Ken Borland

CAPE TOWN – Judging by her two previous appearances on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, one could tell young Gabrielle Venter was poised for big things and the 19-year-old duly delivered on Friday when she won the Standard Bank Ladies Open in a thrilling battle with the experienced Kylie Henry at Royal Cape Golf Club.

Venter had finished tied-fifth in the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am and second in the SuperSport Ladies Challenge earlier this season, and on Friday she showed her enormous talent and mettle by shooting a superb four-under-par 70 to finish on nine-under-par.

It was enough to overtake 37-year-old Henry, a two-time Ladies European Tour winner, who had led after the first two rounds but could only post a level-par 74 on the final day, finishing on eight-under.

While the victory might not have been a big surprise for followers of the Sunshine Ladies Tour, Venter said afterwards she had no inkling her maiden professional win was on the cards until she was on the 18^th green.

“Honestly I was not focusing on the win at all because if you do that too much then you lose focus on the actual golf,” Venter said. “So I didn’t know what the scores were at all, I was just focused on my own game. I felt my game was in place to win, but if it didn’t happen then I would just wait for the next time.

“The first time I saw a scoreboard was when I was putting on 18, I missed the birdie putt and then you expect the best from your opponent and I was ready for a playoff with Kylie.”

While Henry had the misfortune to bogey the last two holes, she had played a full part in cultivating an exceptional final day in the R600 000 event. The Scotswoman recovered from a a double-bogey on the par-four first hole, while Venter made birdie to immediately catch up with the leader; Henry regained the sole lead with a birdie on the third hole and she matched Venter’s four on the par-five fifth.

The lead switched on the sixth hole, however, as Venter birdied the par-four and Henry dropped a shot. Both golfers birdied the par-five seventh, but they were level again when the Bloemfontein Golf Club representative three-putted the par-three eighth.

But she regained the lead with a birdie on the ninth, before Henry pulled level again with a birdie on the par-five 11^th. Venter struck back with a birdie on the 12^th, but another three-putt on a par-three followed as both golfers left the 13^th green on nine-under-par.

Henry birdied the par-five 14^th to lead again, but Venter’s birdie-bogey-par finish was enough to pip the Investec Order of Merit leader, who closed par-bogey-bogey.

While Venter’s pure ball-striking off the tee deserted her a bit in the closing stages, she made a lot of key putts and her short game was amazing. While the back nine was a little unkind to her, she showed impressive patience to pull off the win.

“It was quite a struggle on the back nine, but for the entire season my all-round game has been good. This win really means a lot to me because it puts me into a position to win the order of merit, which I really want to do.

“I will also take a lot of confidence into the co-sanctioned events – the SA Open and the Joburg Open – and I’ve learnt that every shot counts at this level. Now I know I can win here. This tour is a great tool to do well enough to be invited overseas and play against the best,” Venter said.

Emie Peronnin of France shared second with Henry after shooting a fantastic 70 that kept the pressure on the two leaders to not slip up.

As a scarred and wounded Temba Bavuma said after the Proteas’ shock loss to the Netherlands saw them exit the T20 World Cup on Sunday, there will always be a few things to pick at “after a performance like that”.

The problems started for a surprisingly flat Proteas side, considering the semi-finals beckoned, with their bowling. The 10.30am start and early moisture in the pitch prompted them to bowl first, even though the last nine matches at the Adelaide Oval had been won by the side batting first.

The South African attack is always so highly-rated, but on this occasion they let down their captain’s decision at the toss by bringing little energy or smarts to their bowling. They failed to adapt to Stephan Myburgh’s onslaught up front or to the true nature of the pitch, which was slowing up and required pace to be taken off and plenty of variations to be used. How the Netherlands later bowled was exactly the template.

A switched-on Lungi Ngidi would normally have prospered, but he went for 35 runs in three overs; Kagiso Rabada travelled for 37 runs in his three overs.

Rabada is South Africa’s premier fast bowler and a team always needs their spearhead to shine in world cups. But sadly Rabada was the Proteas’ most expensive bowler in the tournament, conceding 9.43 runs-per-over and only taking two wickets for 151 runs. Those are not the returns expected from such a great paceman.

On a pitch on which strokeplay was always going to become more difficult as the ball became softer, a fast start to the chase is always going to be vital, but Quinton de Kock and Bavuma could only score at a run-a-ball as they limped to 39/2 in the powerplay.

Bavuma will surely now be jettisoned from the T20 side unless the selectors continue to be blind to what is now openly being called “the elephant in the room”, but the Proteas also need more consistency from De Kock, especially when it comes to the crunch games where he needs to be stepping up as a senior batsman.

Slow pitches with a bit of turn will continue to be the achilles heel of the Proteas batting unless their minds, game-plans and skillsets are sharper to the importance of being able to rotate the strike in-between the boundaries.

