

“So at the start of this year I just tried to hone in on a few things, make sure I do those basics well. I’m happy with where my game is heading and I just love coming back here to South Africa, being with my family and feeling a bit like I’m on vacation,” Reto said.

Getting married on December 29 to fellow Indian professional golfer Ajeetesh Sandhu certainly seems to have bear fruit for Malik as she produced an outstanding, bogey-free round with four birdies on the back nine and then three on the front.

First-round leader Lauren Taylor shot a 70 on Thursday to move to six-under-par, two off the lead, while exciting South African youngster Gabrielle Venter shot 68 on Thursday to move to five-under.