Ken Borland

The Europeans may be largely missing but it does not detract from the tournament as the South African Open remains the biggest event of the year for local golfers, both the young and the old agreed at the Gary Player Country Club on Wednesday.

The hysterical reaction to the Omicron variant has ensured the 111^th SA Open (the second oldest national open in golf) is no longer the second event of the new DP World Tour but is just a Sunshine Tour tournament. But the 156-man field will have as much focus on the famous trophy though as the $500 000 prize fund when they tee off on Thursday.

The flagship event remains one of the most cherished weeks in South African golf and being played at the Gary Player Country Club course at Sun City, the host of the Nedbank Golf Challenge that has provided so many historic moments, but has sadly been unable to be held during these times of Covid.

GolfRSA and the South African Golf Association are the custodians of the SA Open and there is always a strong amateur contingent at the event, aiming for the Freddie Tait Cup for the best-placed amateur who makes the cut.

Christiaan Maas is the reigning SA Amateur champion and No.1 in the rankings, and he said the anticipation building into the tournament has been huge.

“It’s such a big tournament and I’ve been looking forward to it since last year after winning the SA Amateur. This week is a very big thing for me because this is the biggest tournament in South Africa,” the 18-year-old Maas said on Wednesday.

At the other end of the scale, James Kingston is a former SA Open champion, having won at Pearl Valley in 2007. Having turned 56 this week, he is delighted to be mixing it with the youngsters once again.

“The thrill of playing in the SA Open never wears off, it is the most treasured event in South African golf. I’m sure it’s the same with other countries and their national open,” Kingston said.

“This is the most sought after title in South African golf and to be able to come to Sun City, having won the tournament before, means the world to me,” Kingston said.

The Gary Player Country Club has been craftily designed to be the ultimate test of stamina, skill and accuracy though, and merely straying into the rough can be devastating. The lengthy 7105m course has caused the cremation of many a top golfer’s hopes.

Long hitters like Shaun Norris, Wilco Nienaber, defending champion Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Danie van Tonder could be favoured, but don’t discount the skilful golfers like Garrick Higgo, Dylan Frittelli or Justin Harding, or those in hot form like Joburg Open winner Thriston Lawrence, European Tour star Dean Burmester or JC Ritchie.

A divided house will never stand and Proteas batsman Rassie van der Dussen said on Thursday that the determination and fight the team has shown in both their T20 World Cup matches thus far has proven the unity and dedication to their task within the team.

South Africa made a disastrous start to the tournament by losing three wickets in the first 25 balls of their match against Australia, but almost defended their mediocre total of 118-9 with a superb display in the field.

Before their second game against the West Indies, they were rocked by the CSA Board’s directive for them to take the knee in support of BLM and Quinton de Kock’s subsequent withdrawal from the match when they arrived at the ground. After a torrid first 10 overs, they fought to restrict the West Indies to 143-8, a total they chased down with aplomb.

“It was a big day for us with everything that had transpired before,” Van der Dussen said on Thursday. “We knew we had to get the win but the West Indies are always a massive threat especially when they also lost their first game.

“I was really proud of how the team stood up, proud of the spirit, we showed what we can do and that there’s real resilience and character in the team.

“The enormity of the occasion did not escape us and what happened almost made the result even more important. We wanted to make people proud and left everything on the field.

“We showed our tenacity, where our minds are at, and after a bad first half of the innings, we never threw in the towel. We had to dig deep and I’m proud of how we responded to all the things thrown at us,” Van der Dussen said.

Playing Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Saturday will be the biggest trial by spin the Proteas have faced up till now in the tournament, but Van der Dussen said they have trained for the occasion for more than a year now.

“Sharjah will probably suit Sri Lanka more than us, but we have shown that we have really improved in foreign conditions. The coaching staff started more than a year ago to put a lot of emphasis on upskilling us in conditions we didn’t grow up in.

“The way we approach spin has improved a lot. We have confidence because we know now we have the skill and the experience of winning matches in conditions like that,” Van der Dussen said.

JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng (21 October) – Rupert Kaminski and Riekus Nortje both birdied the par-five 18^th hole to roar into a share of the lead in the first round of the Blair Atholl Championship delivered by The Courier Guy on Thursday.

The Johannesburg-based pair were both off in Group 4 from the first tee and both shot six-under-par 66s to lead Heinrich Bruiners by one stroke in the R1.25 million event.

