Ken Borland

Adapting and executing have been two of the watchwords of the Proteas team in the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and senior player Keshav Maharaj said on Friday that the last week of turmoil has merely strengthened the squad that is now living the old adage of adapt or die.

South Africa take on Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Saturday and, although defeat will not eliminate them from semi-final contention, it would be their second loss and would make it extremely difficult for them to progress given that both England and Australia have not lost any matches yet.

Having beaten the West Indies despite CSA’s BLM directive and Quinton de Kock withdrawing from the team, Maharaj says the Proteas are showing the excitement of a team that has been through the fire and is now (hopefully) out the other end.

“Obviously it’s been a tough week, but the boys are mature enough to adapt,” Maharaj said. “The spirits are high, the buzz is back after a long two days. We’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from how we’ve reacted to these setbacks both now and in the past.

“I think you’ll see the team come out with a lot more energy against Sri Lanka because the last week has brought us together even more. We’ve handled things maturely and that will hopefully feed our performance.

“We’ve had earnest chats as a team and we respect everyone’s view. Players not taking the knee is no big deal, we all support each other. It’s part of our pillars and values as a team to respect everyone’s beliefs, culture and religion.

“Nobody in this team is a racist. The team is in a good space and we have drawn strength from what happened. What doesn’t hurt us can only make us stronger,” Maharaj said.

The left-arm spinner also said De Kock has returned to his normal self after the brouhaha.

“We’re always in the team room together, having dinner together, and I think Quinny is in a good space. He’s very mature despite what people might think.

“I know if he gets an opportunity against Sri Lanka, a player of his calibre will slot right back in,” Maharaj said.

Sri Lanka had a troubled build-up to the tournament, including losing 3-0 to South Africa at home last month. But they did not just curl up and die in the UAE.

“Sri Lanka are a side in form and they are playing some really good cricket now. We can’t take anything for granted and hopefully we have done our homework,” Maharaj said.

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – For Scott Keevy, who describes himself as “an avid golfer” the final round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Humewood Pro-Am was all about building towards the Stroke 1 eighth hole on the famous old links course.

The six-handicapper from down the road, relatively speaking, at the St Francis Links, managed to birdie the daunting 455-yard hole and the four points he and Merrick Bremner gained was their best score of the second day. It proved critical because their winning margin at the end of the Pro-Am was just one point over Lyle Rowe and Adrian Kemp.

“We started on the third hole and we battled early on but Merrick kept us going. And then on the eighth, the Stroke 1, I hit a big drive, a nine-iron and then I managed to sink a 15-footer for birdie and four points!

“And then when the rain hit, we were busy playing into an Easterly and I managed to get a par on the 15^th when my pro finally required my help again. But Merrick and I dovetailed very well and he was my number one choice as a partner. I remember meeting him when I caddied for Titch Moore once and I know Merrick won here and I love the way he plays and his interaction with his partners,” Keevy said.

Keevy is one of those sporting all-rounders, having played second division football for Callies and Masters squash, but his passion for golf goes back several years.

“Ours is a sporting family, I am one of three brothers and we basically played anything from table tennis to golf and all with the same competitiveness. Ryan Reid is a first cousin and the real star golfer in the family, he played on the European Tour and is now director of sport at Fancourt. I’m a self-taught golfer so I have a big hook, but I make it work for me.

“This Vodacom Origins of Golf Series is just an unbelievable experience for us, I have played in them for many years but it’s the first time I’ve won a tournament, having been to the finals on the odd occasion. The way Vodacom spoils us and the way they make us feel – it’s unsurpassed,” Keevy said.

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – The wind that has gusted through Humewood Golf Cub this week was joined by soaking rain on Wednesday to make for pretty miserable conditions in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Pro-Am, but at least one golfer – Jacquin Hess – was able to apply the old Monty Python maxim and always look on the bright side.

While the locker-room was full of mutters about the unrelenting wind and the rain just making everything wet and uncomfortable, Hess may have been nodding sympathetically, but inside he is quite happy for the weather to turn foul for when the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series fourth leg tees off at Humewood on Thursday.

“The weather forecast is not looking good and everyone is complaining about it, but I’m actually smiling inside,” Hess said. “I prefer the conditions to be tough, it opens the field up, and most of my best finishes have been on the tough tracks. The more the wind blows, the better for me. Coming from Robertson, there’s always a three-club wind there, and I actually went home to practise a bit.

