Ken Borland

Local golf fans angry at the lack of a South African winner in the Nedbank Golf Challenge found a new hope to shout for on Saturday as Aldrich Potgieter stormed to the top of the leaderboard ahead of Sunday’s final round at Sun City.

The last South African to win the country’s most-watched tournament was Branden Grace in 2017. Potgieter is a young man on a meteoric rise though, and the 20-year-fired a blistering six-under-par 66 on Saturday to claim a three-stroke lead on seven-under-par.

As impressive as his four birdies and an eagle on the famous par-five 14^th hole – now shorn of the love-grass however – were, it was even more admirable that Potgieter went around the daunting Gary Player Country Club course bogey-free on another day of furnace-like heat.

It just continues a phenomenal last few months for Potgieter, who was born in Mossel Bay and attended the Louis Oosthuizen Academy before emigrating to Australia and enjoying amateur wins over there.

He returned to South Africa in 2022 and won The Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham and St Anne’s, gaining him places in the Open Championship, the Masters and the U.S. Open, where he made the cut. Potgieter turned pro in June 2023 and this year he became the youngest ever winner on the Korn Ferry Tour (U.S. PGA Tour second tier) when he won the Bahamas Classic. He also shot a 59 at the Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, making him the youngest player to shoot that in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.

Potgieter finished high enough in the Korn Ferry Tour order of merit to get his PGA Tour card for this season.

Little wonder then that Gary Player and Sun International felt he was worth an invite to the Nedbank Golf Challenge. The sizeable crowd following him and roaring their support further validated the decision.

“I was loving the crowd, it was pretty awesome to have them following me,” Potgieter said. “I’ve never played in front of a crowd like this before and it would be a dream come true to win tomorrow. A lot of friends and family are on their way to watch me and it was great to get the invite and then be able to play good golf.

“I made a putter switch from the mallet to the blade on the second day because I was leaving a lot of putts short. But I capitalised on my opportunities today, there was a lot of pressure, but it was good pressure.

“The Nedbank Golf Challenge has always been such a big thing for my Dad, for the last 20 years he’s been talking about it. So I’m excited to put on a show in the final round and it’s going to be great to have all that support. There’s one day left and hopefully then I’ll be standing on 18 holding up the trophy,” Potgieter said.

DP World Lions men’s coach Russell Domingo is backing his star players to once again stand up for our team as they go into Sunday’s CSA T20 Challenge final hunting for back-to-back titles.

Having topped the round-robin log and then convincingly beaten the second-placed Momentum Multiply Titans in Qualifier I, #ThePrideOfJozi went straight through to the final at the DP World Wanderers Stadium from 2pm on Sunday, and now they are just waiting for the final Qualifier to be played to decide whether their opponents will be the Titans or World Sports Betting Western Province.

It’s been another stellar campaign for the Pride, with Rassie van der Dussen, Reeza Hendricks and all-rounder Evan Jones in the top-10 of the batting averages and Junaid Dawood, the competition’s leading wicket-taker, Nqaba Peter and Kwena Maphaka making up the top three in the bowling averages.

“Particularly in the big games, you need your senior players to stand up. Reeza is producing some fantastic batting and Rassie is playing very well at the moment, he’s in really good touch,” Domingo said.

“Kwena is only 18, he’s a baby really in cricket terms, writing his matric exams, but he’s already a match-winner for us. He showed in that second-last over in Potch, how good his ability and maturity is at the death. He’s a fantastic asset for us – he can take early wickets and bowl at the death.

“Nqaba is a quality bowler too. There will be days when he is not 100%, but he’s also a match-winner who we back because when he has a good day, he’s spectacular. Junaid has also been fantastic, he’s put in a lot of effort, stayed patient and I’ve been very pleased with his bowling.

“The enthusiasm Evan brings is amazing, he has a great presence, he’s aggressive with bat and ball. He’s had a few niggles previously but now he’s in good shape and is a big player for us. He’s one of the first names on the team-sheet,” Domingo said.

Big-match temperament is not something on sale at the Wanderers Stadium Sports Shop and Domingo is pleased that our Pride once again seem to be peaking at the right time. Their seven-wicket win over the Titans with four overs to spare was an immaculate all-round performance.

“That was close to the perfect game, the fielding and bowling were particularly good. We’ve worked really hard on those things and I’m very pleased that we are arriving at our best cricket at the business end of the competition.

“The standard has been set and now it all comes down to what happens on the day. If we play the Titans, then they have so many match-winners, someone like Heinrich Klassen, who has just been retained for R50 million in the IPL. But at the end of the day, we are all human and it comes down to who executes better on the day, which team is calmer under pressure.

“Western Province have won four in a row and are also really peaking at the right time. They are a very dangerous, very streetsmart side and they know what it takes to win trophies,” Domingo said.

And so do the DP World Lions and the host of match-winning stars that make up the Pride.

BALLITO (KwaZulu-Natal) – Jacob Oakley improved on his best ever round on the Sunshine Tour for the second tournament in a row as the Englishman fired an excellent eight-under-par 63 on Wednesday to lead the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun Sibaya after the first round at Umhlali Country Club.

