Ken Borland

Kathu (Northern Cape) – There were nearly 35 excited children from the Kuruman chapter of the South African Golf Development Board at the Sishen Golf Club driving range on Thursday, taking part in the Vodacom Origins of Golf development clinic and receiving coaching on the basics of the game from Sunshine Tour professionals, but one little guy stood out because he has been teeing it up around the country in junior golf with some success.

Delrico Agterdam is just 10 years old but he already plays off a seven and he is ranked the number two junior in the Northern Cape. For the last two years, he has received his provincial colours for the U13 team.

Considering how much younger he is than his fellow competitors, it is tantalising to think how good Agterdam will be once he fills out a bit.

Annemarie Rabie is the SAGDB coach for the Kuruman area and she was at Sishen Golf Club on Thursday. She says there is little else Agterdam is interested in other than golf.

“Delrico thinks about golf all the time. He eats and sleeps for the game and he really wants to become a professional golfer when he is big. He started playing when he was really small and he puts in a lot of work. The great thing about him is that I can give him a lesson today and tomorrow he will be practising that exact thing and remembering what I taught him,” Rabie says.

Agterdam’s father works at Kuruman Country Club and Rabie first saw him there, just playing around with a club and a ball. The talent was obvious.

Giving disadvantaged golfers the opportunity and exposure to express and fulfil that talent is what the Vodacom Origins of Golf development clinics are all about. But while Agterdam will be aiming to write his name in the annals of the game, the clinics also help engender a love for golf amongst all the other kids. Vodacom wants them to know that there is a place for them in this great game, whether that be as a player, fan, coach or administrator.

“These clinics are really excellent and it was so amazing to see how much the kids enjoyed it. They were like little sponges and they all had a million stories to tell on the 45km drive back to Kuruman. It’s just amazing what Vodacom do, if there weren’t these clinics then these kids would never have been coached by Sunshine Tour pros, or have met them or have played on a course like Sishen Golf Club.

“And when we got to Kuruman Country Club, Delrico climbed out of the car and said he wanted to go and play a few holes, he was so inspired!” Rabie laughed.

Kathu (Northern Cape) – When Martin Vorster tees it up in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen event from Friday, there will be a sense of it being a comeback moment for the 22-year-old from Fancourt.

That’s because it will be Vorster’s first individual event in which he feels properly prepared following the hip injury that kept him out of action for three months.

Vorster did play in the Bain’s Whisky Ubunye Championship last week and finished in a tie for fifth, but that was a team event, the former top-ranked amateur playing with Jovan Rebula.

But the fact that he played so well in just his second Sunshine Tour event since May means he goes into the second Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament of the season in high spirits. It also helps that he loves the Sishen Golf Club course; they do say that if you ever play this astonishing gem set in a lush camelthorn forest on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, you’ll want to come back.

“It’s going to be very nice to get going again,” Vorster said after the first day of the popular pro-am that always precedes the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournaments. “I returned to the Sunshine Tour three weeks ago at the Gary and Vivienne Player Challenge at Kyalami Country Club, but I had just started hitting balls and it was more about testing whether my body was ready. Everything went well on that front, but my game was not ready yet and I didn’t play very well.

“But then I had a good week’s practise and it was a blessing to then play in a team event, which was less stressful. There were still a few rusty shots, but it’s just great to be back competing again. This is an unbelievable course and I always look forward to playing here,” Vorster said.

It was the eagle eye and intimate knowledge of the kinetics of the golf swing of coach Doug Wood that saved Vorster from a potentially more serious hip injury.

“I started working with Doug at the end of 2022 and he said my then-swing could cause problems for my hip. So I had to change it and we worked on it for a long time and made so much progress. But it was just too late and I tore my labrum.

“Thankfully it was not a complete tear. But it was not ideal and I had to rest for six weeks before starting rehab. I still have two or three weeks of rehab to go, but I am so thankful to be back on tour,” Vorster said.

After a difficult 2023/24 season in which he finished 83^rd on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy, Vorster made a fine start to the current campaign with top-10 finishes in his first two events – the FBC Zim Open and the KitKat Cash & Carry Pro-Am. But then his hip gave way.

“It was very frustrating and it happened just when my game was heading the right way after last season. It was my first time in Europe, playing on the Challenge Tour, and I struggled more with the off-course stuff, the travelling, the language barriers – everything was new.

“I also just played too much golf. I only had 10 weeks off last season, but it was a great experience. But now I’m more focused on the Sunshine Tour and doing well here will open more doors, it allows you to skip certain stages of the DP World Tour qualifying school.

“My first goal now is to be in the top-10 on the order of merit because then I can get back in a re-rank category that qualifies me for the DP World Tour co-sanctioned events,” Vorster said.

