Nedbank Golf Challenge Programme 2017

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On behalf of Sun International, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge here at beautiful Sun City!

“No doubt you will be entertained as we have put together a fantastic field.

Where else in the world can you take part in a morning game drive, and come back to watch Major champions like Henrik Stenson compete for Africa’s Major?”

Not so long ago, the land where the resort as well as the Gary Player Country Club now sits was just bushveld where farm animals roamed freely.

When Sol Kerzner and I first conceived this event back in 1981 with the golf world’s first “Million Dollar” prize, we hoped it would blossom into one of the finest tournaments in the world. I am proud to say this vision has come true. With the support of Sun International, Nedbank and all our sponsors, we now have a prize fund of $7.5 million with the winner taking home $1.25 million, enabling us to attract some of the best golfers in the world to come play in Africa’s Major.

Having said that, golf tournaments are simply not possible without the support of you – the fans – first and foremost, and we want you to be known as the most enthusiastic group of patrons in the world. Cheer loud, but also be respectful to the players, officials, volunteers, staff and other fans.

No doubt you will be entertained as we have put together a fantastic field. Where else in the world can you take part in a morning game drive, and come back to watch Major champions like Henrik Stenson compete for Africa’s Major?

So many greats of the game have played in this event over the years – Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino. Many of our finest South African players have also competed and won this event.

As host of the tournament, I am thrilled that we have partnered with the European Tour and the Rolex Series to give our field an opportunity to earn crucial points towards the Race to Dubai, which concludes next week.

During your time at Sun City, we encourage you to take advantage of all this world-class resort has to offer. I look forward to welcoming many of you with a handshake or hug.

Gary Player Tournament host

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Welcome to the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player. We are very pleased you could join us for the 37th edition of Africa’s Major. The Race to Dubai is certainly heating up and Nedbank considers it a great privilege to again partner with Sun International to make this penultimate 2017 European Tour event a reality.

More than three-and-a-half decades ago, the iconic Nedbank Golf Challenge (NGC) hosted by Gary Player became the first golfing tournament in the world with a total prize purse of a million dollars and a first prize of $500 000. Since then, the tournament has grown in stature, and now carries an impressive $7.5 million total prize purse.

This year, golf fans are again privileged to enjoy some of golf’s biggest names vie for the title, including our 2016 defending champion, Alex Noren, on one of the world’s most spectacular courses. The theme of this year’s event is “A stroke of Genius. Africa’s Major”. This is not only a tip of the hat to the great Gary Player whose innovative thinking and creative passion have been the driving force behind the NGC’s stellar growth and success. The theme also aligns perfectly with Nedbank’s brand commitment to be a formidable force for good and to enable people, businesses and communities to see money differently.

Sport has a power to provide hope and make a positive social impact, and it has been our strategy to make develop-ment a key focus of all our sponsorships as we strive to be Africa’s most admired financial services provider. As founding trustees of The Sports Trust, Nedbank and Sun International continue to invest in the growth of SA sport and raise in excess of R1 million every year through The Sports Trust Challenge, played on the Monday after the NGC. Through the Nedbank Sport Affinity suite of products, our clients are able to make additional contributions to The Sports Trust at no cost to them.

The NGC also presents a unique platform for us to appreciate our valued clients, while at the same time working with Sun International to raise the global profile of both South African golf and southern Africa as a prime leisure, sporting and business tourism destination.

In line with our ambition to become Africa’s number one digital financial services provider, we’ve also taken the “Stroke of Genius” theme to heart by building on the immense success achieved by the NGC App, which was first launched at the 2016 event. The improved 2017 NGC App is not only set to play a significant role alongside the concerted digital drive by the European Tour, but it has also been enhanced with a number of groundbreaking features aimed at further enhancing the tournament experience for golfing fans. If you haven’t already downloaded the NGC App, I encourage you to do so. It is available for free from the Apple and Android app stores.

Nedbank’s immense gratitude goes to all our co-sponsors for their invaluable support as well as the organisers and their team members who have devoted thousands of hours to deliver another thrilling instalment of Africa’s Major. We also welcome all the players to Sun City knowing that the course will be an exciting test of their skills, and thank members of the public for their support.

