Ken Borland

DULLSTROOM (Mpumalanga) – Louis Albertse hails from Dundee Golf Club and would have to travel almost exactly due north from there to get to Highland Gate Golf and Trout Estate, while Nico Mulder comes from Lydenburg, which is due north of Dullstroom, and together they combined to win the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Pro-Am in spectacular fashion on Thursday.

Albertse, a three-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, and Mulder blazed their way to 50 points on the second day of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Highland Gate Pro-Am, overtaking first-day leaders Keenan Davidse and former Springbok rugby player Akona Ndungane, to win by two points (90 to 88).

For Mulder, the general manager of the McGee group of companies, it was a maiden pro-am victory and the highlight of his golf career.

“It’s definitely the highlight, just playing with the pros is amazing enough. You see them on TV but it’s only when you’re standing with them on the course and you realise that you’re hitting six-iron and they’re taking wedge, then you know how good they are,” Mulder said.

“Vodacom have been fantastic with the way they have hosted us. It’s been an unbelievable couple of days and they have treated us like royalty. And the friendliness of everyone at Highland Gate, the staff have smiles wherever you look, it’s like being at a resort,” the nine-handicapper said.

While the first day featured such strong winds that Albertse felt like his game and maybe even himself might be blown off one of the spectacular cliffs around the course, Thursday was much calmer at Highland Gate and the winner of more than R4.6 million on the Sunshine Tour flourished, a good omen for him ahead of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series professional event that tees off on Friday.

“Yesterday the wind was really hectic, so today I had to contribute and I felt my game was there, which was nice. It’s also very enjoyable meeting new people and you never know what doors people you meet can open. And they are also the reason we are able to play in these tournaments, I am very respectful and thankful for what they do for us.

“It’s my second time playing here and I love the course, everyone who lives close to Dullstroom wants to come and play here. It’s a very good course and it is in great condition. There are scoring opportunities for sure, but if you’re not straight off the tee then it becomes really tough. You have to try and be patient and plot your way around it,” Albertse said.

Davidse and Ndungane, the runners-up, finished three points ahead of Jason Roets and George Leolo (85pts), while Stefan Wears-Taylor and Toby Mnisi were fourth on 83 points.

Ngwako Ramohlale struck a blow for the ladies as she finished fifth were her professional, Nikhil Rama, also on 83 points.

With the first day having shown that Highland Gate is not for the faint-hearted, Mulder was taking no chances on the second morning and admitted to bolstering his confidence in time-honoured fashion before the tee-off.

“My mate and I had a little Jagermeister before the start and then it was just a matter of keeping my head down and staying humble. But the wind on the first day made all of us humble,” Mulder laughed.

DULLSTROOM (Mpumalanga) – A gentle breeze blew across the valleys and mountains of the Steenkampsberge on Thursday, the day before the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series kicks off for 2024 with the opening event at Highland Gate Golf and Trout Estate, a far cry from the gales that lashed the course on the first day of the pro-am.

The Vodacom Origins of Golf Series is held every year at some of South Africa’s finest golf clubs, grouping amateurs, leading business figures and customers with some of the top players on the Sunshine Tour. Once the pro-am finishes on Thursday, the professional tournament will be held over three rounds from Friday, and the leading contenders are united in their belief that Highland Gate will pose a stern challenge, especially if the wind gets up.

“It’s a great course and hopefully the weather stays good because it is really tough here in the wind,” Neil Schietekat said on Thursday. “The greens are slopey and quick, and if you add strong winds to them then it becomes really tricky.

“There are no giveaway birdies here, which is what I like on a course. You have to map your way around here, you can’t just hit-and-hope and then make an easy birdie. But I feel good about my game, I’ve found a bit of form and you know what they say, ‘be careful of the sleeping dog’,” Schietekat, who is coming off top-10 finishes in his last two Sunshine Tour events, said.

The Vodacom Origins of Golf Series also marks the return to action of one of the great gentlemen of the Sunshine Tour in George Coetzee, who last played competitively in May 2023 at the Italian Open on the DP World Tour.

Coetzee underwent wrist surgery and, on a happier note, became a first-time father in the interim. He was his usual smiling self on the putting green on Thursday, although he acknowledged some daunting golf was ahead of him.

“It’s good to be back and the wrist is rustig [calm]. I’m just going to go out and try and enjoy myself, but if the wind is up again like Wednesday then I could be in for some torture,” Coetzee said.

It is not just the men that will be tackling the Ernie Els designed course that is 6717 metres long and perched 2000m above sea level. Nine Sunshine Ladies Tour golfers are competing for the same prizemoney as part of Vodacom’s push to ensure the country’s leading women golfers enjoy more exposure and opportunity.

Cara Gorlei, the winner of the Jabra Ladies Classic at Glendower in April, and Gabrielle Venter, who claimed the Standard Bank Ladies Open title at Royal Cape Golf Club in March, will lead the women’s charge.

