Ken Borland

BALLITO, KwaZulu-Natal – Johannesburg-born Steyn City representative Dylan Naidoo is acknowledged as one of the most talented young golfers in the country and the 24-year-old claimed his maiden Sunshine Tour title on Friday down by the seaside as he won the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun Sibaya at Umhlali Country Club by two shots.

For all his talent, Naidoo said the key to his breakthrough title, having picked up four previous top-10 finishes on the Sunshine Tour, was becoming a creature of habit out on the golf course, taking comfort from a set process.

“The most important thing is that I felt I had the win coming, I’ve been playing very well for the last few weeks. It’s the culmination of having really good processes and discipline out on the course.

“So the best part is that it does not feel like a lightning bolt came down from the sky and I got lucky and won. I feel like I can replicate this because I have a really good process. But of course we will have to wait and see what happens because you never know in golf.”

Naidoo began the final round two shots off the lead and settled himself with a wonderful front nine that was bogey-free and featured back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth holes. But he was still a couple of shots behind Luke Brown until a brilliant eagle on the 489m par-five 10^th saw the former Big Easy Tour golfer vault strongly into contention.

Naidoo then targeted the short par-fours on the back nine, picking up birdies on three of them, and dropping a shot on the 15^th, which he described as “a good bogey”.

A pair of birdies on 16 and 17 beat back the tentacles of the chasing golfers trying to reach him at the top of the leaderboard.

“My goal was just to turn under-par because I had not done it the whole week, so I got that job done on two-under, I played really solid,” Naidoo recalled.

“We had 209 to the flag on 10, but we wanted to pitch it well short because the greens were really starting to firm up. It was a little downwind and my seven-iron pitched and bounced exactly where it needed to and I sank the eight-foot putt for eagle.

“There are so many opportunities on the back nine and good tee shots set me up. I hit really good iron shots too, we were super-consistent with where we wanted to hit them and I putted really well. I sank a 25-footer on 17 which was not expected because it’s a very uphill putt, tricky just to get to the hole,” Naidoo said.

Once the job was done with a four-under 67 leading him to six-under-par for the tournament, he was grateful for all the supporting cast to his biggest win yet in his fledgling golf career.

“It’s taken thousands of hours of hard work and I could not have done it without the team around me – my sponsors, parents and loved ones – and everyone who helped along the journey. I’m just so ecstatic,” Naidoo said.

Brown fell away on the back nine as he dropped three shots by the 15^th hole, finishing on four-under and in a four-way tie for second place with Jaco Prinsloo, amateur Jonathan Broomhead and Ian Snyman.

Prinsloo produced a top-class round of 68 that included two birdies and an eagle on the par-four ninth.

SA Strokeplay champion Broomhead, playing in just his second Sunshine Tour event, also shone with marvellous 69.

Overnight leader Richard Joubert went through hell on the front nine with two double-bogies and then three more bogeys on the back nine, finishing on one-under, in a tie for ninth.

SOUTHBROOM, KwaZulu-Natal – The most obvious thing young, up-and-coming golfers need is the opportunity to compete, and veteran Sunshine Tour campaigner Hennie Otto has praised the sponsors of this week’s event at San Lameer, Vodacom, for the critical role they have played in the development of the sport in this country.

Otto has been on tour since 1997/98, when it was actually known as the Vodacom Tour, and is teeing it up this week in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at San Lameer Country Club as one of the favourites, given his ninth position on the current Luno Order of Merit.

As a senior statesman of the tour and someone who has enjoyed its benefits so much, Otto is eager to ensure the younger generation get the same exposure and rewards.

“Vodacom have been involved in golf in this country for more than 20 years and what they’ve really done is develop golfers,” Otto said after the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Pro-Am at San Lameer.

“Every young golfer needs opportunity in order to have a successful career, and if nobody creates those opportunities for them, then they won’t get them.

“I’ve played with Mr Mzimba [William, CEO Vodacom Business Group] a few times in these Vodacom Origins of Golf Pro-Ams and he tells me about the dozen or so development players they help. Hopefully those guys really come through, and even if just five of them do then it is still something special.

“The tour is definitely growing and I think in the years to come, it is just going to get bigger,” Otto said.

While the Sunshine Tour has seen a number of very promising young players shine this year, the fairways are still very much the lair of experienced pros like Otto, Jean Hugo, who is seventh on the Luno Order of Merit, and Jaco van Zyl, who won last weekend at Selborne Park Golf Club.

The 46-year-old Otto is still hitting the ball well and looked in hot form last weekend when he finished second to Van Zyl at the Gary and Vivienne Player Challenge. It was his fourth top-six finish this season, a ray of hope after a couple of very tough years following the passing of his wife in 2020.

“As a senior, some of the guys call me ‘Oom’, but this ‘Oom” can still play now and again,” Otto smiles. “I’ve been doing nicely, I just haven’t finished off like I want to.

“But I’m close to where I want to be both mentally and physically, although I’m a bit overweight – I’ve had a few braais,” he laughs.

“But there are nice tournaments coming up, we’re building up and up for the big ones at the end of the year, and the more you finish up the leaderboard, the more confident you get.

“I’ve played all those tournaments before, I know the places, so I’ll be even more comfortable,” Otto said.

