Ken Borland

Golf tournaments are probably second only to weddings when it comes to people questioning whether all the expense is justified, but the City of Tshwane on Tuesday revealed some impressive figures in terms of the return on investment in the Tshwane Open, which was being launched at Pretoria Country Club.

This year’s event will be held from February 11-14 and will be the first of at least two more stagings of the co-sanctioned event in Tshwane, with the city council having renewed their contract and the prizemoney being increased to R18.5 million.

Lee-Anne Bac, a researcher at Grant Thornton who was hired by the City of Tshwane to measure the impact of staging the tournament, said the benefit to the economy over the last two years has been around R140 million, with R39 million direct spend in Tshwane, while Repucom, the sports marketing and sponsorships experts, say the exposure the Tshwane Open received last year was worth more than $8 million.

As Selwyn Nathan, the executive director of the Sunshine Tour, pointed out: “Tshwane haven’t had to pay millions for their name change from Pretoria, like Datsun did when they changed to Nissan, because in the four years of this tournament, hundreds of people every day are asking ‘Where is Tshwane?’ and googling it.”

“The Tshwane Open has exposed our brand to 230 million households around the globe, which can only help grow our economy. People ask why we don’t just spend R30 million on supplying basic services, but the more enduring solution to our socio-economic problems is to grow the economy. Just dishing out social grants won’t work and we need to free people from relying on the state to make them succeed,” Kgosientso Ramokgopa, the executive mayor of the city, said at Tuesday’s launch.

George Coetzee will be back to defend his title on the course he grew up on, while Charl Schwartzel will make a welcome return to action having missed the SA and Joburg Opens due to a virulent stomach virus.

But the new guard of South African golf is making its presence felt and Brandon Stone, Haydn Porteous, Zander Lombard and Christiaan Bezuidenhout will all be teeing it up at Pretoria Country Club.

“I would like to see George win again because he’s been a great ambassador for us, but Zander and Christiaan were runners-up in the two previous co-sanctioned events and Brandon, Charl and Haydn have already been winners this year. If someone new wins, then it provides great opportunity for them with a two-year exemption on the European Tour. It’s a stepping stone to competing internationally and making a name for themselves,” Nathan said.

Trevor Fisher Junior played consistent precision golf as he motored to victory by five shots in the Africa Open at East London Golf Club on Sunday, shooting a superb eight-under-par 64 in the final round.

Trevor Fisher Junior cruised to victory by five strokes in the Africa Open on Sunday, a brand of compelling, positive and precise golf netting him nine birdies in a fabulous eight-under-par 64 at East London Golf Club.

Fisher Junior’s victory maintained South Africa’s stranglehold on the tournament, the trophy staying at home for the eighth successive year as Englishman Matt Ford, who shot a worthy five-under-par 67, was kept in second place by the sheer brilliance of the winner.

“I only had three bogeys for the week which is quite an achievement, that’s how you win tournaments by keeping bogeys off your card. My mindset was great, I didn’t let anything faze me, and I hit my long irons very well. All you want to do is give yourself a chance,” Fisher Junior said after a remarkable round that took his weekend tally to 17-under-par after a 63 on the third day.

It was the 129^th South African triumph on the European Tour, which will now have a new – and very popular, judging by all the congratulatory messages on social media – member as the victory gave Fisher Junior the card he has long been striving for.

Ford, who was in the lead for the first two rounds, did little wrong as he also went in search of his maiden European Tour win, with a bogey on the ninth, when he missed a six-footer for par, the only blemish on his card.

The European Tour rookie made birdies at the first and third holes, but these were matched by Fisher.

The Modderfontein golfer’s only dropped shot came at the short par-four fifth, when he was short of the green with his approach after his tee-shot stopped under the lip of the fairway bunker just before the crest of the hill. From there he three-putted, but he rebounded with birdies at the sixth and seventh holes, before making an excellent par save on eight when his drive was way left.

“I don’t want to define myself through my golf, so I tried to be myself whether I’d played a good shot or a bad shot, just be a happy guy. I actually felt very comfortable out there, although I was a bit nervous towards the end,” Fisher Junior said when explaining how he brushed off the adversities that inevitably come in a final round.

The back 10 at East London Golf Club features a zoo-full of wildlife that is astonishingly tame – including Nyala, Impala and Blue Duiker – and Fisher Junior has tamed the second half of the old-style course throughout the week, not dropping a single shot in his four rounds coming in.

The back 10 starts at the ninth at East London Golf Club and this was the key hole in deciding the Africa Open.

Fisher Junior, who was firing his long-irons at the flags with superb precision, stuck a four-iron 10 feet from the flag and drained the birdie putt; Ford made bogey after missing a six-footer for par.

“The ninth-hole was a nice swing, I was suddenly three ahead. I hit a two-iron off the tee and then the four-iron was probably my shot of the week,” Fisher Junior said.

Last year’s Chase to the Investec Cup champion then made swift work of the last nine holes, picking up four more birdies for an astonishingly easy win.

Fisher Junior said it was not the first time he has gone really low on this coastal links-type course.

“A few years ago I went seven-under and seven-under here to lead after the first two rounds, but Charl Schwartzel won. This year I thought it was my time and I had confidence because I’ve done it before on this course,” he said.

