Ken Borland

EDENVALE (Gauteng) – Defending champion Robin Williams collected two eagles on Saturday, the first of them a pivotal moment as he came back from a horror start, on his way to a two-under-par 70 which stretched his lead to three strokes after the third round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club.

Williams began the day with a one-stroke lead but he quickly fell from his pedestal after a double-bogey six and a bogey five on the first two holes. But he fought back superbly, holing a great eagle putt on the 500m par-five sixth. A birdie on the par-four seventh meant he was back on par, and another eagle, on the 509m par-five 11^th, put him back on the top of the leaderboard. A massive drive, 350 metres into the wind, was followed by a mediocre approach, but Williams then chipped in his third. After that he parred his way home.

“I really wasn’t good this morning and got off to a really bad start. It was chaos, a super-scrappy first two holes and then I had to make a six-footer for par on the third. But I said to my cousin [caddy Damian Williams] that we had been in this situation lots of times before and we just needed to keep our heads down and weather the storm. We just had to keep it together and try and get the pars going,” Williams said.

“The eagle on six was massive, it was a 25ft big, old, swinging putt and I needed that kickstart after the rough beginning. If you had told me on the third tee that I would finish level-par after the front nine, I would have jumped on it. I’m very happy with the turnaround and I’ve put myself in a position to win.

“I surprised myself with how far my drive went on 11, maybe it hit a sprinklerhead. I was disappointed with my second because it was such a massive drive and I had only a nine-iron in. Fortunately the ball was sitting up though and I just tried to get the chip close, luckily it went in. It’s been so hot and it’s at altitude, so I really wanted to take advantage of the par-fives. I treated them as par-fours and if I can do the same tomorrow then I’ll be in good shape.

“But there is still a lot of golf out there tomorrow, lots of guys trying to hunt me down. I was in a similar position last year and I know it’s going to be nervous, stressful and not fun. But I’ll just try and enjoy it and play with a smile on my face. I’ve already done myself proud,” Williams said.

Kyle de Beer, the leader of the Fortress Rookie of the Year standings, had his fill of birdies on the back nine as he came home in 31 to sign for a 66 and tied-second on 14-under-par.

Altin van der Merwe is third on the Fortress Rookie of the Year standings and he joined De Beer in second after making birdie on the 18^th for a two-under 70.

Daniel van Tonder was one behind Williams at the start of the third round, but he had a tiff with the fourth and fifth holes, making bogey at both. He made birdies at the sixth and 17^th holes, finishing level-par and staying second on 14-under.

First round leader Kyle Barker (68), Keenan Davidse (69) and Jovan Rebula (71) will tee it off on Sunday on 13-under-par, four behind Williams, who will bid to become the first golfer to defend a title on the Sunshine Tour since JC Ritchie when he defended his Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open crown in 2022.

Kathu (Northern Cape) – When Martin Vorster tees it up in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen event from Friday, there will be a sense of it being a comeback moment for the 22-year-old from Fancourt.

That’s because it will be Vorster’s first individual event in which he feels properly prepared following the hip injury that kept him out of action for three months.

Vorster did play in the Bain’s Whisky Ubunye Championship last week and finished in a tie for fifth, but that was a team event, the former top-ranked amateur playing with Jovan Rebula.

But the fact that he played so well in just his second Sunshine Tour event since May means he goes into the second Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament of the season in high spirits. It also helps that he loves the Sishen Golf Club course; they do say that if you ever play this astonishing gem set in a lush camelthorn forest on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, you’ll want to come back.

“It’s going to be very nice to get going again,” Vorster said after the first day of the popular pro-am that always precedes the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournaments. “I returned to the Sunshine Tour three weeks ago at the Gary and Vivienne Player Challenge at Kyalami Country Club, but I had just started hitting balls and it was more about testing whether my body was ready. Everything went well on that front, but my game was not ready yet and I didn’t play very well.

“But then I had a good week’s practise and it was a blessing to then play in a team event, which was less stressful. There were still a few rusty shots, but it’s just great to be back competing again. This is an unbelievable course and I always look forward to playing here,” Vorster said.

It was the eagle eye and intimate knowledge of the kinetics of the golf swing of coach Doug Wood that saved Vorster from a potentially more serious hip injury.

“I started working with Doug at the end of 2022 and he said my then-swing could cause problems for my hip. So I had to change it and we worked on it for a long time and made so much progress. But it was just too late and I tore my labrum.

“Thankfully it was not a complete tear. But it was not ideal and I had to rest for six weeks before starting rehab. I still have two or three weeks of rehab to go, but I am so thankful to be back on tour,” Vorster said.

After a difficult 2023/24 season in which he finished 83^rd on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy, Vorster made a fine start to the current campaign with top-10 finishes in his first two events – the FBC Zim Open and the KitKat Cash & Carry Pro-Am. But then his hip gave way.

“It was very frustrating and it happened just when my game was heading the right way after last season. It was my first time in Europe, playing on the Challenge Tour, and I struggled more with the off-course stuff, the travelling, the language barriers – everything was new.

“I also just played too much golf. I only had 10 weeks off last season, but it was a great experience. But now I’m more focused on the Sunshine Tour and doing well here will open more doors, it allows you to skip certain stages of the DP World Tour qualifying school.

“My first goal now is to be in the top-10 on the order of merit because then I can get back in a re-rank category that qualifies me for the DP World Tour co-sanctioned events,” Vorster said.

