Ken Borland

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.

Lukhanyo Am and Damian de Allende are like an old married couple fitting in so seamlessly with each other in the Springbok midfield that it’s easy to forget that they have only started 15 Tests together as a combination.

“South Africa is blessed to have had great centres and we now have to take over that responsibility. I feel like we’re doing a good job, but we’re always striving to get better. I’ve been playing with Doogz for just over two years now and we feed off each other. We’re getting experience together and learning all the time. We always want to keep on our toes,” the laconic Am said this week.

Barring the absence of the injured Cheslin Kolbe, South Africa will field their World Cup winning backline in their Rugby Championship Test against Australia on the Gold Coast on Sunday. An inexperienced Wallabies backline has lacked composure, making poor decisions, in their recent games against the All Blacks.

They have a 21-year-old flyhalf in Noah Lolesio, although stalwart utility back James O’Connor could make his return from long-term injury off the bench. Reece Hodge is tipped to come in at fullback and earn his 50^th cap, while another older player, Samu Kerevi, has been impressive at inside centre.

But their other centre options ae 22-year-old Len Ikitau, who only made his Test debut this year, and Hunter Paisami, a 23-year-old who has only played a handful of Tests.

This Springbok generation is certainly in touch with their female side when it comes to nurturing young players and Am, who made his Test debut in 2017, said team environment makes the difference in the tough world of international rugby.

“As a new player, it’s definitely a huge step-up compared to domestic or franchise rugby. So it’s really nice to come into a group with a lot of experience, it makes your job easier, having to go from training camps into Test matches. Helping the new guys is one of the shared responsibilities of this group.

“The Wallabies have got a balanced backline though, with experience and a couple of new guys. But inexperience means nothing, you can never underestimate the rookies or try and use that against them. Australia are currently playing very good rugby and they’ve just been unfortunate not to get the results,” Am said.

Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee is loving the build-up week to the Currie Cup final against the Sharks and especially the chance to join such Loftus Versfeld legends as Naas Botha, Thys Lourens, Anton Leonard, Piet Uys and Victor Matfield in lifting the famous old trophy.

Coetzee, whose previous South African playing experience was with the Sharks, had not yet arrived in Pretoria back in January when the inspirational Duane Vermeulen led the Bulls to their first Currie Cup crown since 2009, winning an extra time thriller against the self-same Sharks.

“To be mentioned alongside those names, you just feel humbled and honoured. It’s obviously a big dream to win the Currie Cup, but it also comes with great responsibility. We are just trying to be calm and enjoying it. My Dad is a huge Bulls fan and my sister as well, while my brother and mother support the Sharks. So there could be a bit of civil war in the house!

“I don’t want to take anything away from what the Sharks did for me, but this is a special Bulls team and there is a great atmosphere here. Just to see legends of the game here like Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez is amazing. And you can feel the excitement in Pretoria as well, we feel they are behind us even though it is very heartsore that Loftus won’t be packed,” Coetzee said on Tuesday.

The man with the bole-like arms and legs said mental composure is going to be as important to beat the Sharks as any physical characteristics the Bulls might bring on Saturday.

“The last final here was touch-and-go and the Sharks were well on their way to winning it, but then luckily fitness came into it. We’re expecting another neck-and-neck contest, there’s no way it’s going to be an easy game and we definitely can’t be nonchalant about anything. We’ve taken some learnings from that match, but we also have some new personnel and some older, wiser heads.

“It’s going to come down to composure and who executes better. When the pressure comes, you have to stick to your guns and that’s when experience comes into play. You never know how finals are going to play out, but it will come down to composure, execution and discipline on the day. Discipline especially will play a big role, we can’t leak soft penalties,” Coetzee said.