I trust all of you will have a fantastic time at the Nedbank Golf Challenge this year.

Mike Brown Nedbank Group Chief Executive

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On behalf of the European Tour, I am delighted to welcome you to the wonderful surroundings of Sun City for the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player.

“This is a tournament that our players always speak highly of, and that is in no small part due to our host, Gary Player. The warm welcome extended by this golfing legend is keenly felt by everyone at the Gary Player Country Club.”

Known locally as Africa’s Major, this historic tournament is being staged for the 37th time and has been a highlight of the European Tour International Schedule since we began co-sanctioning the event alongside the Sunshine Tour in 2014.

Last year, the Nedbank Golf Challenge moved into a crucial position on the Race to Dubai as the penultimate event of the season-long contest, before the European Tour number one is crowned next week in Dubai. Furthermore, in another mark of the prestige of this event, it has now been elevated to be part of the Rolex Series, our premium category of tournaments on the Race to Dubai.

This is a tournament that our players always speak highly of, and that is in no small part due to our host, Gary Player.

The warm welcome extended by this golfing legend is keenly felt by everyone at the Gary Player Country Club.

Our sincere thanks also go to Nedbank for their unwavering support as title sponsor since 1996 – this event continues to go from strength to strength with their commitment to the development of the experience. We must also acknowledge the significant number of corporate supporters for their contribution to this great event.

Last year we saw record crowds here at Sun City, and whether you are a returning fan or experiencing this fantastic tournament for the first time, I hope you enjoy the week.

Keith Pelley Chief Executive Officer European Tour

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The Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player has set a high standard as one of the finest tournaments in world golf. It is such a privilege to join the elite Final Series on the European Tour’s race to Dubai and a proud moment for South African golf.

“A field of dozens of participants means unprecedented golfviewing options for the many fans who travel to Sun City to catch a glimpse of their favourite players.”

Ever since it made its debut in 1981, the Nedbank Golf Challenge has excelled in its ability to draw the world’s best players to Sun City. It has remained at the forefront of world golf in terms of its prize money, as well as its overall player and spectator offering.

The inclusion of the Nedbank Golf Challenge as part of the Rolex Series in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai is another feather in the cap of all of those who work so hard to make “Africa’s Major” one of the best golf experiences in the game.

There is no doubt in my mind that those who have come to expect the traditional high level of hospitality that Sun International and this tournament offers are going to be equally impressed once again.

A field of dozens of participants means unprecedented golf viewing options for the many fans who travel to Sun City to catch a glimpse of their favourite players. As the Nedbank Golf Challenge now occupies such a premier slot on the European Tour’s schedule, the quality of the field will be one of the strongest.

As such, Sun City has undergone many exciting changes and upgrades aimed at enhancing the experience of the fans. This tournament holds a very special place not only in the history of South African golf, but also in that of Sun City. From the very start, the Nedbank Golf Challenge has showcased what Sun City has to offer – and this message, beamed out to the global audience, is as strong as it was in 1981.

To our main sponsor, Nedbank, thank you for walking this journey with us and playing such a major role in all efforts to keep growing the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

I would also like to welcome all the players who, through this new vision for the Nedbank Golf Challenge, will be able to experience the amazing hospitality and wonders of Sun City that I’m sure you’ve heard your fellow professionals speak of over the years.

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Valli Moosa Chairman, Sun International Limited

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I am delighted to welcome you to Sun City for yet another round of what has, since its inception in 1981, become South Africa’s most prestigious golfing event, the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player.

“In keeping with its illustrious history, the tournament yet again takes up a place on the European Tour’s elite Final Series. With a field of 72 players and a purse of US$7.5 million, it is sure to be another fantastic event.”

Innovation has always been a distinguishing feature of the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player, and the team at Sun International has, over the years, dedicated themselves to constantly raising the bar and exceeding the expectations of the players and spectators alike. We have made a number of changes and improvement, which will enhance every guest’s enjoyment and experience of the event.

In keeping with its illustrious history, the tournament yet again takes up a place on the European Tour’s elite Final Series. With a field of 72 players and a purse of US$7.5 million, it is sure to be another fantastic event.

