Ken Borland

SOUTHBROOM, KwaZulu-Natal – The most obvious thing young, up-and-coming golfers need is the opportunity to compete, and veteran Sunshine Tour campaigner Hennie Otto has praised the sponsors of this week’s event at San Lameer, Vodacom, for the critical role they have played in the development of the sport in this country.

Otto has been on tour since 1997/98, when it was actually known as the Vodacom Tour, and is teeing it up this week in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at San Lameer Country Club as one of the favourites, given his ninth position on the current Luno Order of Merit.

As a senior statesman of the tour and someone who has enjoyed its benefits so much, Otto is eager to ensure the younger generation get the same exposure and rewards.

“Vodacom have been involved in golf in this country for more than 20 years and what they’ve really done is develop golfers,” Otto said after the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Pro-Am at San Lameer.

“Every young golfer needs opportunity in order to have a successful career, and if nobody creates those opportunities for them, then they won’t get them.

“I’ve played with Mr Mzimba [William, CEO Vodacom Business Group] a few times in these Vodacom Origins of Golf Pro-Ams and he tells me about the dozen or so development players they help. Hopefully those guys really come through, and even if just five of them do then it is still something special.

“The tour is definitely growing and I think in the years to come, it is just going to get bigger,” Otto said.

While the Sunshine Tour has seen a number of very promising young players shine this year, the fairways are still very much the lair of experienced pros like Otto, Jean Hugo, who is seventh on the Luno Order of Merit, and Jaco van Zyl, who won last weekend at Selborne Park Golf Club.

The 46-year-old Otto is still hitting the ball well and looked in hot form last weekend when he finished second to Van Zyl at the Gary and Vivienne Player Challenge. It was his fourth top-six finish this season, a ray of hope after a couple of very tough years following the passing of his wife in 2020.

“As a senior, some of the guys call me ‘Oom’, but this ‘Oom” can still play now and again,” Otto smiles. “I’ve been doing nicely, I just haven’t finished off like I want to.

“But I’m close to where I want to be both mentally and physically, although I’m a bit overweight – I’ve had a few braais,” he laughs.

“But there are nice tournaments coming up, we’re building up and up for the big ones at the end of the year, and the more you finish up the leaderboard, the more confident you get.

“I’ve played all those tournaments before, I know the places, so I’ll be even more comfortable,” Otto said.

All Blacks captain Sam Cane on Tuesday described their squad as being “disappointed and hurt” by their comprehensive defeat in their opening Rugby Championship Test against the Springboks in Nelspruit last weekend, and he says this week has been all about ensuring they are more clinical and efficient.

While the Springboks are buoyant after their 26-10 win, their second biggest ever over their greatest rivals, the All Blacks go to Ellis Park on Saturday having lost three matches in a row this year including the previous two defeats to Ireland.

“As disappointed and hurt as we are, there is nowhere else we would want to be than having another crack at them,” Cane said after New Zealand’s training session in Inanda on Tuesday.

“We are far happier getting back on the horse that sitting on the plane back home not having won a Test. Yesterday [Monday] we had a good look at the opportunities we wasted and where we need to be sharper.

“We have been brutally honest with each other, it’s nothing personal but just trying to get better as a team as a whole. We’re obviously not happy with the results, but there’s been no lack of effort.

“It’s a good camp to be involved in, hand on heart we are tight as a group, but it’s just frustrating that that’s not translating on to the field. There’s a trophy [Freedom Cup] on the line at Ellis Park and we are desperate for a better performance,” Cane said.

While the loose forward praised the Springboks for “knowing their game and executing extremely well”, he said the All Blacks had focused in their training on not just key weak points in Nelspruit like the aerial battle and the breakdown, but also on the unexpected.

“There were 15 contestable kicks last weekend and we only took five of them, so we expect the Springboks to keep going with that, and they also had good success at the breakdown,” Cane said.

“But it would be naïve not to think they will try to exploit us in different areas too. So our focus has been more on what we can control.

