Ken Borland

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – Daniel Greene had a feeling that his 12-year wait for a first win on the Sunshine Tour might come to an end this week at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Humewood event and the 36-year-old never stopped believing, and his composure and skill was enough to take him to victory on the first hole of a playoff with Tristen Strydom.

Greene and Strydom both shot two-under-par 70s on Saturday to finish on five-under-par overall, and Greene parred the first playoff hole to take the honours when his younger rival, also looking for his first win, made bogey.

“You don’t really think after so long on tour without a win that it can happen, but it being windy here for the last week, I had a feeling from Tuesday that I could win and I just kept believing in myself. Even today on the 17^th hole, when I was one behind, I still had that belief. My golf has improved inland but I’m still a lot more comfortable on the coast.

“For it to happen at Humewood, where I should have won in 2010, it’s surreal. Maybe I should believe in myself more often because it shows that nothing is out of reach, even 11 years later, if you never stop believing,” Greene said after his maiden title.

Back in 2010, in the Vodacom Business tournament at Humewood Golf Club, Greene finished second as he double-bogeyed both the 17^th and 18^th holes on the last day, allowing Ulrich van den Berg to snatch the win.

This time Greene was the beneficiary of an opponent letting it slip as Strydom bogeyed the 17^th and after their respective bogeys on the last hole, the KwaZulu-Natalian had nothing but sympathy for the 24-year-old.

Strydom was ideally placed after his second shot was on the fringe of the green, but he decided to chip instead of putt and then missed a makeable par putt.

“It was unfortunate for Tristen and I know exactly what he feels like after it happened to me in 2010. He played very well and hit the ball really nicely, but all I was doing was concentrating on my score and taking it shot-by-shot. I didn’t know the score and when we both made bogey on the 18^th, I asked him if he had won because people were clapping like he had,” Greene revealed.

It turned out their final scores were the same – five-under-par 211 – and Greene still had one more hole to play to exorcise his Humewood demons.

Given that half-a-dozen of Greene’s best performances have been on the coast, it was perhaps not that surprising that his perseverance was finally rewarded at Humewood’s famous links on an awfully windy day.

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – Daniel Greene secured his first Sunshine Tour title in his 12^th season on tour at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Humewood event on Saturday and it took all of his composure and skill to secure the playoff win over Tristen Strydom as it was blowing a gale on the links course.

Greene completed a solid par on the first playoff hole, on the par-four 18^th, while Strydom could only get a bogey after he hit his second shot well right of the green. It was a bitter blow for the 24-year-old who was also chasing his first victory on tour, Strydom missing a shortish putt for par on the last hole of regulation play.

Making the turn on two-under for his round, Greene then did exceptionally well to come home in level-par as the players faced the worst of the wind. The 36-year-old was helped by a crucial eagle on the par-five 11^th.

When Strydom bogeyed the 17^th it meant they were all-square going up the last and Strydom wasted a golden opportunity to win as he was lying just off the green and decided to chip his third instead of putting.

Steve Surry, Christiaan Basson and Malcolm Mitchell, who blazed through the last nine holes in four-under-par to finish with a level-par 72, all finished just one stroke off the lead on four-under-par, proving that the leaders cannot take anything for granted when conditions were as tough as they were at Humewood on Saturday.

But Greene, who has a strong record in Vodacom events on the coast, showed he could adapt and remain unflustered despite how testing the situation was.

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – Malcolm Mitchell dared to take Driver on a dozen holes on Friday in the second round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series at Humewood Golf Club and quickly reaped the rewards as he raced up the leaderboard with a five-under-par 67 lifting him into a share of the lead heading into Saturday’s final round.

The wind was still up on Friday but Mitchell dropped just one stroke on his way to a total of four-under-par after the first two rounds, tied with 27-year-old Richard Joubert and veteran Hennie Otto.

Collecting six birdies, three on each loop, suggests an aggressive approach by the former Eisenhower Cup representative, but apart from backing himself with Driver, Mitchell felt his strategy was pretty risk-free.

“The two parts of my game that have been good for a while have been my driving and putting, which really helps on a links course. There were only two holes where I did not take Driver, but I’ve only missed four or five fairways on the first two days, so I’ve pretty much always been in a good position and my putting has been very good over the last while.

