Ken Borland

CAPE ST FRANCIS, Eastern Cape – Golfing in the sand dunes and bush of the St Francis Links can be a confusing experience for those who do not know one of South Africa’s top courses well and director of golf Jeff Clause, a Master PGA Professional, says the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sunshine Tour event that will start there on Thursday will be a test of temperament.

Being the fun-loving, entertaining character he is, Clause uses a song to describe how the professionals should approach the magnificent Jack Nicklaus designed course.

“It’s like the Kenny Rogers song The Gambler – ‘You’ve got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them’,” Clause says. “There are holes that demand much respect and others, if you’re with the wind, that you can attack.

“When you’re out there in the dunes, there’s more to the course than meets the eye. It can be visually distorting and often there is more room than what you see. I think this course really excels in some wind, but not necessarily the tough conditions we had on the first day of the pro-am.

“All links and coastal courses have wind as a factor in the design and we are generally an east-west course. There are three par-threes that go across north-south, and one par-four and one par-five, meaning there are 13 holes that will be either downwind or into the wind.

“The difference can be three clubs. But we’ve given golfers as much landing area as we can and the course is a lot more playable than when we opened in 2007. This will be our 12^th Vodacom Origins of Golf event and, in the first one, +9 made the cut, while 13-under was the winner last year,” Clause says.

“Our aim is to make it more than a putting contest. It takes more than that to win here. Why I love links golf is because it requires more shots. If you learn to play here, you can play anywhere.

“It’s more about shot-making, where you put the ball, where you leave it for the next shot. You can burn up every hole or you can blow it, so you need a strong mind around here.

“Steve Surry had a putt for 62 here last year in the PGA Championship, while on a bad day, pro golfers are tiptoeing around 90 here.

“Next year is the 100^th anniversary of the PGA Championship, and our aim is to return that tournament to past glories.

“But we also love the Vodacom Origins of Golf series, we love working with them, I like the format which brings the amateurs in to enjoy our course. We have property owners here who have bought because of this tournament,” Clause says.

ERPM Golf Club is one of the most prestigious courses in Gauteng but MJ Viljoen tamed it for the second day in succession on Thursday as he fired a five-under-par 67 to go to 13-under overall, enjoying a two-shot lead going into the final round of the Vodacom Championship Unlocked.

ERPM has been home for such famous golfers as Denis Hutchinson, Neville Sundelson, Neville Clarke, Dean van Staden, John Bland and Brett Liddle, but the 25-year-old Viljoen, who played much of his junior golf here, is seemingly the new darling of the Boksburg club judging by the warm reception he received when he arrived at the clubhouse in late afternoon with a handy lead over Jake Redman, who also shot a 67 on Thursday.

Viljoen’s round was built around a blazing run around the turn, which includes some of ERPM’s most notorious holes, as he collected five birdies in six holes from the water-lined eighth. It was a fabulous addition to the superb 64 he shot in the opening round.

“The whole front nine was actually very nice, I played brilliant golf but the putts just didn’t go in. And then I was a bit scruffy on the last five holes when I lost focus a bit, this is a little course but it takes it out of you. I felt I could have birdied every hole on the front nine, that’s how close I was hitting it, even though it was quite windy and gusty as well today, and the greens are starting to get firm.

“So I started playing five metres short because the greens are getting bouncy, tougher and tougher. I had a couple of good lines with the putter but my stroke did not feel as good as yesterday, I was pulling or pushing a couple of putts. It’s not easy backing up a 64, but I told myself to play like I was two-over-par, so I was in the mental state to do something good,” Viljoen said.

Apart from Redman, who eagled the par-five second, Viljoen will also have the evergreen order of merit leader Darren Fichardt, three shots behind after a brilliant 66, and the experienced duo of Danie van Tonder and Neil Schietekat, who both shot 70s to lie five shots back, to worry about in the final round.

Viljoen’s previous Sunshine Tour title came when he came from behind with a 65 to win the Sun Fish River Challenge three years ago, so now he is going to have to lead from the front if he is to become a multi-winner on tour.

“I’m just going to go out and enjoy myself. I feel I’m on the right track so I’m not going to be hassled if I’m having a bad round. I haven’t been in this position before, I like to think that I’m well-controlled under pressure, but that’s something I’ll think about when I go to bed this evening,” Viljoen said on Thursday afternoon.

“Hopefully they’ll put some water on the greens overnight and I’m going to come half-an-hour earlier to try and get my putting stroke again, that sort of thing you need to fix as soon as possible but I know exactly what I’m doing wrong. I’m not going to chase a good round, but just try and hit greens and get the putts in.”

GolfRSA chief executive Grant Hepburn on Friday extended an olive branch to all those in the golf industry who have been without work and frustrated golfers unable to play, saying the organisation’s patient approach to government had paid off as clubs and courses can now open for both amateurs and professionals.

The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture announced on Friday that any member of a federation, agency, club or body may begin playing golf again from Saturday, subject to certain regulations. Clubs need to complete the Confirmation of Compliance Document and submit it to GolfRSA before they can open their facilities.

“These have been incredibly difficult times with the stress of Lockdown and the number of jobs lost, and we have been aware of the frayed tempers and frustrations. We have been in the same boat with friends and colleagues losing work. But we just had to be patient, we knew government were listening to us and they had given us assurances. But it’s been a very complex time and a massive challenge for golf bodies.

