Ken Borland

Talented 19-year-old golfer Kiera Floyd is surely not far from her breakthrough Sunshine Ladies Tour victory given her recent form, and this week’s Absa Ladies Invitational being played at her home course of Serengeti Estates may just give her that extra edge that leads her to her first professional title.

Floyd has finished in the top-10 of her last two events, the Fidelity ADT Ladies Challenge and the Standard Bank Ladies Open, while she also contended strongly in the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am at Fancourt, before shooting 84 in the final round to finish tied-15^th.

And the good news for her is that the Serengeti layout is just her cup of tea. Floyd’s length and accuracy off the tee should see her prosper on the 5688m course.

“I’ve been playing Serengeti for many years and I’m really looking forward to this tournament. Serengeti has a lot of signature holes, which can make it a make-or-break situation. Just none of the holes are the same, there’s always something different thrown at you and usually a bunker in the way too,” Floyd says.

“It’s not a very open course, but it all depends on where you play it off the tee. It’s definitely not the same as the other courses we’ve played this season, for me it is special, I really like the layout and it has its own way of playing it.

“I’m feeling really confident, I’m playing really nicely at the moment. The course is a bit longer, which suits me because I am a long hitter. But I still have to play well, I can’t take things for granted just because it is my home course,” Floyd says.

The second-year pro has always quickly conquered the different levels of the game, and her maiden Sunshine Ladies Tour win cannot be far away judging by her previous achievements. Floyd won the Benoni Country Club Ladies Championship aged nine, she finished third in the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s Jabra Classic aged 14, and she won the South African Women’s Strokeplay Championship in 2022 before turning professional at the beginning of last year. She has already racked up six top-10 finishes on tour.

But on a course with so many different layers of difficulty, she has identified staying calm during the inevitable tough times as the key element of her game that needs to improve for her to make that next step into the winner’s circle as a professional.

“I’ve struggled a bit in the past events with keeping my head up if I make a bogey or a hole does not go well. I need to be more consistent, put both nines together. You need that consistency so if you start on a roll then you can keep it going. I need to stay patient to get the ‘W’, just work my way through the course and whatever happens, happens,” Floyd said.

Her contemporary Gabrielle Venter won the Standard Bank Ladies Open at Royal Cape Golf Club three weeks ago, giving Floyd a lot of confidence she can make it back-to-back South African winners when the Absa Ladies Invitational gets underway at Serengeti on Thursday.

But there will be other winners providing a stiff challenge in the R1.2 million event as well, such as seasoned champion Lee-Anne Pace, Germany’s Helen Kreuzer and India’s Tvesa Malik, already winners on tour this season, as well as strong South African challengers such as Stacy Bregman, Nicole Garcia and Cara Gorlei, and the consistent Alexandra Swayne from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who has not finished outside the top-14 yet this campaign.

A triumph on the road is always a boost, but what you gain from winning at home and making the DP World Wanderers Stadium a fortress for the #PrideOfJozi is probably even more important, given the length of the CSA T20 Challenge.

So says DP World Lions men’s bowling coach and South African cricket legend Allan Donald, whose own career was linked so massively with the Bullring.

The DP World Lions may have gone down by four wickets in the last over to the Dolphins at Kingsmead in midweek for the first loss of our campaign, but Donald preferred to give credit to the opposition rather than worry about a rare off night for the team in one of the most difficult places in the country for visiting teams.

As such, our Pride, and Donald especially, are really keyed up for two massive home games coming up this weekend, against the Momentum Multiply Titans on Friday evening and the in-form World Sports Betting Western Province team on Sunday afternoon.

“It looked a beautiful pitch in Durban, absolute gun for batting, but then it nipped a little and it was tough to hit down the ground. The Dolphins bowled exceptionally well to use that bit of nip, and for us to get to 155 I thought was really good,” Donald said.

“We took two early wickets but then Bryce Parsons played magnificently and he had really good support at the end, he took his chances against spin. And yet we still managed to take it to the last over against a side that knows how to play there, it’s a tough place, and all credit to them because they were zero-for-two in the competition.

“But this competition is a marathon and you need to be very patient. Now we have two derbies against the Titans and Western Province that are always very closely-contested, and I think they are going to be two absolute crackers based on the pitch we had against the Rocks.

“We’re coming up against two quality teams and home games are massive. I expect a run-fest and whoever defends best will win. It will be a battle of inches and the bravery and execution and skill of the players is going to be tested to the limit,” Donald said.

Rickelton took advantage of an excellent wicket in the DP World Lions’ opening match against Boland to blaze his way to 75 off 39 balls, and his clean striking will again be a key factor at the Wanderers on Friday and Sunday.