I invite you to make use of everything we have here at Sun City. Try it all. I promise you will not be disappointed. There are indeed very few resorts worldwide that have such a complete offering.

Sun International is immensely proud of this event and we take pleasure in showcasing Africa’s Major to you. Enjoy!

Anthony Leeming Chief Executive, Sun International Limited

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OOKING BACK THROUGH the pages of the Nedbank Golf Challenge’s official publications provides a fascinating trip down memory lane and a vivid reminder of just how much the tournament has grown and evolved into the format that will be contested this week, the 37th edition of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

As has become tradition, our publication’s cover is graced by the defending champion, in this case Alex Noren, who produced one of the most memorable final rounds ever on this course – a 9-under par 63 – to take last year’s title, a memory on which he surely drew in cantering through the field to win the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, at Wentworth earlier this year.

For our predominantly South African audience at the event, we have featured three top local players in Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Brandon Stone, all of whom will surely feel they gain a couple of shots advantage with the reception they get on the first tee, not only from the crowds but also from tournament host, Gary Player, who will be there each day to wish them well.

We also pay tribute to the highest ranked golfer in the field, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson who, in seven visits to Sun City has a lowest finish of eighth – and that in last year’s vastly expanded field – along with a win, three seconds and two fourth places. It is a superb, almost uncanny record and one which, along with a victory in the 2012 SA Open, has made Stenson a virtual adopted son of the South African galleries here. He will take a lot of beating this week.

In addition to our featured players, we have hopefully given you plenty of golf-related content and debate to devour, including a review of the extraordinary stories to emerge from the 2017 Major championships, an assessment of the Sunshine Tour and the initiatives to grow the game of golf in South Africa, a tribute to the immense good that is done by monies raised in the game globally, a look at the principles of course design, as well as plenty more.

This year has also seen the launch of the European Tour’s Rolex Series, a group of eight events, starting with the BMW PGA, with minimum purses of $7 million, encouraging the tour’s top members to participate in all the events and earn additional Race to Dubai money and ranking points.

The Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player is now not only the penultimate event

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AFRICA’S MA JOR

on the Tour’s Race to Dubai – and therefore a precious opportunity for those chasing overall season success – but also one of these treasured Rolex Series events.

When Gary Player put the course design together to complement Sol Kerzner’s overall Sun City vision back in the late 1970s, he became indelibly linked to this event, in which he played in its inaugural “Million Dollar” format in 1981 and on another four occasions thereafter.

But perhaps not even Player, with his infectious enthusiasm and positivity, could have predicted the extent to which this tournament would evolve and become such an important stop on the hugely influential European Tour.

And, as the event has grown, evolved and changed over the past three decades and more, Gary Player – along with his ageless course design – has been a comforting constant in the process and at the event itself.

The top 64 players on the Race to Dubai money list following last week’s event automatically qualified to be here (although some have chosen not to make the trip), along with eight other players. These include six tournament invitees – which allow the tournament committee to look not only

outside the top 64 but also for participants from other tours – the defending champion, and the winner of last year’s Sunshine Tour Order of Merit.

What started life as an exhibition-style invitational event, which aligned perfectly with the objectives at the time of the resort at which it is played, changed into a more serious – still invitational – event, had its time as the richest tournament purse on the planet, added a Champions Tour element, achieved cosanctioned status with the European and Sunshine Tours and is now a fully fledged part of the European Tour’s global itinerary.

Yet with all the changes over the years, at its centerpiece has remained a course design for the ages, one that has been tweaked on occasion to cope with the advances made in equipment technology, but which has largely stood up to the test of time and always provided great entertainment and reward but also punishment for the wayward.

The ninth green has become one of the great meeting places for golf spectators anywhere in the world given the hole’s propensity to dish up birdies and eagles along with some big numbers, while the grandstand around the 18th green is one of the biggest in the game outside of the Open Championship.

The 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player promises once again to capture the imagination of the golfing world, as well as South Africans eager to see the trophy return to home soil with a local winner.

As always, this event promises to be about more that just the golf itself, with the numerous sideshows before and after – as well as the superbly created hospitality environment – allowing South Africa an opportunity to showcase to the world its capability in hosting sports events comparable to any standard.