Oakley shot a wonderful 65 on the first day of the Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Sishen Golf Club on September 20, and even though he then posted rounds of 75 and 74, his finish of tied-18^th was still his best ever on the Sunshine Tour.

That 65 gave him a one-shot lead after the first round, but on Wednesday his 63 saw him open up a two-stroke gap on the well-travelled duo of Trevor Fisher Jnr and Alex Haindl.

The 26-year-old Oakley was also the first to tee-off on the first hole at Umhlali on Wednesday and no-one was able to better his haul of eight birdies. He started slowly with three pars, before three birdies in four holes led him to three-under at the turn. Oakley collected back-to-back birdies on the 12^th and 13^th holes, and then finished brilliantly with three successive birdies, making threes on the 16^th and 17^th holes and then a two on the 182m closing hole.

Having claimed the last of his five Sunshine Tour victories in August 2021 at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen event, Haindl may have wondered when his next appearance at the top of a leaderboard would happen, finishing 93^rd and 160^th on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy since then. He has not made a cut in five events this season.

But the Schoeman Park golfer was inspired on Wednesday, collecting seven birdies by the 16^th hole, but then dropping his only shot on the 18^th.

Fisher Jnr began his round on the 10^th and reached the turn on three-under. He then birdied the first hole but dropped a shot at the par-four second. But an eagle on the par-five fifth was followed by a birdie on his last hole, the par-four ninth, as he joined Haindl in the tie for second.

Astin Arthur, the winner of the Western Province, Indian Ocean and Southern Cape amateur opens this year and the runner-up in the South African Strokeplay Championship, was another surprise packet on Wednesday as he shot a five-under-par 66 to be in the tie for fourth place on four-under-par.

Luke Jerling, who made eight birdies but also three bogeys, and Malcolm Mitchell also shot 66s.

DULLSTROOM (Mpumalanga) – There are many conflicting attractions for youngsters today, and when one comes from a struggling little town like Pilgrim’s Rest, then too often those distractions are of the disagreeable variety.

Which is why the work of the South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB), supported by Vodacom, is so important in introducing kids in disadvantaged areas to the great game of golf.

Vodacom’s Origins of Golf Series kicked off its new season this week at Highland Gate Golf and Trout Estate and, as a regular part of the pro-ams they stage at every event, they also hold a development clinic for beneficiaries of the SAGDB.

Twenty-two youngsters between the ages of eight and 17, smartly attired in their red Vodacom shirts, took to the driving range at Highland Gate on Thursday to receive some coaching from Sunshine Tour professionals, kindly giving of their time the day before their tournament starts.

Many of the children come from Pilgrim’s Rest Primary School and are fortunate enough that their teacher in charge, Joyce Mabuye, is passionate about sport.

“I love sport, having played netball, volleyball and soccer, and I love seeing these children do it as well. To take them out of their location and allow them to see nature as beautiful as this – for some of them it is the first time – is wonderful. This is like a dream come true for them, because they have never been to a place like this before, they mostly don’t see things like this.

“This motivates them to do something good. I am constantly fighting for children to do something in sports because it keeps them away from drugs, the taverns or the ZamaZamas [illegal miners]. We have a lot of them in our mining town and sometimes the kids quit school to join them. So their parents are very supportive of them playing golf,” Mabuye says.

The Mashego brothers, Jastice and Austin, are both busy trying to further their own professional golf careers, but nevertheless they sacrifice practice time to give back to youngsters growing up where they did.

Jastice, who plays on the Sunshine Tour and is in the field for the main Vodacom Origins of Golf event teeing off on Friday, and Austin, who has fallen just a couple of shots short of getting a card in the last two Vusi Ngubeni Tournaments, coach the boys a couple of times every week.

“Our father, Obed, was a keen golfer and a member at Pilgrim’s Rest Golf Club, so we took up the game. I’ll be caddying for Jastice this week, which helps me find out how the pros do it and why they do certain things,” Austin, who won the Middleburg Open in 2015 when he was just 15 years old, says.

“I love assisting Jastice with the coaching. Being out here hitting balls helps to clear the minds of these youngsters.”

For Jastice, it is about providing an opportunity to dream.

“Coming from a small town like Pilgrim’s Rest, there is not much opportunity for these kids and they don’t have role-models. So now we can let them see what golf is all about. I hope to inspire them, to give them hope. Just travelling here will open their minds a bit,” Jastice says.

Monde Ngcukana, the managing executive for Vodacom Business’s Mpumalanga region, was an appreciative onlooker at the coaching clinic, before enthusiastically hitting a few balls himself.

“It’s very important that these children are stimulated and given the chance to be active. This exclusive venue gives them something to aspire to, but making golf instruction more accessible for them is also a big plus. Vodacom wants to support the youth however we can, with a focus on education, which is why our data is zero-rated for those in Grade R to Grade 12.

“These clinics are part of an holistic approach to the growth of children in South Africa. With our Mum-and-Baby programme, we really do support children from the cradle. And it’s good to see so much red here,” Ngcukana beamed.