“I thought we had good intensity last week, but their pressure in key moments flipped our momentum. In the first half we were hardly able to have a crack at them.

“Our defensive intensity was right up there, we defended the breakdowns really well. So I don’t think we’re far off and there were definitely steps in the right direction,” Cane said.

The five-match T20 series that the Proteas will play in India from this week is going to be a vital time of getting the combinations and plans right ahead of the World Cup in Australia in October, the all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius said on Monday.

The series starts on Thursday in Delhi, with nine of the South African squad having seen action in the recent Indian Premier League. Pretorius played half-a-dozen matches for the Chennai Super Kings, one of the franchises at the forefront of T20 development, under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

“We’re going to be testing ourselves against some of the best cricketers in the world in the Indian team and winning the series is important so we take positive momentum into the World Cup,” Pretorius said on Monday.

“Both teams will be looking carefully at this series and seeing who can secure spots in the World Cup team. India are a very strong T20 team and we’ve come a long way too.

“This is a chance to measure ourselves against one of the best, to see where we are and what we need to work on before the World Cup. There are a lot of benefits to this series, we will see what combinations and plans work.

“Indian conditions have changed a bit and apparently we will have good pitches in the five different venues; everyone knows that Australia will have good bounce and good wickets,” Pretorius said.

The chief takeaway for Pretorius from his IPL experience and interacting with the brilliant cricketing brain of Dhoni was the importance of staying calm and positive.

“My first IPL was a great experience, it’s been one of my bucket list items since I was 20 and it was hosted by South Africa. I was very glad to have the opportunity to play for CSK, one of the most successful teams.

“As players, we were given a lot of responsibility and to play under M.S. Dhoni and see just how big his brand is and what he’s done for Indian cricket was awesome.

“CSK has a very experienced set-up and the biggest thing I learnt from Dhoni was how calm he is. He takes the pressure away from himself by putting it on the bowler.

“He made me realise that the bowler is the one under pressure. It was a change of mindset, he’s always very optimistic and believes any game can be won by staying calm,” Pretorius said.

Marizanne Kapp has proven her ability to keep her wits about her when everyone else is losing their heads at the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand, but South Africa’s star all-rounder is confident some of the other batters will step up this week and offer more support to banker Laura Wolvaardt.

Kapp’s heroics at the death mean South Africa go into the third week of the World Cup unbeaten. But it is a massive week for the Proteas with matches against Australia (Tuesday), the West Indies (Thursday) and India (Sunday) to come. One more win will confirm their place in the semi-finals.

Wolvaardt has led the way for the South African batting with three half-centuries in four innings, but Kapp and captain Sune Luus are the only other Proteas to have scored more than 100 runs in their four matches.

“We have been a bit lucky, we’ve got away with a few games where experience pulled us through,” Kapp admitted on Sunday. “We are aware that we have not played our best cricket yet.

“But I am sure we will come back stronger this week. The bowling has been decent, because it’s not easy bowling on these pitches which are a lot slower than we are used to.

“But if our batting can really come to the party then that will help a lot. Wolvie has been brilliant, you’re still calm as long as she’s in the middle. She’s amazing to have, a banker for us.

“Sune has supported her in a couple of brilliant partnerships, but we need a few more batters to put up their hands and that will get us to 280-300 and the perfect game,” Kapp said.

Affectionately known as Kappie, the 32-year-old has certainly punctuated this World Cup with some superb matchwinning efforts. She puts it down to backing her preparation and skills.

“A lot of times in the past I did doubt myself, but preparation is really big for me, I need to know I’ve done the work ahead of a game. So I back the way I prepare,” Kapp said.

“But all the T20 leagues I play in around the world really help too, they give me confidence, playing with the best players in the world and on the biggest stages. It means I back my skills as well.

“And it helps as an all-rounder to be able to make up with the other skill if the one doesn’t go so well,” Kapp said.