On the Wednesday immediately following this year’s event, an announcement will be made confirming the host country for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, for which South Africa is bidding against France and Ireland. While the country has successfully hosted World Cups in a number of sports, it is an indisputable fact that the staging of this event to exacting world standards for almost four decades has provided ongoing tangible proof of this country’s ability to host sports events to world-class benchmarks.

It is an undoubted thrill for the South African participants to perform in front of their home galleries and there has to be a decent chance of a hometown victory this weekend; what a similar thrill it would be for our host Gary Player to stand on the 18th green on Sunday afternoon as part of the presentation party to celebrate a South African winner, considering the input, inspiration and influence he has had on the growth of the game in this country and at this event in particular.

We hope that you will keep this publication as a reminder of your visit to Africa’s Major, and that you enjoy it as much as the worldclass golf you will experience at the Gary Player Country Club.

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THE ROLEX SERIES

THE ROLEX SERIES – AN EXCITING TIME FOR THE EUROPEAN TOUR THE ROLEX SERIES IS PROVING TO BE “ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENTS IN THE EUROPEAN TOUR’S 44-YEAR HISTORY”

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RANDON STONE was more excited than usual as he stood on a driving range in Scotland.

“The European Tour is doing some incredible things,” said the young South African. “The new Rolex Series is opening a lot of doors for young players like myself to build their World Ranking points and climb the Official World Golf Ranking. And the Nedbank Golf Challenge is in its rightful place at the moment as part of this series.

“Over the past few years you can see from certain players that there’s a correlation between doing well in the Nedbank Golf Challenge and finding form soon thereafter. I think this year, in particular, is going to be something special.”

Another young star, American Peter Uihlein, is just as excited. “The Rolex Series is phenomenal.

There are so many good events over there,” he said, explaining his desire to keep playing on the European Tour.

European Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley has called it “one of the most significant advancements in the Tour’s 44-year history”.

Launched this year, the series of eight elite tournaments, each with a minimum prize fund of US$7 million, is indeed a tantalising prospect for players and fans alike.

Beginning with the BMW PGA Championship in May, the series of premium tournaments also includes the HNA Open de France, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by The Rory Foundation, the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, the Italian Open, the Turkish Airlines Open, the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player, and the DP World Tour Championship.

The goal of the series has been to entice as many of the European Tour’s leading players to tee up in these events – and thus far it’s been a success.

Defending Nedbank Golf Challenge champion Alex Noren won the opening tournament on the

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All eyes were on Spaniard Jon Rahm during the Irish Open at Portstewart Golf Club in July – a tournament that forms part of the European Tour’s new Rolex Series.

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THE ROLEX SERIES

2017 Rolex Series at the BMW PGA Championship.

“We’re all excited about the Rolex Series and it felt great to pull off the first victory,” said Noren. “It’s added an extra dimension to the European Tour. We’ve always had great events but these ones are outstanding. It makes for a fantastic schedule.”

Tommy Fleetwood was also a winner on the Rolex Series this year with his victory in the HNA Open de France. “When we looked at the series at the beginning of the year we all knew we had to play well in these events,” he said.

“The European Tour is going in the right direction and we have some great things happening with tournaments like these. The European Tour is getting better and better all the time.”

Spanish sensation Jon Rahm said he was as excited as most of his peers to be part of this series, which he marked with a victory in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by The enhancements around the tournament play Rory Foundation. “It makes for a very exciting a critical role in this element of the European summer on the European Tour,” he said. “You Tour’s growth. know, the PGA Tour always had that advantage “I think there’s obviously a lot happening but now, once the BMW PGA Championship at right now on the European Tour with the Wentworth comes, we can be just as excited launch of the Rolex Series, and innovation because these are great events.” being at the forefront,” Pelley said at the launch It was a sentiment echoed by Rafa Cabreraof the series at the BMW PGA Championship Bello following his victory in the Aberdeen this year.

