Thimba, Thanda invade SA golf space

Over the past two weeks on the Sunshine Tour, there has been a spark of what could turn into something special for South African golf.

In last week’s SA Open, hosted by the City of Joburg, Toto Thimba Jr came through the first round of the second-oldest national Open in golf just three shots off the lead.

This past week, Thanda Mavundla opened with a 66 and was one shot off the first-round lead in the Eye of Africa PGA Championship.

Both failed to maintain their challenge and missed the respective halfway cuts, but they have charted new territory for the Sunshine Tour’s Gary Player Class of professionals.

In golf, timing is everything and the timing of the Tour launching its new programme in 2017 to assist historically disadvantaged professionals with their careers was perfect.

That same year, Makhetha Mazibuko – a member of the inaugural Class – lost in a playoff for the Eye of Africa PGA Championship.

He made it into the playoff alongside Erik van Rooyen and Dylan Frittelli. Van Rooyen eventually won the title and has gone on to climb to a place in the top 50 in the world, and he will make his Masters debut this year. Frittelli has gone on to secure his PGA Tour card.

It’s been a bit more of a challenge for Mazibuko to take that next step up in his own career, but he broke through in February with a maiden victory in the Big Easy IGT Challenge.

Thimba Jr inspired all of his fellow Gary Player Class professionals when he won the Sunshine Tours KCB Karen Masters in Kenya last year.

And the fact that two Gary Player Class golfers have now challenged in major summer tournaments on the Sunshine Tour for the first time in successive weeks is a huge endorsement of a programme that is the final step in the plan for South African golf to find a workable solution to new talent identification.

Since 1999, the SA Golf Development Board has been using golf to transform lives in underprivileged communities.

This talent has filtered through into GolfRSA’s elite national squads, and has been nurtured further.

However, many of these players were then left to their own devices once they turned professional.

The Gary Player Class is hoping to change this.

What Thimba Jr and Mavundla have achieved over the past two weeks might not yet be a seismic shift, but it has certainly represented a tremor of new potential.

Get in touch  City Press

+27 11 713 9001 news@citypress.co.za Media Park, 69 Kingsway Road, Auckland Park

Rise above the clutter | Choose your news | City Press in your inbox

City Press is an agenda-setting South African news brand that publishes across platforms. Its flagship print edition is distributed on a Sunday.