“In terms of being aggressive, in the moment there might be one shot that I might feel I can have a go at, but then there are others where I’ll aim 20 feet right or short. So I don’t go at it too much, I don’t change game-plans and I just try to stay in the moment and enjoy it,” Mitchell said after his round.

And being focused on the present and having fun is exactly what Mitchell will be doing in the final round, having learnt some lessons from his runners-up finish in August in the SunBet Challenge at Wingate Park Country Club in Pretoria. In that tournament he also went low in the second round, a 65 lifting him to second, but then he closed with a 72 to leave him three adrift of Estiaan Conradie.

“It’s funny how life teaches you different things. You work so hard to stay in the present but then sometimes you mess it up and get ahead of yourself or start thinking of the past. But winning three times in 2019 always sits there. Those memories are there to go back on, they can only help. It means I’ve been there, even though it was the Big Easy Tour, and knowing how to win definitely sticks in the back of your mind,” Mitchell said.

One man who is unlikely to have any trembling knees if he stays in contention on Saturday is Otto, because he has done it all before with 13 wins on the Sunshine Tour, the most recent being at the Sibaya Challenge in October 2019. The 45-year-old also finished in a tie for second in the Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Sishen at the end of August.

Otto has had a run of four successive top-30 finishes on tour and the former SA Open champion was looking dangerous as he fired a four-under-par 68 on Friday.

Joubert was just one stroke off the lead after the first round and, starting on the 10^th, he soared into the lead with an eagle on the par-five 11^th and then holed out for an eagle-two at the par-four 16^th. Bogeys at 17 and 18 undid some of that amazing work though, and he dropped two more shots on the front nine, but finishing with three straight pars gave him a 71 and he is far from done-and-dusted in this race.

Overnight leader Tristen Strydom shot a 73 on Friday and is one stroke back on three-under for the tournament, alongside Michael Palmer (68) and Daniel Greene (69).

There are three golfers two shots back on two-under-par who will need to be watched carefully as well – Christiaan Basson (68), Jean Hugo, who fired a brilliant 66, and Jayden Schaper (69).

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – Tristen Strydom, the 24-year-old from Pretoria Country Club, has been able to supplement his undoubted talent with confidence from a fine season and astute course-management, and the benefits showed as he claimed the lead after the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at Humewood Golf Club on Thursday.

In incredibly tough conditions of strong wind and then rain, Strydom fired a superb four-under-par 68 to lead by one stroke from Richard Joubert.

The weather had already turned foul in Gqeberha on the eve of the tournament, so the golfers were expecting the worst when they teed it up at the famous old links course, that was especially wind-blown on Thursday.

Strydom and Joubert were together in the first group off and Strydom did not make a good start, missing a short putt for bogey on the first. But, remarkably, it was to be his only dropped shot on the day as he showed great composure to refuse to get flustered.

“We knew on Wednesday already that it was going to be pretty bad weather, so I was mentally prepared and just tried to enjoy it as much as possible, just do the best you can. Normally when you’re first out there is less wind, but today it was pumping from the early hours. It was a three or four club wind the whole day, I was hitting eight-irons 110 metres.

“I actually hit two great shots on the first, chipped but then two-putted because I missed a really short putt. But in conditions like this you can’t get upset by a bogey on the first hole otherwise you’re just going to make it a much longer day, which doesn’t help,” Strydom said.

The in-form Strydom, 10^th on the Order of Merit, turned in one-under with birdies on the par-four fourth and par-five seventh hole, before finding another gear on the back nine as he collected three birdies, which he says were products of his good course-management.

“Richard Joubert was playing really nicely as well so we pushed each other. It was a really solid round, a good day at the office. I didn’t really hit anything wayward, I made sure I was in good positions and missed on the right sides. All-in-all it was a well-managed round. And luckily I got out dry because it only started raining on my last hole!” Strydom said.

Joubert, coming off three successive missed cuts, was one over through nine holes, but finished in scintillating fashion with three birdies and an eagle, on the 17^th, in his last six holes.

Botswana’s Stuart Smith celebrated his country’s Independence Day by shooting a two-under 70 that gave him third place on his own, while James Kamte and Jake Redman were the only other golfers under-par after positing 71s.