Asset Management Scottish Open. “As players we are all over the moon about these events. Everyone is Entertainment and activations off the loving the tournaments and course are part of the drive to appeal to a wider golfing audience. The Kaiser Chiefs we’re getting very strong performed after play at the BMW PGA fields,” he said. “I think it’s just Championship at Wentworth in May. going to be fantastic for the

“The European Tour is going in the right direction and we have some great things happening with tournaments like these. The European Tour is getting better and better all the time.”

Tommy Fleetwood

“We’re constantly looking to improve our product. We will continue to try to be as innovative as we possibly can in everything that we do. At the end of the day, what we want to do is increase our prize funds, increase playing opportunities and drive additional revenue through innovation.”

Pelley also made the point that the success of the Rolex Series will be judged not so much by which of the big names are not playing in any of these tournaments now, but rather by which of the rising young stars are committing to it now.

“Remember, the original concept of the Rolex Series was to focus on some of the younger players like the Pep Angles and the Dylan Frittellis and Jordan Smiths who are now going to start their careers playing Rolex Series events. That, I think, is a monumental step for our tour. So it’s now more about who has not gone over to the PGA Tour and taken up full membership there.

“I can’t tell you how many players have stopped me and said, ‘Hey, thanks. I never thought that we’d ever play for US$7 million on the European Tour.’

“I’m quite excited. This is something that we had the vision for a year ago, and now it’s reality. And everyone at the European Tour is very proud of that.”

European Tour.”

But the Rolex Series is about far more than just the lucrative purses on offer. Part of the attraction around the series is the increased daily television coverage it comes with at each tournament compared with regular tour events, new technological enhancements such as television shot tracking on tees and greens, as well as the entertainment and activations off the golf course that are all designed to attract a new audience to golf.

That brings us to what makes the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player such a perfect fit for this series. The Sun City showpiece has long excelled at being an event that caters for a myriad of tastes beyond just the main golf tournament.

Innovation in professional golf is a key element of the Rolex Series, and the Nedbank Golf Challenge app as well as other digital

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DEFENDING CHAMPION

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T IS ONE of the great paradoxes of golf that, in a game where you are told always to keep your eye on the ball, it was when Alex Noren took his eye off it that he started to play some of the best golf of his life.

Described as one of the hardest workers in the game from his college days at the Oklahoma State University and reflected by the caluses on his hands from hours spent on the driving range, Noren suffered a severe case of tendonitis in both wrists in 2014.

By then he was already a winner on the European Challenge Tour in his rookie season in 2006 as well as a three-time European Tour winner. But with that injury came a decision to take a step back – one that gained momentum with fatherhood.

When he won the 2015 Nordea Masters, it had taken Noren 214 starts on the European Tour to win his first four tournaments.

After reassessing things as he did, Noren went on to win his next four tournaments in the space of five months in 2016, ending it with the Nedbank Golf Challenge that November.

And while Noren loves to say that he “floats under the radar a bit”, the reality is that the Swede is being noticed by all the right people in the game.

“It’s always difficult to predict that somebody would go out and do what he did.

The talent’s always been there, but winning that many golf tournaments in a short period of time – that’s for very few to do,” Thomas Bjørn told Golf World at the time.

It seems even Noren had difficulty processing just what he achieved in 2016, especially when it came to his triumph at the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City with a magnificent 63 in the final round and a six-shot victory.

“It’s unbelievable. I tried to get in this tournament for so many years, and when I got in here, to end up winning, it feels unbelievable,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever played as good, especially on the greens.”

Tournament host Gary Player congratulates Alex Noren on becoming the second Swedish player to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Noren explained his incredible form as the result of taking a break and putting things into perspective.

“That put golf into perspective for me. I think before I was overthinking it. Now I couldn’t practise as much, but I became more relaxed. Obviously it’s been the season of my life.”

Noren’s victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge pushed him inside the top 10 on the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career, and he also became only the fourth Swede in the history of the game to achieve this.

In May this year, Noren took another step up when he won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth – the first tournament on the European Tour’s new Rolex Series of prestige events, of which the Nedbank Golf Challenge is one.

Once again, it was a low final round – this time a 62 – that secured him victory at Wentworth.

“Today was my best putting day ever. Maybe like the Nedbank last round,” he said.

