Ken Borland

Oliver Bekker has always seemed to be one of those cheerful, almost happy-go-lucky characters out on the golf course, but in private he was probably anguishing over winning more tournaments.

But the 36-year-old is now experienced enough to know that too much expectation can be as damaging as a lack of confidence.

Bekker still looks so comfortable and under control on the course and his maturity is reflected in how his career is progressing. Having won seven times on the Sunshine Tour, he competed on the European Challenge Tour this year and finished seventh on the order of merit, earning his card for the 2022 DP World Tour.

Now he leads the South African Open by three strokes midway through the tournament at the Gary Player Country Club, adding a 67 on Friday to his brilliant 65 on the opening day.

But proving that he is now at a different level by winning the SA Open is not on his mind.

“I don’t want to put myself under a lot of pressure,” Bekker said on Friday. “Every round I just want to try shoot under par and I’ve learnt that one or two under par every day is generally good enough.

“So I just try to grind it out every day, keep chipping away, and if you do keep under par then you will be there or thereabouts at the end of the day.”

That pragmatic approach combined with a razor-sharp short game saw Bekker collect six birdies in the second round, with his bogey on the par-four second hole his only dropped shot. He chipped in from just off the green for birdies on both the 14^th and 16^th holes, while he sunk a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-four eighth. And then there were also the up-and-downs when he managed to salvage par.

“It was really tough today, especially at the start when judging the wind was so tricky. You had about a five-second window to play your shot otherwise the wind would come from a different direction.

“But it settled down a bit, it was more consistent on the back nine and I got a bit closer to the pins and chipped in twice. I also scrambled really well and made my up-and-downs.

“Having the halfway lead means I’ve done half the job pretty well, now to finish the job. I haven’t made many mistakes and it helps when you’re so sharp around the greens. If I can keep sharp then there should be lots of opportunities over the weekend,” Bekker said.

Neil Schietekat, who shared the first-round lead with Bekker, did not manage quite as good a demolition job on the course on Friday, but still fired a two-under-par 70 to stay in touch on nine-under-par, three shots back.

“I was searching for my swing a bit and if that’s my bad round then I’m chuffed,” Schietekat said.

Justin Harding shot a wonderful 67 on Friday to join Schietekat on nine-under, while Danie van Tonder (68), Lyle Rowe (71) and Hennie du Plessis (70) are on seven-under.

The Bulls have lost the services of Springbok mainstay Trevor Nyakane but probably have five million reasons to be happy to let him go, with coach Jake White saying on Wednesday that he was “comfortable” with the versatile prop’s move.

The 32-year-old Nyakane, who played in 12 of the Springboks’ 13 Tests this year, has signed with French club Racing 92, and will begin his three-year deal in Paris before the end of the month. Nyakane had two more years to run on his Bulls contract, however, and the Pretoria franchise will reportedly receive R5 million from one of the leading clubs in Europe in compensation.

“Trevor is no longer with us, although we were going to give him time off until January anyway,” White said on Wednesday. “He was never going to stay with us forever and post the 2023 World Cup, I didn’t see him playing domestically anyway.

“It was always highly likely that he was going overseas and we haven’t had him for six months anyway, plus we were likely to not have him for big chunks of next year.

“He’s been fantastic for the Bulls and is a great team man, but in terms of return on investment, sometimes it’s the right time to release a player.

“We’re very comfortable letting him go and we are busy planning to get one or two other tightheads in our squad. It’s not ideal losing players overseas, but you don’t want to be paying big money for players if you never see them,” White said.

The former Springbok coach also suggested that the national team might have to go back to their previous policy of having zero overseas-based players in their line-up, in order to protect franchise rugby at home.

“It raises the question whether the policy of picking overseas players for the Springboks is going to last forever? Because long-term that policy is to the detriment of the franchises and that’s a fact,” White said.

“For me, the Irish and Kiwi model, where only home-based players are picked for the national team, works and they have been successful with it. Australia have the Matt Giteau rule allowing more experienced players from overseas to play for the Wallabies.