“But we believed in the process we were following with the Department, they were always extremely positive and the whole way through they engaged with us in the right way. We wanted to do the right thing and we needed to wait for the new directives. The most important priority is to save lives and mitigate the risk, and the time it has taken us has allowed us to prepare and put things in place at the clubs,” Hepburn said on Friday.

The CEO warned however that golfers could not just rush out on Saturday and expect everything to be back to normal; the golf industry, which contributes R48 billion to the South African economy, would take time to become a well-oiled machine again.

“The job is not yet done, this is not about celebrating. It’s a step in the right direction but there are still many people involved in golf who still can’t put food on their table. So I hope people continue to support clubs and I know our golfers and clubs will be responsible when it comes to the scanning and the monitoring process. Through the HealthDocs app we’ve bought for all clubs, information can be sent back to government at the push of a button.

“We need to control the numbers of golfers and the times they arrive and leave, but it’s time to get busy now with saving golf clubs through the safe return of golfers, which will generate the income for them to survive and save thousands of jobs, especially of those in the vulnerable sector, which makes up 85% of the industry. We know our clubs can comply and sport can help government because exercise is good at reducing comorbidities,” Hepburn said.

Golf courses, despite usually bringing dramatic change to the natural environment, are often havens for a number of bird species, even if they are generally the usual suite of semi-rural/semi-urban birds that have adapted well to their altered landscape.

Leopard Creek, however, is an exceptional golf course, not only because of the quality of its design and the magnificent test of golf it provides, but also because of its setting, in the thorn thickets and thick woodland along the Crocodile River, with the famous Kruger National Park on the other side of the water.

As a birdwatcher covering golf at Leopard Creek, there is double excitement because apart from watching the professionals tackle the daunting course, there is always the feeling that something special from the avian world could be lurking nearby.

I have previously seen specials like the Blackthroated Wattle-Eye and African Finfoot at Leopard Creek, so I am always excited driving through the entrance, situated across the river from the Malelane Gate into Kruger National Park.

The first bird I saw was no surprise – a Blackeyed Bulbul, the ubiquitous Toppie one sees so often in the bushveld. The new name – Darkcapped Bulbul – is poor in my opinion because all three South African species have much the same black crest on top of the head.

But then, skedaddling along the side of the tar road was something most unexpected – a Plainbacked Pipit.

This nondescript LBJ is usually a bird of grasslands and rocky hillsides. It does venture into the lowveld in winter and is sporadically recorded in Kruger Park, where it probably breeds and there are estimated to be about 500 adults. According to Roberts, it is often found on the edges of wooded country.

But the grasslands of Leopard Creek are what is known as sweet grass (sweet grasses maintain their nutrients in the leaves in winter and are therefore attractive to grazers) so it is often overgrazed, which makes it more attractive to Pipits, especially when there has not been much summer rain yet.

The more arid conditions meant a bird like Marico Flycatcher, very much a denizen of the western grasslands, was also present. The Marico Flycatcher is a great lover of Acacias though and the low rolling hills surrounding the Crocodile River are full of stunted Knobthorns Acacia nigrescens, so although rare this far south-east, it was not an unprecedented vagrant.

Leopard Creek, being a top golf course, does have a lot of water besides the Crocodile River, and this is obviously a magnet for both birds and animals.

The Knob-billed Duck is more a bird of vleis and pans (even temporary ones), than rivers and it is often seen flying over the golf course, but only in summer because it is a migrant from further north in Africa, generally breeding in the north-eastern areas of South Africa.

Whitefaced Duck, a common bird that sticks around all year long, is almost always seen flying over and whistling it’s beautiful call, while Water Dikkops patrol the tar roads at night, when Bushbuck come out to play after sheltering during the hot sunlight hours.

African Pied Wagtails march up and down any of the fairways close to water, while a couple of the bigger water hazards hold Reed Cormorant and African Fish Eagle, overhead, and Common Sandpiper, feeding on the sandbanks when they get tired of the Crocodile River.

The Fish Eagle is not the only raptor that comes over from KNP airspace, Wahlberg’s Eagles, which are especially common in southern Kruger and enjoy a diverse range of prey, leave their woodland strongholds to check out what’s on offer at Leopard Creek.

No trip to Leopard Creek is complete without walking out to the 13th green, situated 32 metres above the Crocodile River, and on this hot day some stately Waterbuck were present while a family of Chacma Baboons were foraging and vocalising. Along the way to this stunning viewpoint, the riverine woodland holds such delightful birds as the Plumcoloured Starling, Natal and Crested Francolins, Heuglin’s Robin, Blackcollared Barbet, Sombre Bulbul and Redbilled Firefinch.

Where is Leopard Creek?

Sightings list

Blackeyed Bulbul

Plainbacked Pipit

Vervet Monkey

Rock Monitor

Blacksmith Plover

Sacred Ibis

Plumcoloured Starling

Impala

Whitefaced Duck

Little Swift

Knob-billed Duck

Water Dikkop

European Swallow

Egyptian Goose

Natal Francolin

Helmeted Guineafowl

Heuglin’s Robin

Cape White-Eye

African Pied Wagtail

Blackcollared Barbet

Hadeda Ibis

Common Sandpiper

Crested Francolin

Bushbuck

Sombre Bulbul

Redbilled Firefinch

Wahlberg’s Eagle

Reed Cormorant

African Fish Eagle

Chacma Baboon

Marico Flycatcher

Waterbuck

Wattled Plover (Malelane)

Threebanded Plover (Malelane)