Noren was seven shots adrift going into the final round of the BMW PGA Championship.

At Sun City last year he was six shots off the pace going into the final day.

More than anything, the BMW PGA Championship victory gave Noren something you wouldn’t think a nine-time European Tour winner is lacking – confidence.

“I think that tournament in my mind compares a lot with a Major. The only thing I’ve tried to do is to play better against a better field and better courses, tougher courses. That was a very difficult course against a very tough field. It was close to a Major in my mind. So my confidence goes up. It’s just about working towards your goals and trying to kind of improve on my weaknesses and improve on my strengths.

But overall, a win like that brings your confidence up, and that’s what I’ve always needed – to believe in myself.”

It’s a process Noren says began with the technical aspects of his game, especially off the tee.

“I never had a good game off the tee. I was always quite worried where the ball was heading off the tee, and I couldn’t really play really difficult golf courses well. That’s what I worked on the hardest – to get the ball somehow on the fairway a bit more often. I think that gives me a little bit more calmness, and then I can work on

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the whole game and not just worry about sending a few out-of-bounds every round.”

Yet it remains a delicate balance for Noren, who at the same time admits he’s stopped practising as hard and started playing a bit more and working on gaining experience in certain pressure situations.

“And not try too hard to be perfect,” he adds.

In the minds of many, though, Noren’s golf is as close to perfect as it gets at the moment. “It’s hard to look at Alex and not see him winning a Major in the very near future,” said fellow Swede Henrik Stenson, also a former Nedbank Golf Challenge champion.

“He’s always been a hard worker. He’s worked a lot on his game. Sometimes maybe too much. He seemed to get injured a couple of times over the years in his wrist. I think he’s kind of found his formula. He’s doing the same thing week in and week out, and it’s obviously working. He’s playing a pretty strong cut off the tee and his putting has just been phenomenal.”

Stenson also recalls seeing something special about Noren’s game at Sun City last year.

“I played with him in the final round when he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge and the putts that he made were extraordinary during that last round. You know, if you can keep it in play and keep on making putts like that, you’re going to be up there.”

Noren closed with a sensational 62 to win the European Tour’s flagship event – the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

The Majors will definitely be the next priority on Noren’s agenda. He has a very modest showing here, including tied ninth in the 2012 Open and tied sixth in this year’s Open. His record in the World Golf Championship events also doesn’t draw too much attention.

So it is quite remarkable when you consider that Noren has risen to as high as eighth in the world by winning standard European Tour events, which obviously speaks to the strength of the Tour and its new Rolex Series as well.

There is no telling just how much better he could become, according to Sam Torrance.

“I’m a big fan of Noren,” said Torrance. “He has a very good repeating swing and is one of the hardest workers on tour. The next step, of course, is winning a Major. I believe he possesses the ability and industry to achieve that goal.”

And there is no doubt that in current form he stands to make it onto Bjørn’s European Team for the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris.

However, Noren is not one to get too comfortable with the thought that he has in any way arrived at where he wants to be in the game. To this end he looks to the very players he’s competing against for his inspiration to keep improving.

“The only thing that helps me not think too highly of myself is that my game obviously has been very good, but I see a lot of the guys I play

“I played with him in the final round when he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge and the putts that he made were extraordinary during that last round.

If you can keep it in play and keep on making putts like that, you’re going to be up there.”

Henrik Stenson with – they hit better shots here and there, and I see a lot of things I want to work on,” he said after his victory in the 2016 British Masters.

“I just want to be able to pull off all the shots I see around me. The players I play with, like Andrew Johnston – he hits the driver incredibly well and I’d love to hit the driver like he does. I’m working on that rather than just being too happy with my results.”

The self-belief is still something, remarkably, that Noren struggles with. “I’ll never believe in myself that much,” he said when asked if he ever thought he could win four times in 2016. But if there is one thing he is starting to believe, it’s his new approach of not having to be perfect out on the golf course.

“The big thing is you don’t have to play a perfect game. You just need to have a few parts of your game to be strong to get a win.”

Yet, as he heads back to Sun City to defend one of the biggest victories of his career, Noren will probably allow himself just a bit of enjoyment at what he’s achieved. But only a little.

