Ken Borland

EDENVALE (Gauteng) – Kyle Barker has been trying to massage his game in preparation for DP World Tour Qualifying School at the end of this month in Spain, and the 26-year-old fired an exceptional 63 in the opening round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club on Thursday to fill him with confidence.

The Serengeti Estates golfer enjoys a one-stroke lead in the R2 million event, after Werner Deyzel and defending champion Robin Williams pushed him hard with 64s.

Barker’s nine-under-par score, which was also bogey-free, was his best round of the season and it seems he could be peaking at the right time after a solid, but unspectacular start to the campaign sees him sitting in 18^th position on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

“I had a great first couple of months but then things just slowed down. I was struggling a bit with my game and the set-up in my bag. But now I’ve found a really nice putter that is rolling the ball fantastically.

“This is my last event before going to DP World Tour Qualifying School and I really enjoyed the day. I was hitting the ball really nicely on the range in my warm-up and I just wanted to keep that feeling going, so birdies on the first two holes was a great way to start. I didn’t know that I was going to make only 26 putts though!

“The greens were very receptive after rain on Tuesday night, long-irons were pretty much stopping where they landed and wayward tee-shots would not bounce into too much trouble under trees. So I could be quite aggressive, but the back nine was a bit tougher because the wind picked up,” Barker said.

The highlight of a round that was just the right therapy for Barker was his eagle on the par-five 11^th.

“I smashed a drive down the middle and I had 196m to the front left, but the wind was slightly in my face, about seven or eight metres. So I hit a 205 shot with a six-iron, it was a bit long, in the middle of the green, but I had a downhill, 30ft putt which straight in the middle of the hole, which was really cool,” Barker explained.

Deyzel and Williams also had eagles in the first round, both of them on the 500m par-five sixth. Williams hit a brilliant seven-iron from 165 metres to three feet, which put him level with Barker on nine-under-par, but he bogeyed the par-three eighth, his penultimate hole.

Williams continued the momentum from his brilliant fourth-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship earlier this month and he was satisfied that he had positioned himself well in his first defence of a title in his professional career.

“It’s been really cool today, it’s the first time I’ve defended and I’m just remembering all the good memories from last year. It all kicked off for me here last year. Playing in Europe was good, but it is so tough there because everything is so different.

“My game was really good today, everything was solid, just a bit of a mistake on eight. But I kept the ball on the fairways. It’s just a course I really enjoy, the par-fives are not that long, so I picture them as par-fours and try to be more aggressive, as long as you find the fairway. I drove well and was able to take advantage of the par-fives.

“I will definitely take that first round, I just want to put myself in position to defend on the back nine on Sunday,” Williams said.

T20 cricket is renown for spectacular catches, but our DP World Lions men’s team were nevertheless exceptional in the field, taking some truly hectic grabs, during their 47-run win over the Free State Knights in their CSA T20 Challenge match in Bloemfontein in midweek.

Electing to bat first, our DP World Lions cobbled together 142 for seven, thanks to an all-round batting effort led by Wandile Makwetu (40 off 34 balls) and captain Mitchell van Buuren (32 off 22). It was a decent score in the conditions, but not an unbeatable one.

The Knights had taken some superb catches in the field, but #ThePrideOfJozi raised the bar even higher as the fielders backed up a clinical bowling effort with some magnificent takes.

There were three stunning catches inside the powerplay as our DP World Lions reduced the Knights to 24 for five after six overs.

Dangerman Rilee Rossouw was removed for just 6 as Connor Esterhuizen dived full length at cover to intercept a fierce blow off Tshepo Moreki in spectacular fashion. Delano Potgieter then took a brilliant running catch at third man to dismiss Garnett Tarr for a duck off Evan Jones, who three balls later snaffled an outstanding return catch, lunging forward and to his left, to get rid of Dian Forrester, also for a duck.

Former Protea Gihahn Cloete was digging in for the Knights, but Josh Richards rushed in from point and scored a direct hit from side-on to run him out for 17. Jones also effected an impressive run out with a massive throw from deep cover, athletically taken by wicketkeeper Makwetu, to remove Free State captain Dane Piedt (2).

It was Makwetu who then capped the outstanding fielding display and wrapped up the innings with a marvellous low, one-handed catch diving to his left to dismiss Malusi Siboto (1) off Liutho Sipamla, the home side being bundled out for 95 inside 18 overs, earning the DP World Lions a bonus point win.

“It was really cool to see that standard of fielding,” head coach Russell Domingo said. “Jimmy Kgamadi has worked really hard on the team’s fielding and he deserves a lot of the credit. His coaching is showing rewards because the guys have bought into the intensity. There’s been a big improvement because fielding was not our strength last season.

