Ken Borland

DURBAN, KwaZulu-Natal – In this economically-depressed time when sponsors are not exactly queuing up to get involved in sport, Vodacom’s partnership with golf has provided a great example of how a holistic approach can benefit not just the competitors but also whole communities.

Vodacom’s Origins of Golf Series is the longest-running pro-am series of events in the Sunshine Tour’s stable and the 17^th edition comes to Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate this week for the third leg. Covid and civil unrest has made for a tough time in KwaZulu-Natal of late, but the sense of joy at being able to play golf and network with fellow human beings from all walks of life was palpable during the 36-hole Pro-Am that ended on Wednesday.

For Vodacom KZN Managing Executive Chris Lazarus just arriving at the golf course made him extremely happy.

“When I drove in, just to see all the flags and banners was great and something we haven’t seen around here for such a long time. It gives you the sense that the world is returning to some sort of normality. We believe in investing in what people what and not necessarily what Vodacom wants. It’s been really good for people to be able to let their hair down a bit..

“The name ‘Origins’ is indicative of where things start and we want to be feeding into career-building. As a company, Vodacom want to be hosting events from the grassroots up. We want to help all our customers, to get that feeling of community going. So we are focused on development, helping the youngsters out there all the way up to our present pros,” Lazarus said.

While the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series has helped launch many stellar professional careers – the likes of Thomas Aiken, Hennie Otto, Jean Hugo, George Coetzee, Darren Fichardt and Jaco Ahlers are all past winners – there are many people associated with the golf industry who are facing enormous difficulty at the moment.

“We want to go from just sponsoring a game to being good for society, similar to Vodacom’s involvement in other sports like rugby and soccer. We are not just ticking the box of hosting an event for a few days, we are also uplifting caddies, women’s golf and underprivileged kids, and we want to make a contribution that changes lives and society.

“Traversing all walks of life is very important for Vodacom and so we worry about our caddies, gender inclusivity and our under-developed communities. Of course there is a legacy involved in a tournament that started in 2004 and many of the golfers have built careers for themselves with our help,” Lazarus said.

Vodacom will be donating money to the rebuilding programme in KZN and, along with Spar, held a trolley dash on Wednesday afternoon for the benefit of Anthony Michael’s caddie, who won the lucky draw.

Thomas Abt, the Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour, said the Vodacom partnership was a great example of a relationship that really works.

“The Vodacom Origins of Golf is the longest-running pro-am series on tour and the series has worked for so long because it is the right blend of networking and brand awareness that Vodacom are looking for. Vodacom are a very dynamic company and so is the Sunshine Tour. That’s why the synergy has worked so well for such a long period. Long may it continue,” Abt said.

The Sharks rugby team may have endured a terrible Currie Cup final last weekend, but their star fullback Curwin Bosch was all smiles on Tuesday after a thoroughly enjoyable day out on the first day of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Pro-Am at Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate.

The country’s top rugby players will be off to Europe to play in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship barely a week after the end of the Currie Cup, so Bosch was enjoying the opportunity to play some of his second-favourite ball sport.

“It’s really nice to have some off-time and be able to do what I love doing in my spare time – I play a lot of golf. It was a really nice experience today to mingle with the pros and I didn’t play too badly either. Fortunately Mount Edgecombe is my home course and I got one birdie. Overall I really enjoyed it,” the six-handicapper said.

Being accustomed to lining up pressure kicks at goal, Bosch should be used to the horrible nerves that can come with having to make clutch putts. But the lanky 24-year-old says putting is not as awful for him.

“I think the mental side comes into it more so with my driving and long irons, putting is actually a bit easier for me. I do hit my drives a long way, but not often as straight as my kicking,” Bosch, who is known for having a mega boot, chuckled.

Rumour has it that Bosch outdrove his professional by 20 metres on one hole.

With rugby now becoming an all-year pursuit, Bosch said he was also interested to see how golf professionals, many of whom have to grind it out week-to-week, approach the game. Work ethic is one thing that stands out for the Springbok.

“It’s nice to see how the pros go about it, that’s the fantastic part, seeing how they go about things on the course. You see how much thinking is done before every shot and talking to them was a great experience. The hard work, the many hours they put in to hone their game, you have to admire them. I have a better understanding of the things they go through now,” Bosch said.

