Ken Borland

The South African Open came to a thrilling conclusion at a squelchy Gary Player Country Club on Sunday with Daniel van Tonder holding off Oliver Bekker to claim the title by one stroke with a dramatic 25-foot birdie putt on the 18^th hole.

Bekker and Van Tonder had been tied on nine-under-par, four strokes behind leader Justin Harding, at the end of the third round when it was completed on Sunday morning. While Van Tonder took control of proceedings with three birdies in four holes from the eighth to take a two-stroke lead, Bekker came with a late charge as he birdied the last three holes.

The seven-time Sunshine Tour winner was inches away from making eagle on the 18^th when his 60-foot putt stopped just next to the hole. By then, Van Tonder was in the middle of the final fairway and knew he had to make birdie to win.

More drama was to come though as Van Tonder’s approach only just cleared the water, stopping right next to the yellow markers. He then duffed his chip way short, leaving him with a 25-foot putt for birdie and the win. Fortunately, Hennie du Plessis had a similar birdie putt just before him, which he made to finish third on 12-under-par.

Treading gently is not something the 30-year-old from Boksburg does often and Van Tonder stepped up and nailed the slightly curving putt with confidence.

“All I was thinking was just make the thing, give it a chance. The whole day I had been leaving putts pin-high or lipping out, so I just had to make sure I hit it,” Van Tonder said after his great final round of 65.

“If it goes in, I win, if it stays out then I’m in a playoff. And when it went in I just thought ‘Finally!’.

While Bekker played some amazing golf, chipping in three times on Sunday (making it five for the week), Van Tonder played some tremendous shots of his own.

On the water-lined eighth hole he made a 20-foot birdie putt after having to hit his approach with a mud ball from the rough, and then on the 10^th he chipped in from the bank above the hole for another birdie. On the par-three 16^th, his superb tee-shot was right on course for the hole and he was left with a five-footer for birdie.

“I’ve been seven and nine shots behind and won, I just play my own game, which is looking for birdie putts. I’m not a bad player you know, I can catch anyone,” Van Tonder said with a twinkle in his eye as he clutched the magnificent SA Open trophy.

Van Tonder’s conquest of the South African Open and arguably the country’s best course ends an epic couple of years for the idiosyncratic golfer.

Van Tonder spent 2020 dominating the Sunshine Tour, then spent six months of this year competing on the European Tour, where he won the Kenya Savannah Classic and finished 75^th on the order of merit.

And now he is a South African Open champion.

“I’m very happy. It’s been a long, hard year, having to stay overseas for six months because of Covid. But I love this place, I love playing here and the SA Open is the special one, the second oldest tournament.

“So it’s a big thing to win. It means a lot. Watching others win it has looked so awesome, but now I can walk around and say I’m an SA Open champion,” Van Tonder said.

While the Boksburg golfer generally played extremely well in all four rounds, his 16-under-par total of 272 coming from rounds of 69 68 70 and 65, perhaps his most impressive characteristic was the steel he showed when under pressure.

Bekker’s three-straight birdies to finish left Van Tonder needing a birdie to win, but his approach on the 18^th only just cleared the water. He then duffed his chip well short, leaving him with a daunting 25-foot putt to win.

Before those final-hole heroics, Van Tonder had managed to turn a mud-ball in the rough on the eighth, which many consider the toughest hole on which to keep your approach shot dry, into a 20-foot birdie and then chipped in for birdie from the bank above the 10^th hole.

“When I was young, I was not the longest hitter so I had to chip and putt well. My short game is still not too bad,” Van Tonder smiled. “My mindset is to attack, hit the fairways and greens and then make the putts.

“The other guys know I have a saying: ‘I can smell blood in the air’. This game is something else because I struggled last week at the Joburg Open and then this week I had my normal game.

“Playing overseas with the best in the world, with all that experience you see that their games are the same. There’s no difference, it’s just mindsets,” Van Tonder said.

And Van Tonder is clearly mentally prepared to deal with whatever hardships he encounters on the course.

A try 72 seconds from the end of extra time by Arno Botha settled an industrial-strength clash and gave the Bulls the most dramatic of victories over the Sharks in a gripping Currie Cup final at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Bulls deserved the trophy for their incredible durability and simple refusal to be beaten however down-and-out they looked. And the Sharks certainly had one hand on the trophy when they led 19-9 with 15 minutes to go.

But the Bulls fought their way back. It started at a scrum, where they had been dominant for most of the afternoon but without getting much reward as referee Jaco Peyper decided not to make the final a penalty-fest. This time he did blow the Sharks up though as loosehead Ox Nche went down on his knee. The Bulls set the lineout and although the drive was stopped, they maintained possession, kept bashing away and earned another penalty, close to the poles. Captain Duane Vermeulen went old school with a tap-and-go by the pack, from which flank Botha forced his way over for the try.