But it is a revitalised Temba Bavuma who is top of the national averages after his fluent 53 not out off 40 balls against the Dolphins kept the Pride in the game. Rassie van der Dussen and Reeza Hendricks have also made good runs in the T20 campaign already and Mitchell van Buuren showed his progression in the shortest format in the SA20.

“Temba batted exceptionally well on a slow pitch and Mitchell was batting beautifully too. Winning at home is a massive deal and I’m sure all those guys are going to step up,” Donald said.

With batsmen expected to hold sway, it is perhaps the wicket-taking ability of the attacks that will be vital in stemming the flow of runs. For the DP World Lions, there can be no-one better than the graceful Kagiso Rabada, with the action as smooth as silk but delivering lethal weapons, to lead their attack.

Left-arm quick Kwena Maphaka will be alongside him again and the 17-year-old has made an incredibly smooth transition to senior domestic cricket.

“It’s so nice to see the national team players like KG turning out for us, it really gives the team a boost and they bring a lot of calmness,” Donald said. “And the more I watch Kwena, the more I realise he is just something else. He’s only 17 years old but he’s not scared, he doesn’t take a backwards step.

“It’s going to be great to see how he does and it’s going to be a wonderful festival at the DP World Wanderers this weekend. It won’t be easy to defend, we’ll have to be extremely smart and decision-making is going to come to the fore. When things are really tight, which is likely against two very good teams, that’s when you need to be on the money,” Donald said.

Given that the Bulls had won their last two matches against the Sharks and were fired up after their loss to the Stormers, it was meant to be a close United Rugby Championship derby at Kings Park on Saturday night, but the KwaZulu-Natalians produced a tremendously focused and intense performance as they blew the visitors away 47-20.

The opening quarter was tightly contested with Chris Smith and Curwin Bosch trading penalties, before the Bulls grabbed the opening try in the 19^th minute. Impressive hands created space out wide for wing Canan Moodie, who regained his own chip ahead, albeit with a lucky bounce.

But then the Bulls found themselves in the eye of a storm, much of it of their own making as they were terribly ill-disciplined. Following a Bosch penalty, after prop Thomas du Toit won a turnover, that closed the gap to 9-13, the Sharks took a quick tap penalty and found space out wide, but Moodie knocked the final pass out into touch, leading to a yellow card and a penalty try.

The Sharks piled on the pressure and, with two minutes to go, flank Cyle Brink was also sent to the sin-bin after repeated Bulls’ infringements. A big Sharks scrum – an area where they held a great advantage – was followed by scrumhalf Grant Williams going one way and then the other and sniping over for the try.

By the time Bosch had converted – the resurgent flyhalf succeeded with eight of his nine kicks at goal – the halftime hooter was about to go, but referee Marius van der Westhuizen warned the Bulls twice that they could not kick the restart direct into touch.

Nevertheless, that is what Smith did and the Bulls paid a heavy price. The Sharks attacked from the scrum in the centre of the field, wing Kurt-Lee Arendse conceding a penalty for a deliberate knock-on, which allowed the Sharks into the 22. From there they earned another penalty, also kicked to touch, and a patient lineout maul saw hooker Bongi Mbonambi score. Having trailed by just three points two minutes before halftime, the Bulls were suddenly 13-30 down at the break.

The Sharks, confidence rampant, were on auto-pilot in the second half and they scored a superb try in the 51^st minute to open the scoring after the break. Outside centre Lukhanyo Am popped an inside ball to wing Marnus Potgieter, who broke through before inside centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg’s quick hands sent the ball wide to fullback Boeta Chamberlain, who was stopped inside the 22 but produced a super offload for Janse van Rensburg to score.

The Bulls did respond with a fine try of their own, Moodie and Johan Goosen combining very well out wide for the fullback to score.

But the result was never in doubt as a Bosch penalty stretched the Sharks lead back to 40-20.

Moodie then ended up being red-carded, for a second yellow card, when he went fractionally high on a tackle on a dipping player. It was a harsh penalty when the Bulls wing did little wrong, and the officials ought to have paid more attention to the more dangerous neck-tackle on Arendse that followed. But because it happened later on in the same passage of play as Moodie’s small mistake, it was ignored.

The shellshocked Bulls then conceded another try after the final hooter when Janse van Rensburg snatched an intercept and dotted down under the poles.

The New Year’s celebrations at Kings Park will certainly be good.

Scorers

Sharks: Tries – Penalty try, Grant Williams, Bongi Mbonambi, Rohan Janse van Rensburg (2). Conversions – Curwin Bosch (4). Penalties – Bosch (4).

Bulls: Tries – Canan Moodie, Johan Goosen. Conversions – Chris Smith (2). Penalties – Smith (2).

The popular Centurion Lake Hotel has been reborn as just The Centurion Hotel and is now marketing itself as a sports-orientated destination, which makes perfect sense given its close proximity to SuperSport Park and its historical connection with cricket in general.

