Ken Borland

If you are a golf fan of a certain age then you will remember the Houghton Golf Club as being the regular venue for major South African golf tournaments, and the announcement that the Joburg Open will be moving there from November 24-27 will be a pleasing one.

Established in 1926, Houghton Golf Club was considered one of the best parkland courses in Johannesburg and hosted the South African Open eight times between 1951 and 1992, and the club hosted the Alfred Dunhill Championship between 1996 and 2004, after which it moved to Leopard Creek. Eight-time SA Open champion Sid Brews, South Africa’s leading golfing hero before Bobby Locke, was the pro at Houghton for 35 years.

But now, 18 years after Marcel Siem won the Alfred Dunhill Championship there in 2004, a co-sanctioned event with the European Tour will return to the course that underwent a complete redesign in 2009, becoming a Jack Nicklaus signature layout.

“We have staged Big Easy and IGT tour events since we closed in 2007 and reopened in 2019 with basically a new golf course,” CEO Robby Richardson said at the announcement on Tuesday at Houghton Golf Club.

“The greens are typical Jack Nicklaus designs and exceptionally undulating. If we can get their speed up to 12 or 13 then that will the major part of the course’s protection.

“We will try to harden and speed them up a bit, and we have also narrowed the fairways between 260 and 290 metres from the tee. It’s going to be nice to see how the pros play it,” Richardson said of a course that is by no means long, but still plays 6708 metres from the back tees, compared to the 6899 of Glendower and 7105 of Gary Player Country Club.

The course uses almost entirely it’s own water from grey sources as well as boreholes, so Richardson added that he is hoping the summer rains arrive soon.

Thriston Lawrence, ninth on the DP World Tour order of merit, is confirmed to be defending his Joburg Open title won at Randpark last November, while Dean Burmester and Oliver Bekker have also signed up, so there will be plenty of quality golf for local fans as well as the expected broadcast audience of 300 million viewers.

As much as Scott Jamieson delights in playing at Leopard Creek, so much did his golf entrance those watching as he fired a course-record 63 on Friday to claim a three-shot lead after the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

The 39-year-old Scottish golfer, who was on four-under after the first round, three behind leader Dean Burmester, came charging up the leaderboard on the front nine, which was definitely playing tougher than the back nine.

Jamieson birdied the par-five second hole, but the real fireworks began when he started a run of four successive birdies from the par-three fifth hole.

Turning in 30 shots, Jamieson then produced a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th, again a par-three. That gave him the outright lead and a birdie on the 17th was just icing on the cake.

“This is my favourite week of the year, I just love this place and I did not know about the course record but it’s a special place to hold it,” Jamieson said after reaching the halfway mark of the tournament on 13-under-par.

“It was just one of those days when almost everything clicked, even though we are perfectionists so it always feels like we leave one or two shots out there.

“The back nine is generally where you score here, so when I went five-under on the front I knew I was in the pound seats and you just have to make sure you don’t get complacent, you have to keep your foot on the pedal.

“I got on a run where I was able to sink almost every putt I looked at, which is a wonderful feeling. I holed some crucial par putts as well, which kept momentum on my side, and it’s always nice to go bogey-free.

“The Driver was more under control today and I gave myself a lot of opportunities to hit it close, and with the rain, the greens were holding. I had good swings, I hit my targets and my putter got really hot,” Jamieson explained.

While the stunning Leopard Creek Country Club is Jamieson’s favourite office in which to work, South Africa in general has been a very happy hunting ground for the Glaswegian who now lives in Florida.

Jamieson’s lone DP World Tour triumph came at the weather-shortened Nelson Mandela Championship at Royal Durban GC in 2012, and in terms of world ranking points, the two best performances in his career have also been in South Africa – runner-up finishes in the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge and the 2013 Volvo Golf Champions at Durban Country Club.

“100% my best performances have come in South Africa. I think it’s mostly to do with the grass type, I always enjoy playing on Kikuyu.

“They’ve changed the grass here to Cynodon [indigenous to South Africa], and I really enjoy that too.

“I’ve played this tournament several times and I feel that I’ve learnt a lot about the course. I expect it to get a lot harder on the weekend and hopefully I can use my experience to stay on top,” Jamieson said.

Three more foreigners are tied in second place on 10-under-par.

Frenchman David Ravetto completed back-to-back 67s on Friday, while Eddie Pepperell fired six birdies on the back nine for a 65.

But the other most outstanding round of the day came from another Englishman, Nathan Kimsey.

The winner of last season’s Challenge Tour order of merit was on nine-under for his round, including two eagles on the front nine, when he reached the par-five 18th.

Feeling that he had been too defensive in the first round, when he shot 70, Kimsey brought an aggressive approach to his play on Friday and so, even though his drive on the last hole was in the semi-rough, he still decided to go for the island green.

Unfortunately he overshot the green and landed in the water, finishing with a bogey and a 64, which was the course record until Jamieson overtook it an hour later.

There are four South Africans on nine-under-par, four behind Jamieson.

MJ Daffue started on the 10th and reached the turn on just two-under, but the USA-based player was fantastic on the front nine, going four-under in his last seven holes to sign for a 66.