The conversion by Morne Steyn and then a penalty by his replacement Chris Smith, after great runs by wing Stravino Jacobs and centre Cornal Hendricks, levelled the scores. Smith had a chance to win the final after the hooter for full time, but his angled penalty swung wide.

But it was Botha’s second try that will live long in the annals of Bulls rugby, after both Smith and Curwin Bosch had missed long-range penalties in the first half of extra time. A relentless Bulls pack kept driving forward and the veteran found enough space to get to the line and reach over the cup-winning try.

But for much of the game, the Currie Cup looked set to find new premises at Kings Park as the Sharks were winning the kicking game and destroying the Bulls at the breakdown. The first half was interrupted after 24 minutes, with the Bulls leading 6-3, by a 40-minute delay for lightning.

Bosch and Steyn traded penalties when they returned, before the Sharks opened up the game just before halftime when wing Sbu Nkosi powered over in the corner. Being behind 13-9 at the break was mostly down to the Bulls’ ill-discipline and own mistakes.

The try came after a Sharks player was taken out in the air and although Bosch missed that angled penalty, Steyn then sent the restart straight into touch. From the scrum on the 22, the Sharks spread the ball, fullback Aphelele Fassi joining from deep to create the extra man and Nkosi finishing with a leap through the cover-tackle.

The Bulls did not initially come out of the changeroom any better, conceding two more penalties to Bosch.

But what is clear, is that there is a great resolve and winning drive at Loftus Versfeld. They might not even have played the better rugby, but that’s why the Currie Cup has returned to Pretoria after an 11-year absence.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Arno Botha (2). Conversions: Morne Steyn, Chris Smith. Penalties: Steyn (3), Smith.

Sharks – Try: Sbu Nkosi. Conversion: Curwin Bosch. Penalties: Bosch (4).

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)

 

The Lions may have failed to make the SuperRugby playoffs after their dramatic weekend draw against the Stormers, but the Johannesburg-based franchise has certainly earned the respect of all their opponents this season.

Just two years after they were controversially relegated from SuperRugby, the Lions have clinched second place in the South African Conference and boast an almost identical record to the Brumbies, who have snuck into the playoffs ahead of them because of bonus points.

They have maintained their positive style of play with ball in hand, but where they have improved most is defensively, boasting the best tackling success rate in the competition. The Lions play at the highest tempo of all the South African sides as they swarm around in defence and always have great intensity on the ball. Their powerful scrum has provided a solid platform and their lineout has also been efficient.

“It’s all about playing with intensity and hunger, and we have to up our performance every week. There are plans in place, but I also allow the guys to be free spirits and you have to live with the small mistakes that come from that,” coach Johan Ackermann says. “Obviously I’m very proud of the team, it must be one of our best years and it shows that hard work is worth it.”

The Lions have certainly deserved all the praise that has come their way, beating the qualified Waratahs and Highlanders in the last five weeks and showing all season that they are never out of the contest with some superb second-half comebacks.

“There’s great belief within this side, a real hunger. We want to close down the opposition’s space and put them under pressure. We’ve built our physicality in defence, we want to be in their faces and not stand back,” captain Warren Whiteley says.

Their impressive performances have seen several of their players grow into Springbok contenders. The most likely Lions player to feature in Heyneke Meyer’s Springbok World Cup squad is flyhalf Elton Jantjies, who dares to take the ball flat and attack the opposition line, has superb hands and is a strong defender, as well as kicking well this season.

Eighthman Whiteley is competing with Duane Vermeulen and Schalk Burger for a place at the World Cup, but he gets through a mound of work and is the only player in SuperRugby this year to have made more than 200 tackles, while also being highly effective in a linking role, possessing great skill and vision as befits a Springbok Sevens player who helped win the Commonwealth Games gold medal last year.

He is also adept at interfering with the opposition lineout, where Franco Mostert has also been a key performer for the Lions, as well as in the loose.

Warwick Tecklenburg has been outstanding in doing all the Lions’ dirty work, being second only to Whiteley in terms of tackles made, but fellow flank Jaco Kriel has been the most impressive forward.

A constant nuisance at the breakdown, he oozes raw talent in offence, having phenomenal pace, strength and hands, and has more often than not been able to spark the most sensational counter-attacks by the Lions.

Harold Vorster and Lionel Mapoe have proved to be two powerful centres, while scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and wing Ruan Combrinck are two other backs who have announced themselves as future Springboks this year.

Despite their success over the last two years, Ackermann says at the moment they are just playing pretty rugby and haven’t won anything yet, there is more growing to do.

“We can look back on a good season regardless of missing the playoffs. The players know where they stand with me and they know my expectation on deserving the jersey. As long as they do that, I can’t ask for more. The growth from last year is definitely there, but there is still a lot of work to do.

“Nobody has achieved anything yet. We are not in the playoffs, we haven’t won the Currie Cup yet, we haven’t won any trophies yet. But if you ask me if there is a lot of growth, both for me as coach and for the team, then definitely if you look where we started in January 2014 until where we are now,” Ackermann says.