“This course is always good, I love the place and I was in the mix the last time I was here, so I have a good vibe. You have to play different shots here, keep it low and under the wind, it’s been a two-to-three club wind so far, but I’m comfy hitting my seven-iron from 130. So I’m in a good space mentally, it’s going to be difficult for everyone and sometimes you don’t realise that,” Hess said.

The 30-year-old has missed his last two cuts, at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Mount Edgecombe leg and the Sunshine Tor Invitational, but he is optimistic about the next few weeks on tour because tough courses are hosting the events and he feels like he is slamming it straight and just waiting to capitalise score-wise.

“My game is turning in the right direction and I’ve just got to give myself opportunities, take it one shot at a time. The next five weeks should suit my game because we have tournaments here at Humewood and places like the Wild Coast and Sun City, where I normally play well. You need to hit it straight and low at these places, which I’m doing, and I putted really well in the Pro-Am, even in the difficult wind.

“I saw playing with Alex Haindli when he won at Sishen that you just need to keep the ball in play and par is good. You need to have that sort of even temperament, like cricketers Jacques Kallis or Hashim Amla. You just need to go with the conditions. You need to be the calmest guy on the course,” Hess said.

Judging by the former SA Students golfer’s strong showing in the Pro-Am, Hess has no need to get anxious about what he will face over the next three days at Humewood.

DURBAN, KwaZulu-Natal – Aged 40, Peter Karmis is certainly not old, but in many ways he is older and wiser now when it comes to his chosen career and passion, professional golf.

The fact that he has won before at Mount Edgecombe and finished second in his previous Vodacom Origins of Golf appearance in Sishen at the end of August, plus the knowledge that he has been working hard on his game (he was on the putting green until the sun set on Tuesday), suggest Karmis will be a strong contender for this week’s event on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast.

But Karmis is experienced enough to know that some days are your day and others just are not.

“Sometimes you just wake up and you know you’re going to play well. If you have not done enough work in the lead-up to an event you know you’re not going to win, but there are also times when you are fully prepared but you have to be content with making the cut. Just being in the mix requires a different mental state, guys talk about that mental side of knowing when to execute, even though your hands are sweating and your heart is racing. But I enjoy it, that’s what we play for, and that’s when your mechanics need to perform under pressure, which is why it comes back to hard work,” Karmis said.

“At Sishen, my mechanics were so-so to be honest, but my game is getting better again. I just needed that one good shot that would have made the difference. But it was good to feel the competitive juices flowing again.”

Professional golf is such a tough battlefield and as a career it requires much sacrifice, but Karmis has a stunning grasp of the balance required between golf being his job and the fact that, at the end of the day, he is still playing a game that one is meant to enjoy.

“A lot of a professional’s life is lonely because you leave your family behind. I know when I was in Japan earlier this year, my happiest day ever was when my family came to Japan, but the worst day ever was when they left.

“As a golf pro, you have to get used to not having your own bed, your own stuff around you, there are things like different food, driving on the other side of the road, and the different cultures you come across. Sometimes in Japan you get a caddie who can’t speak English.

“Some people just can’t handle all those changes, but I just love playing golf, even just nine holes or a pro-am. And Keenan Davidse and Christiaan Basson and myself actually drove together to Sishen, we had a road trip together and that was fun,” Karmis said.

Sishen is the Northern Cape mining town close to Kuruman and 284km north-west of Kimberley. If one carries on down the N14 towards the Atlantic, after another 422km one comes to the famous town of Pofadder and then, another 57km to the West, one reaches Aggeneys, where Karmis was born.

Apart from the mine that digs up the rich deposits of copper, lead and zinc, the golf course is Aggeneys’s only other real attraction. It is where Karmis first picked up a club, “messing around” with his father, a “really keen golfer”. The family then moved to Cape Town when he was seven.

Aggeneys is an oasis in some of the most arid, unforgiving territory in South Africa, but also some of the most geologically rich land in the country. It is not hard to think of it as a metaphor for Karmis’s approach to professional golf – it can be an unforgiving landscape, but Karmis is able to dig deep and find the things of value that keep him going.

The winner of the Sun Sibaya Challenge at Mount Edgecombe in October 2016, Karmis is back for the 54-hole Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event on The Woods course starting on Thursday and says he loves playing in KwaZulu-Natal.

One of the reasons is what many other people complain about – the humidity.

But that’s Karmis for you – forever turning negatives into positives.