for quality writing

Ken Borland



Coetzee says there’s no magic recipe for winning golf, but he enjoyed more than a few ounces of inspiration 0

Posted on January 31, 2023 by Ken

ST FRANCIS BAY, Eastern Cape – George Coetzee says there is no magic recipe for winning golf, but the 13-time champion on the Sunshine Tour enjoyed more than a few ounces of inspiration on Saturday as a bogey-free 67 carried him back to the top of the leaderboard after the penultimate round of the PGA Championship at the St Francis Links.

Two birdies on the front nine and three coming in, two of them back-to-back on the 12th and 13th holes, lifted Coetzee to 11-under-par for the tournament and he is one stroke clear of Rhys West, who shot a 68.

Second-round leader Casey Jarvis posted a 71 on Saturday and is on nine-under-par, together with Stefan Wears-Taylor (67), Jake Redman (68) and Hennie Otto (69).

“It wasn’t really my plan to not get any bogeys, I just wanted to play good golf,” Coetzee said. “This course has some teeth and you have to pick those parts where you can be aggressive and where you can’t be aggressive.

“I think I balanced that out quite well, I made pars on the tough holes and birdies on some of the easier holes. Being experienced is more about what you do than what you know.

“But it does help that I am more conservative on a course that I don’t know that well, I kind of stick to how the course wants me to play.

“I think only Tiger Woods really knew how to win, the rest of us are all learning as we go along. I’ve won a few tournaments, but there’s no pattern to it, no magic recipe,” Coetzee said.

Overnight leader Jarvis had two eagles on the front nine, on the par-five third and then holing out with his second on the par-four fifth hole, but after a double-bogey six on the par-four 15th he surrendered the lead to Coetzee.

There are also four golfers on seven-under-par who will be chasing after glory in the final round on Sunday – last week’s winner of the Vodacom Origins of Golf final Combrinck Smit (66), Luke Jerling (67), Peter Karmis (67) and Martin Vorster (71).

But after all the titles he has won, including the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at De Zalze in August, the 36-year-old Coetzee has clear aims for the final round.

“I will just be trying to make good decisions, try to play decent golf and be excited about playing under pressure,” Coetzee said.

Kuhn has hope and inspiration from Cook’s selection 0

Posted on April 04, 2016 by Ken

 

The fact that the national selectors were willing to choose a 33-year-old new cap for Test cricket in Stephen Cook this summer has provided hope and no little inspiration to Heino Kuhn, who is the leading run-scorer in the Sunfoil Series this season.

The 31-year-old Titans batsman also averaged 60 in the Momentum One-Day Cup and a golden summer has pushed Kuhn right back into the picture for national honours after playing five T20 internationals for South Africa as a wicketkeeper/batsman between 2009 and 2011.

Kuhn is now strictly an opening batsman (and a quality fielder too) and regularly goes big, with six centuries in the last two seasons. His tally of 18 first-class hundreds includes three doubles and a 191 for South Africa A against Bangladesh A.

“It was nice to see Stephen Cook get an opportunity with the Proteas, I was happy for him because for years he’s been flippen good for the Lions. It was great that he took his chance and it’s great to see that South African cricket is now like Australian cricket where, if you’re a good enough batsman, you’re never too old.

“As long as my body holds, I’ll always believe that I can play for South Africa again and my fiancé Trudie probably believes even more than me! But I’m playing the best cricket of my career and luckily enough I have another two years on my contract with the Titans, so I hope I can continue this run because it’s the best I’ve ever batted,” Kuhn says.

The Titans stalwart – he has been granted a benefit season by the franchise – says his purple patch is not down to anything new in his technique but rather a better focus on the basics of top-order batting.

“I just try to bat time and play straight. I know I have the square shots, but if I just try and play straight and face a lot of balls then I know I’ll get runs. I know that if I face 200 balls then I’ll be close to a hundred. It’s about sticking to the basics and Rob Walter [Titans coach] is big on us just worrying about our own things and not the opposition,” Kuhn says.

It’s amazing to think of all the different jobs Kuhn has fulfilled on a cricket field since his days at Affies in the early 2000s, playing alongside AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis. He was actually a middle-order batsman who dabbled in leg-spin.

