Ken Borland

The way Nick Bachem cruised to victory in the Jonsson Workwear Open at Steyn City on Sunday, it may have seemed that DP World Tour titles are not retailing for much these days.

But don’t be fooled by the ease with which the 23-year-old German soared to 24-under-par and a four-stroke victory with a tremendous final-round 64; this was high-quality golf overpowering a field boasting plenty of strength in depth.

Having won his DP World Tour card for the first time at qualifying school in November, Bachem claimed his first title in just his 10^th start in the 2022/23 season. The engaging youngster admitted that he did not expect to be winning tournaments quite so soon.

“It’s just amazing, this is just my 10^th start. I believed I could win, but just to be playing here is actually pretty overwhelming. I don’t really understand what has happened over the last couple of days, in fact over the last year-and-a-half,” a beaming Bachem said.

“Today was just my day. I thought it was going to be super-close, but I was still chilled and so relaxed. But then on the 15^th I saw a scoreboard and saw I was four ahead. And then I got super-nervous! I knew I just needed three pars and I would win, but suddenly that felt so hard!

“But I had to tell myself that it is just golf I am playing and a missed putt or something is not the end of the world. And then it was a nice finish.

“Getting my tour card is always in mind when I’m playing, and now I’ve got the job done pretty early. Now I can just enjoy playing all the events and letting all the experiences sink in.

“It feels unreal right now, it’s definitely a dream come true. I felt it would take more time,” Bachem said.

Beginning the final day one stroke behind leader and fellow German Alexander Knappe, Bachem was struck with terrible bad luck right from the outset, a decent opening tee-shot ending in a plugged lie. He had to take a drop and did exceptionally well to still get a par-four.

From there he reeled off four birdies in the next five holes, which sent him soaring to the top of the leaderboard. Four more birdies on the back nine sealed the deal, the second-placed South African duo of Zander Lombard (65) and Hennie du Plessis (68) left in his wake on 20-under-par.

Another South African, Ockie Strydom, finished in a tie for fourth on 19-under with Scotsman Ewen Ferguson.

The genial Bachem showed he has the bottle to win on the main tour and he said making sure he enjoyed himself on the course was a vital part of handling the pressure.

“I was leading a tournament for the first time a couple of weeks ago in the Kenya Open and I just wanted to win so badly, I wanted to shoot course records, and I ended up nearly finishing last.

“But yesterday I was really calm, I just felt like if I finished top-20 I would be happy. And then my goal today was to just enjoy myself and enjoy as much as possible having the chance to win.

“It’s definitely something I have to keep telling myself because it is not always easy out there. But I just reminded myself that I am in sunny South Africa while it is winter in Germany, playing on a beautiful course. So life is actually pretty good and you need to try and remember that in the tough times.

“I don’t believe there is anything better that I could be doing, playing golf just brings me so much fun and joy. Even when there are bad weeks, it is nice to be able to enjoy them as well, because that is when you learn. In Kenya I learnt so much and without that experience I would have had no chance of winning here,” Bachem said.

It’s been a crazy 18 months for Bachem and now he has even more exciting possibilities in store to look forward to.

“When I was still an amateur, I played a few events on the Pro Golf mini-tour and then I turned pro. Playing on the Challenge Tour in 2022 was pretty good, but I just missed winning my DP World Tour card. Qualifying School was then a real rollercoaster, I was four-over after the first round but then shot 10-under. Just a couple of months later, here I am having won my card for the next two years. So I am pretty excited about the future,” Bachem said.

In his immediate future, there is a trip to France next week. Bachem does not just enjoy riding the waves of fortune and misfortune in the golfing world, he is also a keen surfer of literal waves.

Between the Kenya Open and the Jonsson Workwear Open, Bachem spent time at South Africa’s surfing mecca, Jeffrey’s Bay.

“My family used to go to the west coast of France for holidays on the Atlantic and I started to get into surfing since I was young. I’ve been doing it more and more since I turned 18. Now I can drive a car and I spent six weeks in Portugal recently in a campervan. Maybe there is a career in surfing after golf for me … ”

The Central Gauteng Lions, led by their rampant batting line-up, roared to a hat-trick of 50-over titles on Thursday night as they beat Western Province by 62 runs in the One-Day Cup final at the Wanderers.