While Nortje is a relative veteran in his eighth season on the Sunshine Tour, the 25-year-old Kaminski only earned his card in 2019.

And Kaminski actually birdied the par-three 17^th as well, having overcome the frustration of a double-bogey five on the short eighth hole.

The Parkview golfer three-putted from 15 feet after missing the green right and chipping too firmly.

The short stick has been a problem for him lately, but on Thursday it was a rare mis-step on a day when he generally putted superbly.

“The putter was behaving really nicely and I made a lot of birdie putts. The challenge with the Blair Atholl course is that we don’t often play on a course this long,” Kaminski said. “So the par-fives are not necessarily the holes you’re going to score on, so my nine birdies were mostly because of my putter.

“I didn’t hit the ball that great, but I managed my game nicely and hit the ball in the right spots. Game-management is very important here because if you go for the flags and push too hard, you can find yourself in very awkward situations.

“I’ve been playing really nice golf the last two/three months and a low score has been there, but I’ve struggled with my putter. So today will give me a lot of confidence, although the three-putt on eight was really annoying,” Kaminski said.

At 7527 metres long, the Gary Player designed Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate is a unique challenge when it comes to Highveld courses but Bruiners, the talented 34-year-old from Fancourt, also stamped his mark on the day with his bogey-free 67.

For spectacular finishes though, nothing could beat Kyle Barker.

Blair Atholl is also unusual in that the front ‘nine’ is actually just eight holes and Barker, who started his round on the ninth, aced the 178m par-three with an eight-iron to catapult himself to four-under-par and a share of fourth place with Jared Harvey, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Chris Cannon, Hayden Griffiths and Anton Haig.

Scores – https://sunshinetour.com/report/?tourn=BACH&season=221S&report=tmdraw~season=221S~round=1~#/home

It will be all change for the Sharks in both halfback positions as they begin their United Rugby Championship campaign overseas, following the announcement on Friday of their touring squad that is without Lionel Cronje but includes two scrumhalves on loan from the Free State.

The 32-year-old Cronje was on a short-term loan to the Sharks from Toyota Verblitz in Japan for the duration of the Currie Cup and his arrival saw coach Sean Everitt shift Curwin Bosch from flyhalf to fullback.

But Cronje’s departure means Bosch is likely to return to the number 10 jersey in which Everitt backed him so strongly before the Currie Cup. Boeta Chamberlain is the only other specialist flyhalf in the squad.

Veteran Springbok Ruan Pienaar has returned to the Sharks on loan from the Cheetahs and has moved to flyhalf quite often during games for Free State, but with the Sharks suffering an injury crisis at scrumhalf, Pienaar is likely to be backing up Sanele Nohamba. Tian Meyer has also made the trip from Bloemfontein to Durban on loan.

Everitt will be pleased to have locks Hyron Andrews and Ruben van Heerden back from injury, which will add depth to a crucial position that already features Gerbrandt Grobler, Le Roux Roets and Reniel Hugo.

Eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi will lead a squad that will relish taking on some fresh opposition, having butted heads many times back home with the Bulls and taking a severe beating in the Currie Cup final last weekend.

“The boys are up for the challenge, we have some experienced players who have played in the Pro16 before and have had a taste of European conditions, and we have coaching staff who have coached at the highest level. We’re all confident that we can do well overseas, we’ve taken a young squad mixed with some older heads with experience.
“It will be exciting to see what these guys can deliver against opposition that we don’t see too often, nor play against. The boys are excited about experiencing a new competition, the URC is a tough tournament that brings in new challenges and different opposition, but the guys are up for the challenge after a very good Currie Cup and a good year,” Everitt said.

Squad: Anthony Volmink, Yaw Penxe, Thaakir Abrahams, Marnus Potgieter, Werner Kok, Marius Louw, Jeremy Ward, Murray Koster, Rynhardt Jonker, Curwin Bosch, Boeta Chamberlain, Sanele Nohamba, Ruan Pienaar, Tian Meyer, Phepsi Buthelezi, Henco Venter, Thembelani Bholi, Celimpilo Gumede, Dylan Richardson, James Venter, Gerbrandt Grobler, Hyron Andrews, Le Roux Roets, Reniel Hugo, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Khutha Mchunu, Lourens Adriaanse, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Wiehahn Herbst, Khwezi Mona, Kerron van Vurren, Fez Mbatha, Dan Jooste.