“I batted four at Coke Week for Northerns, behind AB and Faf, and I batted twice, scoring 40 not out and four not out, the winning runs. And at club level, Roelof van der Merwe kept wicket and I bowled leg-spin, and then one day I said we should swop. I made a stumping off Roela and our ways were set!

“I was very fortunate to keep to guys like Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Alfonso Thomas, Paul Harris and Imran Tahir in my early days at the Titans. But if opening the batting is the only way I can play in a team, I’ll definitely take it. Not many people enjoy opening, but I put up my hand, I like the challenge. It’s like I prefer a green pitch because then you have to work for your runs and you know you deserve them. It’s lovely to get runs in those tough conditions,” Kuhn says.

The likeable man from Piet Retief certainly deserves a successful benefit and another look-in at international cricket, and there have been few more loyal servants of the Titans.

“At the beginning of my career I was fortunate to have traditional team-mates like Martin van Jaarsveld and Pierre de Bruyn, so that was the way I grew up. My family are all here in Pretoria and the Titans are the best franchise in the land. I can’t see myself playing in another country and, if I don’t play any more cricket for South Africa, then I won’t play international cricket for anybody else,” Kuhn says.

Amazing De Villiers gets inspiration from team-mates 0

Posted on September 01, 2015 by Ken

 

Jean de Villiers has amazed many people with his recovery from a serious knee injury and more recently a broken jaw, but he says he gets inspiration from his fellow World Cup squad members.

“Injuries are definitely part of rugby, but it’s the way you come back and learn from those hardships that counts. For me, it’s been about a broken jaw and I felt like a teenager again with braces!

“But this is a great bunch of guys who all have a great story to tell. Some of the guys have been through so much – Schalk Burger who was fighting for his life two years ago, Schalk Brits, who ruptured the ACC ligament in his knee last year and was out for five months, Pieter-Steph du Toit and his injuries …

“So a lot has been said about my past at World Cups, but I’m more concerned with the future. I’m ready to give everything and I’m happy with where I’m at in my recovery. In two weeks I’ll be able to take contact and I’ll definitely be able to play the first game,” De Villiers said at the weekend announcement of the 31-man squad for the World Cup, which begins for South Africa on September 19 against Japan in Brighton.

The selection of De Villiers has not been popular with everyone, and Heyneke Meyer and his Springbok squad have been lambasted by many critics in recent weeks. Many of the naysayers have been opportunists with little involvement or passion for rugby, but former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers, who has a short memory when it comes to his own many shortcomings in the position, has had particularly harsh words which have no doubt hurt more than most.

“For me, it has been tough. You wait so long to play and then we lose to Argentina and I broke my jaw. A lot else happened that week, but I’ve seen how much this squad has grown over the last couple of weeks, we’ve pulled closer with the emotion of the guys being left out.

“For me, the criticism shows that people do care about the Springboks. We’re open to criticism if it comes from a position of wanting the Springboks to do well. If nobody was interested in the Springboks, we’d be in trouble.

“There will be criticism and if it adds value then we’ll take that in the right light and we can only be stronger for it. If nobody cares, well we don’t want to be in that position,” captain De Villiers said.

Meyer himself showed the height of diplomacy when he was asked about former coach De Villiers, although there was perhaps a subtle put-down in his response.

“I truly respect Peter, he’s an awesome coach and human being and he did a lot for South African rugby. He’s a great diplomat and he made a great difference in people’s lives. I wish him all the best in future because we need people at grassroots level,” Meyer said with what sounded distinctly like sincerity.

 

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Thought of the Day

    Philippians 2:13 – “For it is God who works in you to will [to make you want to] and to act according to his good purpose.”

    When you realise that God is at work within you, and are determined to obey him in all things, God becomes your partner in the art of living. Incredible things start to happen in your life. Obstacles either vanish, or you approach them with strength and wisdom from God. New prospects open in your life, extending your vision. You are filled with inspiration that unfolds more clearly as you move forward, holding God’s hand.” – Solly Ozrovech, A Shelter From The Storm

    But not living your life according to God’s will leads to frustration as you go down blind alleys in your own strength, more conscious of your failures than your victories. You will have to force every door open and few things seem to work out well for you.

     

     



↑ Top