It’s been an amazing couple of weeks for women’s rugby in this country. After their breakthrough victory on away soil over Japan on July 30, the news that FNB will be the new major sponsors of the Springbok women’s team was confirmed on Wednesday, and on Saturday the doughty national team will take on Spain at Ellis Park in the curtain-raiser to the massive Rugby Championship Test against the All Blacks.

Delighted SA Rugby president Mark Alexander said finding a principal partner for the national women’s team had not been an easy task, but having chased after several potential sponsors, they then went back to an Old Faithful in FNB, and they have committed themselves to sharing the federation’s passion for the development of the women’s game.

It is the same company who, after Springbok rugby had arguably reached its nadir in 2017, signed a three-year deal, which was extended for five more in 2020, when other sponsors were jumping ship. The bank is undoubtedly now reaping the benefits with South African rugby on an absolute high.

“We have presented so many proposals to so many companies to sponsor our women’s team,” Alexander said at the announcement at Melrose Arch on Wednesday.

“But like they did when they came in after the 2016 season when all our other sponsors were leaving us, FNB have answered the call. A lot is being said about supporting women’s sport, but very few corporates actually do.

“This is an exciting start for the women’s game. You can see the quality of their play and I must commend Lynne Cantwell [High-Performance Manager for Women’s Rugby] for getting the right pillars in place.

“We want people to see our Springbok Women in action, to put them in the lights. Society needs to change its mindsets and the time has come for corporates to put their money where their mouths are,” Alexander said.

South Africa’s 20-10 win over Japan was a top-class effort, with Cantwell, a former Ireland captain, describing it on Wednesday as “a huge stake in the ground, a well-constructed win that was not by luck”.

Springbok captain Nolusindiso Booi was thrilled by all the good news surrounding her team and said Saturday’s Test against Spain at Ellis Park was a chance for them to perform in front of their heroes in the men’s side.

“We’re very excited to play before our heroes and display our rugby, and also to make the fans proud,” Booi said. “We’ve seen a lot of improvement, things are changing in women’s rugby.

“We’re on the up and now we need to go and compete with bigger teams as our goal is to make the top-five and ensure every girl playing rugby is aiming to play for the Springboks,” Booi said.

There are ties between South Africa and France dating back to the 17^th century and the arrival of the Huguenots, but relations, especially when it came to local rugby fans, were strained when the French were awarded next year’s Rugby World Cup instead of our country, which WorldRugby’s independent panel had recommended as the best option.

Nevertheless, the French were on a charm offensive in South Africa this week, the tourism boards from their southern regions welcoming potential travellers for the tournament in September/October 2023. The Springboks will be based in Toulon, the port city right on the southern tip of France.

As the visiting delegation pointed out, South Africa is a very important travel market. Studying the pre-Covid tourism figures for travel from France to South Africa, one sees a figure of 135 000 visitors per annum. And the number of South Africans visiting France is equal to that, also around 135 000.

The south of France, in particular, looks a magnificent tourist destination, combining great historical sites, stunning natural landscapes and, of course, food and wine to savour.

The Springboks owned the 2007 Rugby World Cup when it was last held in France and several of those champions – the likes of Bryan Habana, Juan Smith, Bakkies Botha, Bismarck du Plessis, Francois Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, John Smit and Victor Matfield  – have made big impressions playing for clubs in France.

And the country made a lasting impression on them.

“South Africa has extremely good ties with France, I have fond memories of playing for Clermont in 2007/8. It was beautiful and the French cities are the closest to the South African ones you will find in Europe.

“There’s the beach, bush, skiing, the wine and food, e-biking, all sorts of things to do,” Smit said at the French embassy in Pretoria.

“When I moved to France, I thought I would get away from a country where rugby is a religion, but in Toulon they just love rugby,” Matfield said. “We had 50 000 people come and watch our first training session.

“I remember the big celebration the Springboks had in Marseilles when Australia and New Zealand were knocked out of the 2007 World Cup … and then we nearly got ourselves into trouble the next day against Fiji.

“But everything is close by in France, you can go skiing and two hours later you’re in Monaco,” Matfield said.

The man of the match in the 2007 final also spoke about how organised everything was in France and how much effort the hosts put into ensuring the Springboks could travel around the country with ease.

The 2023 Springboks are going to be staying at Les Sablettes, a French Riviera peninsula into the Mediterreanean Sea with gorgeous views over the crystal-clear blue waters. They will have their own private boat to ferry them across the bay to the famous Stade Mayol, where they will be training.

South Africa are going to play two matches (v Scotland & probably Tonga) in nearby (66km) Marseilles, the oldest city in France, established 26 centuries ago!

Nice is nearly 150km away in the opposite direction and the winter resort town of European aristocracy. Known as the Queen of the Côte d’Azur, it is also a gateway to the Southern Alps.

North-west of Toulon are the vineyards and lavender fields of the Luberon, the area of Provence where Van Gogh enjoyed the most prolific time of his career. Cezanne was also a native of the area.

The Luberon was also a stronghold of the Huguenots, so many South Africans can claim to have their roots in the area. And, unless the Springboks are playing against Les Bleus, which many are tipping as the final, they can be guaranteed to have the hosts firmly behind them.