Vorster will be up against experienced campaigners like Danie van Tonder and Jean Hugo, who have both won twice this season, at Sishen, as well as the in-form duo of Yurav Premlall and Jacques Blaauw, both flying high on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

DULLSTROOM (Mpumalanga) – Young Jonathan Broomhead lit up the Highland Gate Golf and Trout Estate on Sunday with his 65, but it was veteran Jean Hugo who stayed calm and made the vital putts to emerge victorious by one stroke in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Highland Gate Mpumalanga event.

The 48-year-old Hugo birdied the par-five 18^th hole, thanks to a brilliant chip-shot, for a two-under-par 70 that left him on 13-under-par for the tournament. Broomhead’s fantastic round, which included nine birdies but a costly double-bogey on the par-four sixth hole, had lifted him to 12-under-par.

Overnight leader Louis de Jager was also on 12-under as he teed off with Hugo on the final hole, but he ended up making bogey on 18 to finish in a tie for third on 11-under.

Hugo clinched an astonishing 12^th victory on the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series, and his 20^th Sunshine Tour title overall, his third shot on 18 being a superb chip to a foot of the hole from the right of the green.

“Fortunately I hit a good drive and I was in two minds whether to lay up or go for the green with 216 metres to the flag. I took a chance and went over the water, hitting it on the other side of the sluit down the right with a gripped-down four-iron. I then hit a brilliant chip,” Hugo said.

“My best putt of the day was on 16 though, where we all struggled. Louis lost his ball and I had to hack out of the cabbage a couple of times, we were on the clock as well, and I sank a putt for bogey from more than 15 feet. And on 17 I made another clutch putt for par.

“We made it tough for ourselves with those stumbles and there was a bit of pressure. But I’ve been playing well lately, if I could just putt well then my scores would be even better. I used to be the best putter on tour, but now anything under 30 putts for a round is good. I was bogey-free the first two rounds and my first bogey today was on the ninth, so I was hitting the ball very well,” Hugo, who only had 27 putts on Sunday, said.

De Jager was in hot form on the front nine, going out in three-under, but he bogeyed the par-five 11^th and dropped two shots on the 16^th, before closing with another bogey, having hit his drive into the left rough.

Between 2006 and 2015, Hugo was probably the hottest golfer on the Sunshine Tour with 16 victories. But Sunday’s triumph was his first since 2019.

“To have 12 Origins of Golf titles and 20 overall on the Sunshine Tour is what I’m most proud of. I got to 17 quite quickly, but then only won again in 2019 and then there was Covid and in 2020 I had a massive ankle operation.

“But I’ve been working hard and it’s nice to see the results. I can now aim to hit a certain shot and pull it off, it’s about technique and trust way more than just relying on talent. I’ve come close to winning these last few years, but I’m just delighted that I didn’t give it away today. As long as you fight out there, you can be happy,” Hugo said.

Luke Brown (70) and Kyle de Beer (71) shared third place with De Jager, while 20-year-old Gabrielle Venter shot an outstanding five-under-par 67 on Sunday to finish in a tie for 16^th on six-under-par, leading the way for the Sunshine Ladies Tour players. Danielle du Toit (70) finished tied-29^th and Lora Assad (71) was in a share of 44^th place.

DULLSTROOM (Mpumalanga) – The experienced Louis de Jager has fired rounds of 65 and 67 for 12-under-par in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Highland Gate Mpumalanga event, but he has no more than a one-shot lead after the second round on Saturday.

That’s because fellow veteran Jean Hugo, who has played in more than 450 Sunshine Tour events, has gone 66-67 for a score of 11-under-par heading into the final round.

Kyle de Beer, the leading rookie on tour this season, is one stroke further back on 10-under after shooting a 70 on Saturday, contending strongly in just his 25^th Sunshine Tour event.

De Jager started his round on the 10^th and took a while to really find his range, but birdies on the par-four 16^th and par-five 18^th gave him a boost. His front nine was even better, even though he bogeyed the par-four first hole.

The 37-year-old birdied the par-three third hole and also picked up birdie threes on the sixth and ninth holes, but perhaps his best hole was the par-five fifth, which is more than 600 yards long and plays into the wind, but De Jager eagled it on Saturday.

It will not be an easy night’s sleep though for De Jager going into the final round of the R2 million event because there is a surfeit of quality within four shots of the lead.

Apart from Hugo and De Beer, Luke Brown is enjoying a very solid tournament and is on nine-under-par after rounds of 67 and 68. Jacques Blaauw is enjoying a top-class season, leading the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy, and is tied for fifth on eight-under after notching a two-under-par 70 on Saturday.

Martin Rohwer, a three-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, and Nikhil Rama, a GolfRSA product who is a rising star in the senior ranks, are also on eight-under.

A trio of Sunshine Ladies Tour golfers made the cut, with Danielle du Toit (69) and Gabrielle Venter (72) tied for 35^th on one-under-par, and Lora Assad tied for 47^th on level-par.