“The players understand how fortunate they are to have this opportunity to play with our big players away, and it’s a really good environment in the squad at the moment. They’re really embracing our mantra of enthusiasm and intensity,” Domingo said.

While the coaching staff are loving the efforts of the replacement players – they have steered #ThePrideOfJozi to second on the log, just one point behind the Northerns Titans – some of those big names are now returning from Proteas duty and should see action when the DP World Lions take on Boland in Paarl on Saturday.

Given the venue for their fifth match of the campaign, Domingo is particularly pleased that spinners Bjorn Fortuin and Nqaba Peter are making a timely return to the Pride.

“Paarl is generally a low-scoring venue and spin comes into play, there’s never much pace down there. So it will be great to have Nqaba and Bjorn back available.

“But Junaid Dawood has done a fantastic job as our frontline spinner. He was very good last season when he had a couple of opportunities to play and I’m very pleased for him because he has put in a lot of effort and stayed patient for his chance,” Domingo said.

The 28-year-old leg-spinner is the joint-highest wicket-taker in the competition with 10.

Amidst all the exultation over South Africa’s exceptional series win over India there has been the added positive of two exciting new faces exposing their talents with excellent performances in the Proteas Test team.

Keegan Petersen, who had played just two Tests before tackling arguably the best bowling attack in world cricket, ended as the Man of the Series, scoring 276 runs (the most) at an average of 46.00. He batted with tremendous poise, skill and toughness, but also played a pleasing array of strokes.

Marco Jansen, the 21-year-old who made his debut in the first Test at Centurion, took 19 wickets, second only to KG Rabada’s 20, at 16.47. The beanpole bowled with pace, fire and bounce, but also exhibited the priceless ability for a left-arm quick to move the ball both ways.

“We had two youngsters who just came in and played very good cricket,” Proteas coach Mark Boucher said. “Keegan did not start as well as he would have liked in the West Indies and at SuperSport Park.

“But he always showed signs of being the player we see right now. He stuck to his guns and Dean Elgar really backed him. He’s a tough nut and playing at No.3, especially in South Africa, you’ve got to be.

“You’ve got to know your game and I’m a bit lost for words at how well Keegan did. It was a big series against big players, he won Man of the Series, which was fully deserved and I’m very happy for him,” Boucher said.

While Jansen’s selection may have surprised some people, Boucher was always comfortable with it having seen what the Potchefstroom product had shown as a member of the touring squads to Pakistan and the West Indies in the last year.

“There were a lot of questions around Marco‘s selection, but we saw what he had in Pakistan and the West Indies,” Boucher said. “It was just a matter of him coming through because we knew his skill-set and the variation he brings.

“Now everyone can see what a find he is. He’s only 21, so he still has a lot of cricket to learn, but we’ve seen a lot of great signs. And he can bat as well.

“He’s going to be a superstar in the future,” Boucher said.

In an exceptional act of co-operation between his current and former clubs, scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl will not be going to England this week to start his new career with Saracens but will instead enjoy the privilege of playing against the British and Irish Lions on Saturday as he makes one last appearance for the Bulls.

The 26-year-old Springbok’s contract with the Bulls ended on June 30 but Saracens and his former employees came to an agreement that Van Zyl can play on Saturday in what many rugby players consider to be one of the highlights of their careers.

“I’m very fortunate to get the opportunity to still play this game because my contract ended last week but an arrangement was made, which is very nice of the Bulls and Saracens. I’m very thankful for the opportunity, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and then I will be leaving. But playing against the Lions, you just want to play well, playing at that level is where you want to be.

“You want to measure yourself against the best in the world and if you perform you hope all the right people see that. It’s also about the confidence you get if you do play well, but we are all going to have to be at the top of our game against the Lions,” Van Zyl confirmed on Monday.

Chasing the game is never a good thing in rugby, and Van Zyl warned that if the Bulls do not match the Lions physically then that’s exactly what they will be doing.

“The big difference between the international and the provincial game is the physical part, that will be the big thing against the Lions. They also want to play quicker, move the ball around more in preparation for the Springboks so they can move the pack around. It’s why they’ve chosen guys like Hamish Watson and Sam Simmonds with their pace. So we must match their intensity as well.

“But we must match them physically first in order to go forward, we must be physical and direct. But we need the complete game – we can’t just run everything but we also can’t just kick everything away either. It’s about finding the balance and kicking at the right time. So we are going to need the complete performance and making the right decisions at the right time,” Van Zyl said.