Christiaan Bezuidenhout climbs global ladder to success

In July, Christiaan Bezuidenhout was lounging on his hotel bed in Northern Ireland when he said: “There’s nothing more satisfying than setting a goal and ticking that box. And then the next phase of your life opens up.”

It was a few weeks after his maiden European Tour victory in the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama.

This past week, Bezuidenhout ticked another very big box on his list of goals as he climbed into the top 50 in the world for the first time in his career.

The 25-year-old South African’s victory in last week’s Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt Golf Estate in George, Western Cape, propelled him to 48th on the Official World Golf Ranking, and he is now South Africa’s second-highest ranked golfer in the world after Louis Oosthuizen, who is in 17th place.

If Bezuidenhout can stay there until a week before the masters tournament in April, he will tick another box by making his debut at Augusta National Golf Club in this major.

And if the Tokyo Olympics go ahead as planned and are not disrupted by the spread of the coronavirus, Bezuidenhout could secure himself a place alongside Oosthuizen as a member of the South African golf team.

The competition for this spot is fierce, with Erik van Rooyen (52nd in the world), Shaun Norris (61st) and Branden Grace (71st) all vying for the position Bezuidenhout now holds.

Based on his form now, Bezuidenhout is building up some strong momentum on the rankings, which will make him hard to catch.

He was 101st in the world when he teed it up in November’s Nedbank Golf Challenge, which was hosted by Gary Player at Sun City in North West, and he’s been climbing ever since.

In his career, his biggest jump up the world rankings came in January 2016, when he finished second to Brandon Stone in the South African Open – the win boosted Bezuidenhout from 1 283rd in the world to 334th.

In May 2017, he began a slide down the rankings that culminated in him sitting at 576th in the world in March. And then he began to rise again and now occupies a place within world golf’s magical top 50.

With five victories behind his name, including a European Tour title, Bezuidenhout is very much living up to his billing as the future of South African golf, which Ernie Els said he and Stone would be when Stone won the 2016 South African Open and Bezuidenhout finished second.

His coach, Grant Veenstra, certainly believes Bezuidenhout is only scratching the surface of his potential in the game.

“One of the biggest consistencies in Christiaan’s career is his diligence in practice. His work ethic is amazing.

“Technically, when we started working together, we changed a few things in his swing to help build consistency. He also has an amazing short game, which is crucial on the big stage.

“Personally, I think if we can get a few yards on his driver, he can get into the top 10 in the world,” said Veenstra.

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