CSA will reportedly be splitting the Proteas coaching job into red-ball and white-ball roles, so these are the problems that will be inherited by whoever succeeds Mark Boucher on a permanent basis.

South Africa’s next limited-overs action will only be at the end of January, in an ODI series against England, which will be crucial to their hopes of qualifying automatically for next year’s 50-over World Cup.

South Africa are forever making a mess of their 50-over Cricket World Cup campaigns, but they have decided to shake things up a bit for the 2023 event by putting themselves under extra pressure just to qualify.

But scarred and cynical Proteas fans can relax just a little because the situation is not as bad as has been depicted by some pundits on TV and elsewhere.

Yes, the Proteas are currently in a lowly 11^th place in the Super League qualifying standings. And given that South Africa have controversially conceded their three scheduled Super League ODIs in Australia in January to instead focus on the new SA20, they have five matches left in which to sneak into the top-eight. Those games are all at home – three against England and two versus the Netherlands. The Proteas already started playing the Netherlands last November, with the first ODI rained out and the next two postponed until next year due to Covid.

West Indies are occupying eighth spot at the moment, on 88 points, but they have completed their roster of 24 matches. South Africa are on 59 points, and with 10 points being awarded for each win, they are three victories away from overhauling the West Indies.

But Sri Lanka and Ireland stand between the Proteas and the West Indies and are also still in the running to finish in the top-eight.

Ireland are on 68 points and have three games left, hosting against Bangladesh next May, so if they sweep that series then they can reach 98 points. In that case, South Africa will need to win four of their last five games to get past them.

Sri Lanka, on 62 points, have six fixtures remaining – three in New Zealand and three at home against Afghanistan. Basically, however many wins they get, South Africa will need one more.

If they fail to finish in the top-eight, then the Proteas will head off to Zimbabwe next June for the final qualifier, the bottom five teams in the Super League joining five other sides, and the top two qualifying for the World Cup.

“It’s not ideal,” outgoing coach Mark Boucher admitted, “but we haven’t always had continuity in the ODI team, what with players going to the IPL and Covid, and that has caused inconsistency.

“But we know what is required against England and the Netherlands next year, and if we don’t make it then we just have to accept that we have to go to the qualifier and man up there.”

The Proteas are now leaving India for another World Cup – the T20 version in Australia. It is a long time and there will be much cricket played before they see ODI action again, and perhaps the mood around the team will be very different, hopefully triumphant.

What is sure though, is that there will be outrage if they don’t find their way back to the sandy pitches of India in a year’s time for the 50-over World Cup.

South African golfers who participate in the ‘rebel’ Saudi Arabian league will still be welcome to play on the Sunshine Tour, as things stand at the moment, but come the showpiece Nedbank Golf Challenge at the end of the year, they could find themselves out in the cold.

LIV Golf, with Greg Norman as chief executive, promises guaranteed lucrative paydays for their competitors, with the winner of each tournament taking home £2.8 million and last place being worth £97 000. The eight-event series starts at Centurion Golf Club in southern England next month. But much of the controversy surrounding the league revolves around the fact it is funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

South Africans Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace have all been linked with LIV Golf, while the PGA Tour in the United States and the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) have both threatened life bans for anyone who plays in the breakaway series.

Sunshine Tour commissioner Thomas Abt told The Citizen on Thursday that while they have their own regulations, they would respect the DP World Tour’s decision when it comes to their tournaments.

He said discussions will still have to be held when it comes to the five co-sanctioned tournaments with them like the SA Open. But the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which returns to Sun City in November after a two-year absence due to Covid, is entirely a DP World Tour event, so Sunshine Tour rules do not apply.

“We have agreed a strategic alliance with the DP World Tour, but they must do whatever they see fit in their tournaments,” Abt said.

“But our Sunshine Tour regulations state that a golfer must ask for a release only if there is a conflicting event in the same territory of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands, at the same time.

“So we don’t have any rules to stop our members playing in events overseas, but the Nedbank Golf Challenge is wholly a DP World Tour event,” Abt explained.

The Sunshine Tour itself is in boisterous health with Abt announcing a new points-based order of merit, sponsored by Luno, on Thursday, as well as 35 tournaments next season, the most ever.

“Because there are such big discrepancies in prize funds between tournaments, we have introduced a tier-system for points to give the guys who support our tour through the year a genuine chance of winning the order of merit,” Abt said.

“The bigger events will be worth 12 000 points, but there are lots more tournaments worth 2000 points, so that those golfers who really support the Sunshine Tour can compete for top place.”

The winner of the 2022/23 order of merit will not only gain entry into the U.S. and British Opens and the Nedbank Golf Challenge, but have the use of a Jaguar/Land Rover for a year and win R500 000 of bitcoin from Luno.