With the top four all scoring half-centuries, the Lions raced to 358 for five in their 48 overs after being sent in to bat, the start of the final being delayed due to morning rain.

Paceman Lutho Sipamla then took five wickets as Western Province were bowled out for 296, but they would have been most frustrated by losing three wickets to the part-time off-spin of Reeza Hendricks, who finished with career-best figures of three for 18 in three overs.

Those three wickets put an end to whatever hopes were remaining for Western Province after a strong start. Hendricks came on to bowl with the visitors on 217 for three after 33 overs, needing 142 more runs off 90 balls.

Eddie Moore, who had shown his white-ball value with a run-a-ball 82, targeting the short boundary towards the grass embankment, moved into switch-hit position way too early, Hendricks fired a quicker, shorter delivery outside leg-stump and the cramped reverse-pull went straight to short third man.

Western Province’s obsession with the short boundary continued when, two balls later, Daniel Smith did the same thing. The youngster scored 24 off 29 balls, overdoing his attempts to sweep, both conventionally and reverse, when there were better scoring opportunities straight down the ground.

Earlier, Tony de Zorzi was once again rampant for Western Province at the top of the order, causing the Lions some anxiety with a great effort of 88 off 69 balls.

But Sipamla also took two wickets in an over, the 25th, when he had De Zorzi caught at long-on and then bowled an excellent first delivery to Zubayr Hamza, having him caught behind for a duck.

George Linde kept the visitors in with a slim shout as he belted 42 off 32 balls, before Malusi Siboto dismissed him and last man Nandre Burger off successive deliveries.

The Lions innings was constructed in excellent fashion with openers Josh Richards and Ryan Rickelton putting on 142 in 22 overs.

Richards began the onslaught by taking on the new ball and hammering nine fours and two sixes, but the in-form Rickelton was quickly underway too.

The left-handed wicketkeeper/batsman took over the aggressor’s mantle from Richards and scored freely in a fiery 75 off 63 balls, which included 14 fours, before he was bowled by left-arm spinner Linde.

Richards ploughed on though, adding another 71 in little more than 10 overs with Reeza Hendricks for the second wicket, before being superbly caught one-handed by Beuran Hendricks, diving full-length at wide mid-on, off Nandre Burger, for 94.

Reeza Hendricks maintained the Lions’ dominance though with a stroke-filled 69 off 64 balls, while Mitchell van Buuren turned the knife with a phenomenal 62 off just 36 deliveries.

Evan Jones provided the finishing touches to a record 50-over score for the Lions with his 30 off 16 balls.

Even on a brilliant batting pitch, the Lions had done enough to bat themselves out of reach of Western Province.

One of the most vital aspects of the Bulls’ success this season has been belief and in this respect they have reminded me a bit of the last great side to play out of Loftus Versfeld, the one that won three SuperRugby crowns and five Currie Cup titles between 2002 and 2010.

Even when Jake White’s team were 10 points down with less than 20 minutes to go in the Currie Cup final against the Sharks last weekend, there seemed to be a singleminded focus that even though they had looked an ill-disciplined, ragged lot for long periods of the game, there was no way they would allow themselves to be beaten in the end.

Arno Botha was one of the heroes of the match as he came off the bench and scored two tries, and he spoke this week about the confidence a coach like White and a captain like Duane Vermeulen give the team.

Heyneke Meyer, the coach of that Super Rugby winning Bulls side of more than a decade ago, had a similar effect on his team, having done the same rebuilding job after years of failure in Pretoria. And reading Meyer’s recently-released book 7 – My Notes on Leadership and Life, written with journalist Marco Botha, it seems as if the coach almost brainwashed his players into believing they could achieve the extraordinary if not what was considered impossible.

One of the seven points in order to be successful that Meyer expounds on in his book is “You must believe in your vision”.

Of course all top sportspeople and teams have a belief that they can win, but the type of belief Meyer is talking about is what happened at the end of the 2007 SuperRugby campaign when the Bulls won their last four round-robin games with bonus points including the scarcely-believable 92-3 win over the Reds which gave them a crucial home semi-final, something they had earlier identified as being crucial if they wanted to win the daunting competition.