“At the moment I’m not sure the franchises get a return on investment because you have so many players unavailable for long periods and we have a salary cap. But we are not as affected as the Stormers or Sharks,” White said.

Leus du Plooy will make an emotional return to South African cricket as he turns out as the overseas pro for South-Western Districts in their CSA T20 Knockout Cup quarterfinal against Northerns in Kimberley on Tuesday, but it is three returning full internationals for the Titans who will probably have a greater impact.

Du Plooy’s last appearance in South Africa came in April 2019 when he scored a century for Northerns against Eastern Province at St George’s Park. He then joined Derbyshire as a Kolpak player and did well enough to receive a contract until the end of next season, as well as being chosen to play in The Hundred for Welsh Fire.

But Northerns will welcome back an even bigger star of English county cricket in off-spinner Simon Harmer, as well as batsman Theunis de Bruyn and fast bowler Junior Dala.

De Bruyn has had a wretched time with injury lately and will be eager to stamp his mark on the early-season with big runs, while Dala gives the Titans a trio of fearsome fast bowlers as he joins Corbin Bosch and the in-form Okuhle Cele.

With Dean Elgar still injured, left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso will lead the Titans. He may be 37-years-old, but he showed in the pool stages in Bloemfontein, as he took four for 52 in his 10 overs overall, that there is no mould on his skills and he is still quite capable of keeping batsmen in the dark.

The hard-hitting Donovan Ferreira and opener Jandre Pretorius are two young guys who grew their reputations in Bloemfontein.

The Free State Knights take on Western Province in Tuesday’s other quarterfinal, while Wednesday morning’s clash between the high-flying KZN Dolphins and the aggressive Eastern Province Warriors should be fun.

The Boland Rocks play the last quarterfinal against North-West in a match that will showcase what CSA are hoping are two growth areas of the game.

The great Bruce Springsteen sings about the bittersweet feelings of joy and dismay when returning to one’s roots in his 1985 hit My Home Town and Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick was probably experiencing similar mixed emotions in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) on Friday.

Stick is back in his birthplace with the Springbok team preparing for their Rugby Championship opener against Argentina at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday, but the build-up to the big Test match, with the home team fresh off their stirring win over the British and Irish Lions, is strangely muted. Simply because of the Covid restrictions under which sport is now played.

“To be honest, I’ve been a bit down this week because it’s the first time I’ve come to PE and not even been able to visit my family. We know how passionate supporters are here, they are big Springbok supporters. This is a very special place for me and a packed stadium on Saturday would have been nice.

“We are all very passionate about the Eastern Cape, they gave me my platform, I am who I am because of this place. And we know there is a lot of potential here and we just have to make sure we keep on looking after it. Otherwise there has not been much difference in our preparation for Argentina, we are sticking to our routine and the process has not changed,” Stick, a former IRB Sevens World Series winning captain, said on Friday.

In terms of preparation for Saturday’s Test, the new 50/22 trial law that allows a team to throw into the lineout if they kick from their own half indirectly into touch in the opposition 22, is not something they have really had time to incorporate into their game-plan.

“It was only brought in this week so we won’t be changing much. But with all the kickers in our team it does give us opportunities. Frans Steyn, for example, has a massive boot that maybe we can use. But it does not change our plan much,” Stick said.

Speaking of Steyn, the backline coach said it will be important on Saturday for the likes of the double World Cup winner and fellow seniors Elton Jantjies, Jesse Kriel and Cobus Reinach to share their experience with a new-look back three.

“The key has been getting a balance in the backline. There are guys who have been there for a while – Cobus, Elton, Frans and Jesse – they are experienced and we know they have done it before. But the back three have worked very hard. We know what Sbu Nkosi can do, he has a bit of x-factor; Aphelele Fassi is a youngster who has played well for the Sharks and had a couple of very good touches against Georgia; and Damian Willemse is starting to mature in his game, he does the basics very well.

“One of our goals is building strong depth, whenever we get the opportunity we will give some guys the chance to recover and others the chance to play. It’s going to be tough against the strongest Argentina team but I have no doubt they are up to the challenge,” Stick said.