“I had so many bad tournaments in the past, being down at the bottom in my first few years, so I’m very happy about this and I don’t take it for granted. But I try to stay humble. I know golf is a tough game. A win is great, but I’m humble like that. I don’t like looking too much ahead.”

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The emotion flowed as Sergio GarcĂ­a defeated Justin Rose to win his maiden major championship at the Masters.

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Jordan Spieth shared the first-round lead, led on his own by two strokes after the second round, and was three strokes clear of the ever-present Matt Kuchar going into the final round. But then came one of the most startling starts in the history of the Majors as Spieth bogeyed three of his first four holes, suddenly to be tied with Kuchar.

The two were still level by the par-four 13th, where the real drama unfolded. Spieth hit his drive way right. What followed was a protracted rules discussion as Spieth tried to ascertain his options, while Kuchar was left twiddling his thumbs on the fairway.

Spieth decided to take an unplayable lie from the side of a dune, but his relief put him on the practice range and its various equipment trailers. From there Spieth made an unlikely bogey while Kuchar settled for par.

Yet the entire situation seemed to energise Spieth, who birdied the next hole to tie with Kuchar. And on 15, Spieth’s huge eagle putt gave him the lead. He birdied 16 and 17 as Kuchar failed to respond, and a tap-in par at the last gave Spieth a three-stroke victory, the third Major of his career by the age of 24, and the third leg of the career Grand Slam.

“Today took as much out of me as any day that I’ve ever played golf,” is what Spieth had to say about a final round that took as much out of all of us.

Jordan Spieth shares his delight – and the claret jug – with fans at Royal Birkdale in July.

It was such a dominant display of Spieth’s outrageous talent, and in stark contrast to how he started the 2017 Majors when he went into the Masters hoping to bury the memories of his 2016 collapse.

This was one of the dominant themes heading into that week at Augusta National, along with Rory McIlroy’s shot at completing the Grand Slam at the age of 27 and Els playing on the last year of his five-year exemption for winning the Open in 2012.

Charley Hoffman took centre stage when he held the largest first-round lead (four strokes) in the Masters since 1955, but a 75 on day two drew him back into a pack of four players, including García, who shared the lead at the halfway stage.

By the end of round three, García and Justin Rose shared a one-stroke lead over a still potent leaderboard, and with Schwartzel moving into contention in eighth place with a 68.

The final round was a tremendous duel between García and Rose.

García led early in the round, but Rose took a two-shot lead into the back nine. Both were tied for the lead after 15 holes. Rose went ahead with a birdie on 16, but his bogey on 17 saw them tied again. And both missed chances on

18 in regulation play to take the title, forcing a playoff. But García made no mistake the second time around, and his birdie was enough to beat Rose and finally put to bed years and years of doubt and anguish at not being able to win a Major.

García’s victory in the Masters was the fairy-tale finish not even he thought was possible.

One of golf’s most tortured geniuses for so long, who only recently had a public blow-up at the Masters when he declared he just wasn’t good enough to win a Major, finally got the victory he so desperately sought. And he did it on what would have been the 60th birthday of the great Severiano Ballesteros.

“Because of where my head was at, sometimes, I did think, ‘Am I ever going to win one?’” said García as he explained the change in thought process that enabled him to pull this one through. “I’ve had so many good chances, and I’ve either lost them or somebody did something to beat me. So it did cross my mind but lately I’ve been getting some good help.

I’ve been thinking a little differently, more positively, and I’ve been more accepting that if for whatever reason it didn’t happen, my life is still going to go on. It’s not going to be a disaster.”

The 117th US Open marked a number of firsts for this Major. It was the first time it was

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2017 MA JORS

played in Wisconsin, with Erin Hills making its debut here.

And the winner’s cheque was also increased to a staggering $2,16 million.

As was the case at The Masters, Rickie Fowler was again on the hunt from the first round and he led by one stroke with a seven-under-par 65.

But, after 36 holes, it was the quartet of Paul Casey, Tommy Fleetwood, Brian Harman and Brooks Koepka who shared the lead, still on seven under.