Third place was shared by two Spaniards – Eduardo de la Riva and Jorge Campillo – and Denmark’s Morten Orum Madsen, who all shot 66s to finish on 16-under, while John Parry and Jaco van Zyl shared sixth on 14-under.

Van Zyl had started the day four strokes behind Fisher Junior, and also had high hopes of securing his first European Tour win. But he endured a mediocre day, especially with the putter, and could only post a two-under-par 70.

For Fisher Junior, the father of two daughters, the victory brings with it a European Tour exemption until the end of 2016.

“I’ve tried so hard to get that European Tour card, for so many years. Obviously it’s a massive step for my career because that’s where all South African golfers want to be,” Fisher Junior said.

Even more success and glory could lie ahead for the ever-smiling golfer because the Investec Cup finale, with its R3.5 million bonus pool prize for the winner, is less than two weeks away and Fisher Junior is in pole position to win one of the biggest prizes in South African golf once again.

Andy Sullivan is the sole master of golf in Johannesburg after the Englishman added the Joburg Open title on Sunday to his victory seven weeks ago in the South African Open at Glendower.

In a thrilling final day at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington, Sullivan fired a brilliant six-under-par 66 on the testing East Course to finish on 17-under-par, two strokes ahead of fellow Englishmen Anthony Wall and David Howell, Ireland’s Kevin Phelan and South Africans Wallie Coetsee and Jaco van Zyl.

A playoff looked the most likely conclusion to the day as a handful of golfers jockeyed for the lead, which changed hands several times on the final day, but it was Sullivan who ended alone on top, a comfortable winner having made the putts that mattered most. Overnight leader Coetsee was two shots ahead at the start of the final round, but Sunday was just not his day as he posted a one-under-par 71 and had to settle for one of the bridesmaid’s positions on 15-under.

Phelan and Van Zyl both matched Sullivan’s 66, but the Irishman could only collect two birdies on the back nine after going out in a superb 32. Van Zyl came agonisingly close to eagle on the 18th hole, but his birdie left him with a blemish-free round and an outstanding return to top form after double knee surgery last year.

Wall claimed a share of the lead with back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14, but made crucial lapses on the 15^th and 18^th holes.

On 15 his approach slid off the green into the reeds surrounding the dam in front of the putting surface, leading to a bogey, while his drive on the final hole went under the trees on the left, forcing him to settle for par when he really needed at least a birdie to put pressure on Sullivan.

Howell also made two crucial errors in the closing holes, driving into the water on 14 which led to bogey, and then missing a vital five-foot birdie putt on 15. The former Ryder Cup player and top-10 golfer parred his way in for a 69, failing to add to his four birdies on the front nine.

Sullivan smiled his way through the tense closing stages of the co-sanctioned European Tour/Sunshine Tour event and he believes one of the main reasons for his dramatic rise up the world rankings has been the perspective given to him by his daughter’s birth 18 months ago.

“It’s been a long, hard slog for me and it took me a long time to realise that the best way to play golf is to enjoy it. My little girl Ruby put that into perspective for me, when I see my daughter’s little face at the end of the day, golf doesn’t matter so much. She doesn’t know whether you’ve played good or bad golf.

“I felt really good down the stretch at Glendower and even better today. There wasn’t any pressure, I was very relaxed and it was just me and ‘Macca’ [caddy Sean McDonagh] having a laugh, a Saturday afternoon stroll on the golf course,” the 28-year-old Sullivan said.

Sullivan began the day three shots off the pace and, after the disappointment of only making par on the par-five first hole – eight of the top-10 made birdie or better there on Sunday – he was able to make birdie on the daunting, long par-three second after a superb tee-shot.

He added further birdies to his cart on the fourth and sixth holes, and then snatched the lead with successive birdies as he reached the turn.

But an approach shot into the water on the signature 11^th hole threatened to bring him to his knees, except Sullivan kept his cool and nailed a 25-foot putt that limited the damage to just one dropped shot.

Sullivan picked up just two more birdies after that, on the 15^th and 18^th holes, but the size of the task proved too much for all his challengers.

The birdie on 18 was accompanied by a sigh of relief because Sullivan left his eagle putt eight feet short of the hole, leaving him with a crucial tester.

“I knew if I got a birdie on the last I’d have a really good chance of winning, but I left myself with a bit more than I would have liked,” he admitted.

Although the man from the English midlands strikes a happy-go-lucky demeanour on the course, he never does anything silly and solid, tee-to-green golf and making the putts that mattered is what earned him his second European Tour title.

“I don’t know what it is about playing in Johannesburg, but I just feel really relaxed here. I wish I could play here every week. Maybe it’s because the wine is unbelievably cheap here, which is great,” Sullivan joked.

Being in contention is what Sullivan thrives on and he said he would love to “bottle the unbelievable emotions every time I’m in contention”.

The man from the English midlands also grabbed one of the three places on offer for the Open Championship in July at the Old Course at St Andrew’s, the home of golf.

The other two spots went to Wall and Howell, on the basis of the tie-breaker that relied on the highest-ranked golfers on the world rankings that finished in the top three at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington.

http://citizen.co.za/336123/sullivan-adds-joburg-open-title-to-his-victory/