The book is full of the sort of motivational stories, aphorisms and mind tricks that Meyer employed on his team. Whether or not these ploys would still work today is a matter of conjecture, but there is no denying that belief was one of the key characteristics of that superb Bulls side.

Obviously belief alone is not going to win trophies and Meyer also explores the importance of having all the team’s energy flowing in the direction of a vision – the more unrealistic the better; having the willpower to keep fighting whatever the hardship and the mental toughness to always go another round; and the work ethic that set apart players like Morne Steyn (now a driving force in White’s team) and Victor Matfield.

Meyer also rightly devotes chapters to how no-one can achieve success on their own and on the importance of enjoying the journey. 7 – My Notes on Leadership and Life is certainly an enjoyable journey through Meyer’s extraordinary achievements as a Bulls coach but also his time in charge of the Springboks.

The foreword is written by former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen and it was Gauteng’s privilege to host some of the best Test matches ever played when Meyer’s South Africa hosted Hansen’s New Zealand. The book tells the story of their friendship and there is no doubting the mutual respect between the two.

Like Hansen, White has also won rugby’s biggest prize in the shape of the World Cup and he is also undoubtedly building something special at Loftus Versfeld. Much of that revolves around the inspirational presence of Vermeulen and Meyer also talks about the Springbok great and how highly he rates him for his mental toughness.

Let’s hope that the success in Pretoria can also translate to players coming through and contributing to the continued success of the Springboks.

In the context of thrilling T20 finals it was a disappointment, but for the Titans it was the sheer joy of ruthlessly-efficient accomplishment as they strolled to a hat-trick of RamSlam T20 Challenge titles on Saturday night with a thumping seven-wicket win, with 53 balls to spare, over the Dolphins in Centurion.

Their victory was set up by a magnificent display in the field, Chris Morris leading the attack with four for 13, the best ever figures in a franchise T20 final, as the Dolphins were shot out for just 100, the lowest ever total in a final.

Against a batting line-up as powerful as the Titans, it was never going to be enough and the home side knocked off their target of 101 in just 11.1 overs, with Quinton de Kock leading the way with 39 off 27 balls and AB de Villiers blazing a cameo of 27 off 13 deliveries.

The Titans had won the toss and sent the Dolphins in to bat, and the visitors started well enough, the opening batsmen, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Morne van Wyk, both collecting a boundary in the opening over bowled by Albie Morkel.

But the introduction of Morris for the next over from the West Lane End signalled the start of the Titans’ dominance.

Van Wyk (6) skied the second ball bowled by the all-rounder high over the point region, Farhaan Behardien back-pedalling and then taking the trickiest of catches over his shoulder.

Van Jaarsveld fell in Morris’s next over, the left-hander being bogged down with 14 off 16 balls, driving on the up and being caught at deep mid-on.

The Dolphins were 25 for two and being squeezed relentlessly by aggressive, accurate bowling and ground fielding that was also of the highest order. The development of any partnership was painstaking for the visitors and quickly nipped in the bud.

So efficient were the Titans that the biggest partnership of the innings was the 26 Dane Vilas (21) and Khaya Zondo (7) shared for the fourth wicket.

Ngidi returned to add the wicket of Dolphins captain Zondo to his earlier dismissal of Sarel Erwee (3), finishing with outstanding figures of two for 15 in his four overs, while Malusi Siboto (3-1-10-2), so obviously targeted by the Warriors in the semi-final, bounced back to get rid of the Dolphins’ two most dangerous hitters – Vilas (21) and Robbie Frylinck (0) – in the course of producing a double-wicket maiden in the 13^th over.

At 67 for seven, the Dolphins were obviously not going to post anything substantial and Junior Dala (3-0-21-1) and the brilliant Morris wrapped up the innings.

De Kock showed the fluency that had eluded him so far in the campaign, collecting four fours and two sixes as he gave the Titans a brisk start, despite the early loss of Rivaldo Moonsamy (7), who fell to the wiles of Frylinck.

The part-time off-spin of Zondo accounted for De Kock, but the capacity crowd was delighted to see the skills of De Villiers, who managed to clear the boundary three times in a dozen balls, before Aiden Markram (18*) and Behardien (4*) finished the job.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-africa-sport/sa-cricket-sport/1761380/magic-morris-finds-his-mojo-as-titans-win-3-in-a-row/