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Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Tommy Lasorda said there were three types of players – those who make it happen, those who watch it happen and those who wonder what happened. And that’s pretty much how you can sum up a season in golf.
If, as a professional on the Sunshine Tour, you have a seat at the table at next weekend’s R2 million season-ending Tour Championship at Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate in Gauteng, then you are either a player who made it happen with a victory this season, or you watched a win happen but still did enough throughout the season to finish in the top 50. And, if you’re not at the Tour Championship, well, you know what kind of player you were this season.
This was a Sunshine Tour season that brought with it a greater partnership with the Asian Tour as it worked more closely with the Sunshine Tour on co-sanctioning tournaments on the local circuit. The European Tour remained the mainstay of this working relationship. But the PGA Tour has taken up space in this “fourball” with its financial support of the rehabilitation of Soweto Country Club in what could be an early sign of its intentions to look for growth opportunities within Africa.
The season teed off with a strong African swing in Zambia, Zimbabwe and eSwatini. And perhaps the most potent triumph to come out of this swing was the two victories in eSwatini by Justin Harding. From there, Harding kicked on to become one of the most talked-about golfers last year as he won twice on the Asian Tour and claimed his maiden victory on the European Tour to go from a world ranking of 186th after his first victory in eSwatini to 52nd after his Qatar Masters triumph.
On the winter swing of the Sunshine Tour, JC Ritchie won three times this season. His last in the new Limpopo Championship was some of the best back-nine golf in the professional game. Ritchie made four birdies – including two over the final two holes – and an eagle to force his way into a playoff with England’s Steve Surry, and then won the playoff on the first hole with an eagle.
Zander Lombard confirmed his status as the next young star of the South African game as he claimed his maiden Sunshine Tour title in the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Zebula. And then, with a strong summer that included third in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and second in the RAM Cape Town Open, Lombard capped off his breakthrough season by finishing top of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit.
It was a season in which two of South African golf’s most historic trophies remained on home soil. Louis de Jager won the Eye of Africa PGA Championship – his second win this season – and Louis Oosthuizen claimed an emotional victory in the SA Open hosted by the City of Joburg. Another highlight for South African golf that week was Ernie Els and his nephew and top amateur Jovan Rebula playing together in the third round, with Rebula going on to claim the Freddie Tait Cup as leading amateur.
And now it comes down to the final week of the Tour Championship. Until, of course, it all starts again a week later with a new season. – Michael Vlismas Media