First-round leader Burmester had five birdies but also three bogeys he described as “basic mistakes” as he scored a 70 on Friday, but Oliver Bekker (66) and Dylan Mostert (65) were both clinical in moving themselves into contention for the weekend.

Canadian Aaron Cockerill was also one of the stars of the second day, firing a 65 to also go into the weekend on nine-under.

CAPE ST FRANCIS, Eastern Cape – Golf can be a terribly cruel game at times and while leader Ockie Strydom was busy racking up a quadruple-bogey eight at the par-four 11^th hole, Ruan Korb was putting the finishing touches to his brilliant round of 63 by sinking yet another birdie putt on the final hole of the Vodacom Origins of Golf St Francis Links tournament on Saturday.

Korb’s third successive birdie, to go with two-in-a-row on the 12^th and 13^th holes, saw him go an astonishing nine-under-par in the final round, leaving him on 13-under-par for the tournament.

Strydom had been on 15-under before the awful shock of his snowman on the 11^th, and although he did well to not totally disintegrate, he could only par his way through to the close, settling for a level-par 72 after being four-under at the turn.

That left the 37-year-old in second place on 11-under, two behind Korb. Scottish veteran Doug McGuigan also challenged for the title, but bogeyed the last two holes when pushing for birdies to tie Korb, the 52-year-old closing with a 71 that left him on nine-under and in third place for the tournament.

The 28-year-old Korb admitted that it was just one of those idyllic days when every putt he looked at, he seemed to sink.

“I really enjoyed myself out there today, the weather was better and my putting was definitely the main reason for my win, every putt just seemed to find the bottom of the cup,” Korb said.

“My putting was certainly much better than when I finished second in the SunBet Challenge Time Square in August.”

The Silver Lakes golfer, who had begun the final round seven shots off the pace, had picked up decent momentum on the front nine with three birdies and a bogey in his first four holes, but he really began pushing for the title with a brilliant run that saw him eagle the par-five sixth and then pick up shots at the next two holes.

He was now 10-under for the tournament and in striking distance, but his charge was reversed as he had a 15-minute delay at the ninth tee while the group in front searched for balls. Korb lost concentration and bogeyed both nine and 10.

“I said before the round that if I could get to 14-under then I would have a chance, but waiting on the ninth was a bit of a momentum-breaker,” Korb said.

“But after those two bogeys I just tried to get calm and said to my caddie that we have to do something now otherwise the win is going to get away from us.”

Knowing he had to be positive, Korb birdied both the par-four 12^th and the par-five 13^th into the westerly wind, and then, with holes 16 and 17 heading in the opposite direction, he took advantage with two more birdies.

The three on the par-four 18^th was the icing on the cake for his second Sunshine Tour victory, his first coming at the Time Square Casino Challenge at Wingate Park Country Club in 2020.

“It’s a big confidence-booster to win at this time of year, with the big summer events coming up,” Korb said.

CAPE ST FRANCIS, Eastern Cape – The St Francis Links on a completely overcast, drizzly and blustery day on the rugged southern coastline of the Eastern Cape would probably not be your first choice for a relaxed round of golf, but 24-year-old Dylan Naidoo was beaming after his day out in the strong winds and cold on the first day of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Pro-Am.

And it’s not as if Naidoo had a stellar round of golf to smile about either: He reckons he was no more than solid and praised his pro-am partner Malcolm Subramony for having a great day.

Naidoo was just delighted to be back at one of his favourite courses, playing in the Vodacom Origins of Golf series he, and his fellow pros, appreciate so much.

“The last time I played here I was just 17 years old and it is such a phenomenal course. It tests every aspect of your game and I feel like I’m a very different player to when I was last here,” Naidoo said. “I enjoyed it so much, it tests where your game is at in a lot of different ways.

“And the Vodacom Origins of Golf series is great, as a younger golfer you are pretty much guaranteed to get in if you have your tour card. The series teaches you how to be a pro and it allows you to network with the amateurs. The pro-am is always a lot of fun and you get to know all the Vodacom people and their clients.

“It’s a lovely way to get in a practice round ahead of the Sunshine Tour event starting on Thursday, you can play with your mates and have fun, and I enjoy it a lot.

“It basically teaches you how to go about your business on tour. It was a big help when I started out as a pro and it’s a big help still now,” Naidoo, who joined the Sunshine Tour in 2019/20 after a stellar amateur career, said.

While Naidoo has made his big break by earning playing privileges on the Korn Ferry Tour in the United States, he is one of the first intake of the Papwa Sewgolum Development Class that aims to fast-track the success of golfers of colour who have been previously disadvantaged.

“I’ve been a transformation golfer for the last three years and, since the Papwa Sewgolum Class came into being in June, I have seen really nice growth in our group of golfers.

“It helps the guys realise that they are very good players, they deserve to be here, and it’s about giving them every opportunity to be successful.

“Starting out on tour can be financially very difficult, especially if you come from a disadvantaged background. Now there’s a system in place, with each of the golfers getting a bit of a stipend every month, that will really help,” Naidoo said.