Vorster will be up against experienced campaigners like Danie van Tonder and Jean Hugo, who have both won twice this season, at Sishen, as well as the in-form duo of Yurav Premlall and Jacques Blaauw, both flying high on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

DULLSTROOM (Mpumalanga) – Louis Albertse hails from Dundee Golf Club and would have to travel almost exactly due north from there to get to Highland Gate Golf and Trout Estate, while Nico Mulder comes from Lydenburg, which is due north of Dullstroom, and together they combined to win the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Pro-Am in spectacular fashion on Thursday.

Albertse, a three-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, and Mulder blazed their way to 50 points on the second day of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Highland Gate Pro-Am, overtaking first-day leaders Keenan Davidse and former Springbok rugby player Akona Ndungane, to win by two points (90 to 88).

For Mulder, the general manager of the McGee group of companies, it was a maiden pro-am victory and the highlight of his golf career.

“It’s definitely the highlight, just playing with the pros is amazing enough. You see them on TV but it’s only when you’re standing with them on the course and you realise that you’re hitting six-iron and they’re taking wedge, then you know how good they are,” Mulder said.

“Vodacom have been fantastic with the way they have hosted us. It’s been an unbelievable couple of days and they have treated us like royalty. And the friendliness of everyone at Highland Gate, the staff have smiles wherever you look, it’s like being at a resort,” the nine-handicapper said.

While the first day featured such strong winds that Albertse felt like his game and maybe even himself might be blown off one of the spectacular cliffs around the course, Thursday was much calmer at Highland Gate and the winner of more than R4.6 million on the Sunshine Tour flourished, a good omen for him ahead of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series professional event that tees off on Friday.

“Yesterday the wind was really hectic, so today I had to contribute and I felt my game was there, which was nice. It’s also very enjoyable meeting new people and you never know what doors people you meet can open. And they are also the reason we are able to play in these tournaments, I am very respectful and thankful for what they do for us.

“It’s my second time playing here and I love the course, everyone who lives close to Dullstroom wants to come and play here. It’s a very good course and it is in great condition. There are scoring opportunities for sure, but if you’re not straight off the tee then it becomes really tough. You have to try and be patient and plot your way around it,” Albertse said.

Davidse and Ndungane, the runners-up, finished three points ahead of Jason Roets and George Leolo (85pts), while Stefan Wears-Taylor and Toby Mnisi were fourth on 83 points.

Ngwako Ramohlale struck a blow for the ladies as she finished fifth were her professional, Nikhil Rama, also on 83 points.

With the first day having shown that Highland Gate is not for the faint-hearted, Mulder was taking no chances on the second morning and admitted to bolstering his confidence in time-honoured fashion before the tee-off.

“My mate and I had a little Jagermeister before the start and then it was just a matter of keeping my head down and staying humble. But the wind on the first day made all of us humble,” Mulder laughed.

PORT EDWARD –  Jaco Ahlers showed the experience of a mature golfer and the determination that comes from plenty of hard work as he withstood the threat of the on-fire duo of Shaun Norris and Brandon Stone to claim a one-stroke victory in the SunBet Challenge hosted by Wild Coast Sun on Friday.

The 42-year-old held a four-stroke lead going into the final round, but with the weather having turned nice after two days of strong wind, Norris and Stone launched a ferocious charge for the top of the leaderboard.

Norris, who has won 13 times around the world, produced a tremendous round after an early bogey on the par-four second hole. Thereafter the 2021/22 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner reeled off three birdies and an eagle on the front nine, and collected another six birdies on the back nine. Norris played the stretch of holes from the seventh to the 12^th in six-under-par, and he needed a birdie at the last to become just the third golfer in the Sunshine Tour’s modern era to score 59, after Peter Karmis in 2009 and Casey Jarvis last year.

Norris could only make par on the par on the par-four last hole, leaving him with a 60 for 11-under-par overall.

Stone, meanwhile, produced a superb, bogey-free seven-under-par 63 to finish on 12-under for the tournament, just failing to add to his five professional titles.

When Ahlers double-bogeyed the par-four ninth and then dropped another shot on the par-three 13^th, he slipped to 11-under, tied with Norris and with Stone blossoming. But the 12-time winner overcame a tough day for him by knuckling down when it really mattered and birdied the par-four 15^th and then the par-five 16^th, before finishing with two pars.

“I made it tough for myself, conditions were good but it was a fighting day for me, full of poor ball-striking,” Ahlers said after his second professional win at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club. “But I just had to keep going. I felt it was my tournament the whole day, that kept me going and I didn’t think of losing.

“My experience definitely helped and counted for a lot in the end. It was a bad golfing day, but I always thought the tournament was mine to lose.”

Having seen what Norris had done when he teed off on the 10^th, Ahlers then saw Stone’s score on the 15^th. He responded with a drive that left him with an ideal number to hit a sand-wedge at the flag, hit it close and then boxed the putt.

On 16 he hit an even better tee-shot, describing it as the most crucial shot of his round, leaving him with an easy iron into the green and a birdie.

While Ahlers’ two-putt for par and victory on the 18th may have looked devoid of drama, he said he still felt like he had a mountain to climb on the last hole.

“There’s always drama on 18! But I hit a good shot and then hit a wedge away from the flag, for a reasonable two-putt for par. It may have looked drama-less, but there’s always those thoughts in your head,” Ahlers said.

But the Centurion resident silenced those negative thoughts in impressive fashion, signing for a final-round 69 for 13-under-par.