Ken Borland

by Mike Green

Casey Jarvis came so close to a maiden professional golf title last weekend as a final round of five-under-par 67 saw him fall one stroke short of forcing a playoff in the Challenge Tour’s Copenhagen Challenge presented by Ejner Hessel at Royal Golf Club in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Six birdies and a single, irritating bogey on the 13^th saw the 19-year-old South African sensation move to 11-under-par for the tournament. In the end, a birdie on the 18^th by Matteo Manassero took the experienced Italian to 12-under and a narrow victory which signalled his return to the youthful form which gave him his last victory 10 years ago.

But Jarvis has certainly served notice that he is going to make big waves in the professional ranks.

Together with the second-place cheque of over R580 000, Jarvis, already up inside the top 20 of the Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca rankings, climbed two places to 13^th as he edges closer to securing his DP World Tour playing privileges for next season through the route that promotes the top 20 players on the Challenge Tour. Of course, his form suggests he may also be able to win three times on the Challenge Tour to short-circuit that process and step directly on to the bigger stage.

Also of note for the ambitious Jarvis, there is now a route directly to the hugely-lucrative PGA Tour from the DP World Tour on which Jarvis can set his sights – perhaps from next season. The top 10 players on the DP World Tour not already exempt on to the U.S.-based circuit are able to take up their playing rights there too from the end of this season.

That may all prove to be moot, as Jarvis seems to have the ability and temperament to excel given the slightest opportunity, and, like Garrick Higgo before him, he may just be able to grasp the opening provided by a sponsor’s invitation into a tournament on one of the big tours – or a fortuitous place in a major championship – and find himself catapulted into the big-time with a strong performance.

Jarvis’ week in Denmark was characterised by eight bogeys and a double-bogey, counterbalanced by the 21 birdies he made. Those figures speak to the attacking nature of his play and to his never-say-die approach to tournament play.

Some of those bogeys will fall by the wayside as he gains more experience, and that will come at the same time as more birdies as he keeps attacking.

South African golf fans can sit back and look forward to the Jarvis ride that lies ahead.

Morne Steyn’s red card in the 11^th minute of the game was always going to cause some bitter tears for the Bulls, but their own poor finishing ability cost them in the end as a storming comeback saw them fall just short, losing 29-22 to the Sharks in their United Rugby Championship match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The veteran Springbok flyhalf was sent off permanently for a late, high swinging arm on Lukhanyo Am, which definitely made contact with the centre’s neck area. But the Sharks did not dominate the flow of the game thereafter as much as they would have liked.

Flank Henco Venter bustled over for the opening try from the resulting penalty, and the Sharks went 14-0 up as hooker Bongi Mbonambi bolted over from a maul. It was an unfortunate blow for the Bulls as the Sharks were given a lineout just outside their 22 when fullback David Kriel’s massive relieving kick just landed on the line inside the Sharks’ 22.

But the Bulls settled into life with only 14 men and dominated territory for the rest of the half. Players worth their salt would have converted a couple of chances that came their way, but reward finally came in the 39^th minute when Venter was yellow-carded and then Cornal Hendricks went over in the corner.

But Am scored a sensational try from the restart to make sure the Sharks went into the break 19-5 up. Two Bulls players thought the restart was going directly into touch, but Am snuck in, jumping to catch the ball and then darting down the touchline, regathering his own deft grubber to score a crucial try.

The Bulls scored first in the second half though, superb build-up play, keeping ball-in-hand, taking them into Sharks territory. The maul was again defended well by the visitors, but the Bulls kept bashing away and flank Marcell Coetzee forced his way over for the try.

The Sharks responded though in the 58^th minute as they finally made use of the extra man with replacement scrumhalf Grant Williams producing a wonderful long, flat pass out wide to Makazole Mapimpi, who was able to stroll over for the try (26-12).

But just four minutes later, it was Williams who was crying big briney tears as he was red-carded for going in high on Bulls replacement flyhalf Chris Smith, smashing head-first into his cheekbone. Smith had to be stretchered off and it left the Bulls without a regular goalkicker, Kriel being forced to take over.

The Sharks’ defensive resolve did not dissolve though when they were down to 14 men, but the Bulls still scored two more tries but also wasted another couple of opportunities.