SuperSport Park came into use in 1986, known then as Centurion Park, as the Northern Transvaal team moved from Pretoria to make their base there. Five years later, the Centurion Lake Hotel opened on the banks of the Hennops River, with the lake and its beautiful waterworks display being a popular gathering spot.

And, given it’s proximity to SuperSport Park (less than a kilometre away), the hotel quickly became the accommodation of choice for both teams playing against Northerns (who then became the Titans), as well as the television commentators for local and international games.

My first experience of the Centurion Lake Hotel happened way back in February 1996 when I travelled up from Pietermaritzburg to cover the final match of the Castle Cup season between Natal and Northern Transvaal for The Natal Witness newspaper.

Natal were chasing a second-successive four-day title, but their hopes were cruelly dashed as the last two days of their match against Northerns were washed out. Instead of one of my earlier away ‘tours’ as a journalist ending in a triumphant celebration of taking the crown, it turned into utter frustration as us visitors watched the rain fall for two long and gloomy days, allowing Western Province, who were eight points behind Natal, to sneak in and win the competition.

Natal did reclaim the four-day crown, renamed the SuperSport Series, in the 1996/97 season, so but for rain they could have completed the first hat-trick of titles since the Transvaal Mean Machine did it in the early 1980s. The washout also denied the great Malcolm Marshall the send-off he deserved for everything he did for Natal cricket, the West Indian legend departing to coach his national team at the end of the season. Even more sadly, the genial, inspirational Marshall succumbed to colon cancer in November 1999.

Commentator Brett Proctor, another considerable figure in Natal cricket, having played, selected and been the stadium manager at Kingsmead, was also staying at the hotel along with the rest of SuperSport’s team. Ever gracious and happy to talk cricket, I remember fondly our chats during the week. Brett is, of course, still an invaluable part of the SuperSport commentary line-up.

Many famous former cricketers stayed at the Centurion Lake Hotel and it was clearly a most convivial spot for them to unwind after the day’s play. Thanks to their presence, the hotel built up an impressive collection of memorabilia and that will be highlighted as each floor is refurbished.

However, one or two commentators down through the years would mention how their rental car left in the underground parking had floated off when the Hennops River burst its banks and the big flood of 2019, followed shortly afterwards by Covid, was why the hotel closed down for three years.

But extensive work has gone into changing the shape of the response to the inevitable floods that come every summer.

“We have built a big wall that will prevent the flooding of the hotel, along with five-ton sluice gates and a monitoring system,” general manager Kamala Douglas pointed out.

The lake itself has also been a problem, many different issues being involved including the build-up of silt, pollution and litter, theft of metal grids and foul smells emanating from the water. But the council has embarked on an ambitious rehabilitation programme to restore the natural flow of the river and, looking down on the lake from our fourth-floor room window, the signs were promising with heavy machinery hard at work. According to Douglas, the plan is to build up sandbanks which will then have grass planted on them, creating a lovely natural area ideal for picnics.

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The Centurion Lake Hotel was a four-star establishment, but the new Centurion Hotel is three stars.

“We are now a three-star hotel because it is more cost-effective. But the rooms are the same and the sizes and standards of everything are still the same too. It allows us to have a light, self-service breakfast,” Douglas explained.

“Each floor will be representing a certain sport, with world record-holders and legends on the walls, as we push the whole sporting connection. We have also lightened the passages, taken out the curtains and modernized a bit. There are also plans for updated showers in all the rooms,” she said.

The rooms are certainly spacious and well-appointed, with tasteful décor and comfortable beds. The twin rooms, unusually, have queen-size beds, and suites are especially spacious.

The hotel has direct access to the Centurion Mall, which is hugely convenient. But if one wants to stay in and eat, then Bruno’s Restaurant and the bar are both very cosy. There is quality food to cater for all tastes, coming out of an older, bigger kitchen than is the norm in modern hotels.

That also makes the Centurion Hotel an ideal functions and conferencing venue.

There is a large ballroom that can fit 170 people and six fully-catered conference rooms can be hired for R450 per head per day, which is an attractive deal. They are very smart, boardroom-type venues with modernised tech, and there is not much else in the area when it comes to conferencing facilities.

The hotel boasts various hospitality areas and exterior adjustments are planned to create something of a summer oasis by the pool overlooking the lake. Big-screen TVs will also be installed in this area.

Despite all this modernisation, the Centurion Hotel still maintains a distinct, classic charm. Perhaps it is all the lovely old wooden finishes around the place, but it almost feels as if one has retreated to a relaxed rural hotel out in nature, and yet one is in the centre of one of the busiest parts of Gauteng.

The Centurion Hotel’s star is certainly rising once again.