Kevin Stone grew up in what is now called Gauteng but the popular 55-year-old golfer has now moved to the sea.

Certainly not to retire, but to become director of golf at the Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate, which is hosting the Sunshine Tour’s prestigious Vodacom Origins of Golf Series this week.

It’s a challenging job looking after the two premier championship courses and all the members, plus this week’s tournament was sprung on Mount Edgecombe at late notice due to unforeseen circumstances with the original host, Durban Country Club.

But Stone still reckons he would rather be in his current job than playing golf.

“I stopped playing professional golf really in 1998 when I went into the club industry and just played part-time. And, honestly, I’m not that keen to race out there and play now. My wife Desiree is the CEO of both the Mount Edgecombe estate and country club, and initially I came and helped out when Micky Hough resigned. But then they asked me to stay and starting in December last year, I am now the director of golf.

“Normally we have six-to-nine months to prepare for a tournament, but when Desiree called me into her office last Friday I thought I was going to get fired! Instead she asked me if we can host the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series. Fortunately I like to keep the course to tour standard week in, week out, so the members can enjoy that sort of quality. We will maybe just speed up the greens a bit, they are normally between 9 and 9.5 and we’ll probably go up to 10.5 for the tournament. We expect some rain to slow it up as well, but if the wind gets up then the greens will be very tricky,” Stone said on Tuesday.

Dominated by the Mount Edgecombe Lake, the aptly-named Lakes Course is 24 years old, while the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series is being played on the 5885-metre The Woods, which dates back to 1935, although it was redesigned in 1992.

“The Woods has been inter-seeded with bent grass and the greens are getting better every year, it’s in good nick at the moment. The Lakes is also a very good course, I actually prefer it a bit. It’s a lot more challenging, tree-lined with lots of water. It’s a very old-school type of course.

“But on The Woods, the pros are going to need to drive it straight. On the par-fives they can get on easily in two because they all just bang it 300 yards these days. Watching them makes me feel like I’ve never played this course before … it’s nice to be young,” Stone laughed.

“My emotions come out sometimes,” ace Proteas spinner Tabraiz Shamsi admitted at the weekend and he was not just talking about his reaction to the on-field battle but also the way the South African team has been criticised of late.

Shamsi produced yet another man-of-the-match display, taking three for 20 in four overs as the Proteas bundled Sri Lanka out for just 103 in the second T20 International in Colombo, setting up a thumping nine-wicket win with 35 balls to spare that clinched a third successive series win for South Africa.

The left-arm wrist-spinner was only hit for one boundary, a massive blow into the sightscreen by Dasun Shanaka. But the next delivery Shamsi ripped through the gate to bowl the Sri Lanka captain, leading to a pumped-up celebration. It was one of many on the night by the Proteas and Shamsi admitted that the team has been extra-motivated by all the negativity over the them back at home.

“My emotions come out sometimes and it’s partly because I waited a long time for a place in the team. And then when someone smokes you like that, I can’t use the words here that are in my head, but then to get the batsman out after a moment like that leads to great satisfaction.

“I realise now that getting hit for six is part-and-parcel of T20. There’s no embarrassment, all the great spinners have been hit for six, and my mindset has changed a lot. But if you hit me for six, you must know that I’m coming back for you with the next ball I bowl,” Shamsi said.

“There’s a lot of perceptions about us, people looking negatively at the team and the way we are playing. But we are not rubbish, my opinion is that we are actually quite good, on par with the great South African teams, we just need to play more international cricket. We’re on a run at the moment, winning three series in a row, we’re playing for the country and trying to make the country proud,” Shamsi said.

While the 31-year-old continues to justify his ranking as the world’s No.1 T20 bowler, Shamsi praised the help he has been getting from his friends in the rest of the spin attack.

“Sri Lanka have prepared spinning pitches thinking it was our weakness, but we are capable of fighting fire with fire. The majority of our overs are now spin because we have so many quality spinners, whereas there may have been a reluctance in the past to play them and we would only have four-to-eight overs of spin before.

“It’s a refreshing change that we are picking the team for the conditions. And it’s nice for me to have all that back-up because it means I can be utilised in different ways,” Shamsi said.

The third and final T20 will be played tomorrow at the same Premadasa Stadium.