Several short passes close to the line went down and there was a three-man overlap wasted by Coetzee when he threw an awful, massive forward pass which myopic referee AJ Jacobs somehow missed, but the TMO did not.

Replacement prop Simphiwe Matanzima dived over to score with five minutes remaining, but Kriel missed the crucial conversion.

Three minutes later, replacement scrumhalf Embrose Papier made a searing break and wing Madosh Tambwe produced a stunning finish through two defenders. Kriel could not make the touchline conversion, so the Bulls, 22-26 down, had to try and score again with just two minutes left.

They won the restart and ran from deep, but the ever-alert Am produced the crucial turnover, replacement flyhalf Curwin Bosch kicking the resulting penalty.

Scorers

Sharks – Tries: Henco Venter, Bongi Mbonambi, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi. Conversions: Tito Bonilla (2), Curwin Bosch. Penalty: Bosch.

Bulls – Tries: Cornal Hendricks, Marcell Coetzee, Simphiwe Matanzima, Madosh Tambwe. Conversion: Chris Smith.

Lungi Ngidi returned to international action for the first time since July on Sunday, and the facts are that even though he struggled initially, he still ended up taking all three wickets to fall on an opening day of toil for the Proteas against India at Centurion.

India, led by Lokesh Rahul’s determined 122 not out, scored 272/3 on the opening day of the series. But from South Africa’s perspective, Ngidi’s return of 3/45 in 17 overs was a big positive considering the worries over his fitness leading into the series.

While the 25-year-old was adamant that he is physically fine, he admitted to initially struggling with his rhythm, before a change of ends helped him considerably. Ngidi took the new ball from the Hennops River End and looked rusty, as did most of the bowlers as openers Rahul and Mayank Agarwal (60) put on 117 for the first wicket.

Ngidi then removed both Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara (0) with successive deliveries midway through the second session, both falling to deliveries that snaked back into them.

“Physically I’m good, it’s not as if I’ve been sitting around vegetating, there’s been lots of training and game simulations,” Ngidi said on Sunday. “But I got more rhythm, I was more comfortable and my action felt better from the West Lane End.

“I asked at lunch if I could switch ends because at first I struggled to find my right length and areas. I just felt more comfortable from the other end.

“They were wobble-seam balls, you can’t be sure which way they will seam, but more often than not they come into the batsman. I was trying to create a bit of doubt, attack the stumps and pads more.

“They were leaving well and we expected more swing, so when the pitch is not doing as much as you expected, then you have to change plans,” Ngidi explained.

Ngidi also picked up the huge scalp of Virat Kohli, having him caught at first slip for 35, just when he was starting to show all his class. Again, the Proteas and their fans can raise a glass to Ngidi’s willingness to try something different. Kohli and Rahul were in command, having added 82 for the third wicket, when Ngidi surprised the Indian captain with a full and wide away-swinger.

“That ball gives you a chance, sometimes you have to take a gamble. In 2018 at the Wanderers I got him out with a similar delivery.

“He’s really good off his legs and through the covers, but I gave him something he maybe didn’t expect. It would have looked like a free ball to hit, but there was a bit of nibble.

“It was a roll of the dice and it went my way,” Ngidi beamed.

PORT EDWARD, KwaZulu-Natal (7 October) – Rain continued to fall on the already waterlogged Wild Coast Sun Country Club course overnight and with no play possible on Thursday, the Sunshine Tour took the decision to cancel the SunBet Challenge instead of trying to ram the tournament into an ever-decreasing window of better weather.

The event was originally scheduled to run from Wednesday to Friday, but the first round was postponed to Thursday due to heavy rain on the Wild Coast causing the course to be waterlogged and the tournament extended to Saturday.

At least five holes were still unplayable on Thursday and, with more rain forecast, playing a shortened tournament would amount to an unfair contest for certain golfers.

“There’s been no improvement since yesterday, there is still standing water on the course, the bunkers are full of water despite us pumping it out and in some fairways there is nowhere to drop the ball. So it’s unplayable for the same reasons as Wednesday and it would not be golf if we were to play. The rain just has nowhere to go because the water table is so high,” tournament director Gary Todd said on Thursday morning.