Vodacom have also introduced more incentives for those women who opt to play in the Origins Series, the winner of their own mini-leaderboard qualifying for the Joburg Open and three Access Tour events on the Ladies European Tour.

Danie van Tonder, the winner of the previous event on the Sunshine Tour, the FNB Eswatini Challenge at Nkonyeni Golf Estate, says the Highland Gate layout suits him as well.

“It’s a great course in excellent condition, the greens are very quick and tricky. But I haven’t yet found a course where if I take driver and hit it long, far and straight, I will not do well,” Van Tonder said.

CAPE ST FRANCIS, Eastern Cape – Dylan Naidoo is one golfer who certainly won’t be ill-prepared for the vagaries of the St Francis Links when the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sunshine Tour event gets underway there on Thursday, the 24-year-old winning the pro-am on Wednesday with partner Malcolm Subramony.

After a blustery, totally overcast first day which really tested the golfers, Wednesday was much calmer and the sun made a welcome appearance. So Naidoo feels he is well-prepared for whatever weather the professionals get over the next three days.

“Today was a lot more like the weather we’re expecting for the tournament proper, so playing well works in my favour a bit. We’re expecting the same wind direction and amount of wind,” Naidoo said.

“But the first round was really different and difficult. I didn’t play great, but thankfully my amateur Malcolm came through with a bunch of points.

“This course is a really good test of every part of your game. You have to be good off the tee, your game-management needs to be really on-point and my chipping and putting was really good.

“I’m looking forward to a good week and I’ve been playing well for a little while, since I got through the first stage of European Tour School Qualifying three weeks ago. In fact, in the last six months my game has been heading in a good direction and I’m quite happy with it,” Naidoo said.

The globetrotting golfer now has his very own piece of Vodacom Origins silverware to cherish and he says the series has been a great help for him and many others in his fledgling professional career.

“It’s been a great series for many years now. To have the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series through the winter is a real bonus because otherwise there are not a lot of tournaments for us to play in.

“And if you’re a young pro who hasn’t played a lot, then the series gives your game really good preparation for the tour. It’s an opportunity to learn how to be a better golfer. It’s always a great start to the year for us,” Naidoo said.

SOUTHBROOM, KwaZulu-Natal – One of the premises of playing in a pro-am event for the professionals is that it allows them an early look at the course and the conditions before their proper tournament, and Hennie O’Kennedy certainly made full use of the opportunity to play in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series San Lameer Pro-Am by winning the competition on Wednesday with amateur partner Tyler Whittaker.

The 26-year-old O’Kennedy says he now knows all about the San Lameer Country Club layout ahead of their Sunshine Tour event there starting on Thursday. And the Stellenbosch Golf Club representative has played it both in the wind on Wednesday and in calmer weather on the first day.

“I expected nothing less than a lot of wind from San Lameer, but it was a beautiful day yesterday,” O’Kennedy said. “I didn’t play last week, so it’s been really nice to come in early here and open up what will be a seven-week stretch for me with a pro-am win.

“Today San Lameer just gave us a taste of what she’s made of and it was really fun. It meant you had to hit a lot of different shots and I enjoyed it. It’s a phenomenal course.

“There’s a lot of water and it’s been called the Blue Monster of South Africa. There’s quite a lot of uphills and downhills as well, so you need to be creative, which makes it more fun.

“If it were flat, it would be simple, but even the greens here, you have to work with the slopes. You really need to stick to your game-plan and really commit to your shots. Fortunately my game-plan seems to be good,” O’Kennedy said cheerfully.

O’Kennedy’s 11^th position on the Luno Order of Merit marks him out as someone to watch as the Sunshine Tour builds towards all the mega-tournaments at the end of the year.

He made an impression at the start of the season with three top-10 finishes, before dropping back into the middle of the field in the middle of the year.

“I made a little change with my putter and I reckon that’s why there was a bit of a dip. But now I’ve changed back to my Moneymaker and hopefully that will help me get back to my best.

“Hopefully this week will put me back on track for the next seven weeks and then the co-sanctioned tournaments that follow,” O’Kennedy said.

His playing partner Whittaker is one of the founders of the Custom Apparel golfwear company that sponsors O’Kennedy and is a partner of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series.

O’Kennedy is a tall, physically-imposing person who stands out in a crowd, but the funky, tropical-themed golf shirts he wore from CA made him even more of a landmark.

“I never expected this, but we dovetailed amazingly well. We play at San Lameer now and then on golf tour, and it is amazing, a really tight set-up.

“The wind was way harder today, but we made it work for ourselves and just played the right shot at the right time,” Whittaker, who hails from Durban and plays off a 5.4 handicap, said.

“I could not have asked for a better partner than Tyler,” O’Kennedy said. “It was  nice to meet him because he has really helped me out with clothing, and he’s a solid golfer and you could not ask for a better person.”