Harman moved ahead on his own with a 67 in the third round, and one was one clear of Fleetwood, Koepka and Justin Thomas, who broke the US Open record – previously held

by Johnny Miller – in relation to par with his nine-under 63.

The final round was close to record-breaking as well. The 67 from Koepka earned him his first Major title by four strokes, and on a 16-under-par total that matched Rory McIlroy’s 2011 record. Koepka would go on to have the best Major year overall, with a win and further finishes of tied 11th (The Masters), tied sixth (The Open) and tied 13th (The PGA Championship).

Brooks Koepka tied the US Open scoring record with victory at Erin Hills in June.

The last Major of the year, the PGA Championship, brought another first-time winner in Thomas. After an opening 73 that left him nowhere near the top of the leader board, Thomas started to work his way back into contention with a second round of 66.

Both he and Oosthuizen crept into a share of fourth place on five under and two strokes off the lead of Kevin Kisner going into the final round at Quail Hollow. But as Kisner faltered with a closing 74, Thomas blew past him with a 68 that gave him a two-stroke win over Oosthuizen,

Francesco Molinari and Patrick Reed.

The significance of the PGA Championship being Thomas’s first Major triumph was heightened by the fact that both his father and grandfather are PGA professionals.

Fowler had another impressive week as he finished tied fifth to go with his other finishes of tied 11th (The Masters), tied fifth (US Open) and tied 22nd (The Open).

Fairy-tale wins and frantic finishes – the 2017 Majors certainly delivered in terms of drama.

Justin Thomas with the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the PGA Championship in August.

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golf in South Africa has always been rapid since the launch of the Sunshine Ladies Tour in 2013 as a partnership between the Sunshine Tour and the Women’s Professional Golf Association of South Africa.

The Sunshine Ladies Tour was launched with an inaugural schedule of six tournaments.

In 2017, they announced a record schedule of nine events totaling nearly R3 million in prize money and culminating in the R1 million bonus pool season finale Chase to the Investec Cup Final for the top-10 ranked professionals.

And the South African Women’s Masters was also revived as one of the most historic tournaments in women’s professional golf in the country. Both the Ladies Tshwane Open and the Dimension Data Challenge featured increased purses.

The development of the next generation of Sunshine Tour stars took a major step forward with the formation of the Sunshine Big Easy Tour as the feeder tour to Jeunghun Wang of Korea the Sunshine Tour, and which now after winning the AfrAsia Bank features a strong playing schedule Mauritius Open at the Four of 11 tournaments, having grown Seasons Golf Club in Mauritius. significantly from the six tournaments that marked its inaugural schedule in 2011.

In 2016, a partnership with the MENA Golf Tour (the Middle East and North Africa Tour) opportunities for its members in every MENA opened up even further opportunities to grow Golf Tour event. The partnership also sees the the game throughout Africa. top five professionals on the MENA Golf Tour’s The two Tours co-sanction three final Order of Merit receive playing privileges tournaments on their schedules: the South to on the main Sunshine Tour.

East Challenge, the Joburg City Masters and And MENA Golf Tour players ranked The ROAR. between 6th and 15th on their final Order of The field for each tournament includes 60 Merit will receive exemption into the Final players from the MENA Golf Tour and 60 from Stage of the Sunshine Tour’s Qualifying School. the Sunshine Tour and Sunshine Big Easy Tour.

The leading three professionals on the final The MENA Golf Tour receives 20 MENA Golf Tour Order of Merit also receive invitations for its members to play in any exemption into the Final Stage of the Asian Sunshine Big Easy Tour event, while the Tour Qualifying School.

Sunshine Big Easy Tour receives 10 playing

The development of the next generation of Sunshine Tour stars took a major step forward with the formation of the Sunshine Big Easy Tour as the feeder tour to the Sunshine Tour, and which now features a strong playing schedule of 11 tournaments.

The IGT Challenge Tour is another key partner in this development process. Launched in 2010 as a mini tour for Southern Africa, it has grown to become the official development tour to the Sunshine Tour and the Sunshine Big Easy Tour.

The IGT Challenge Tour’s schedule comprises 40 events, and the top five players on the final Order of Merit advance to the Final Stage of the Sunshine Tour Qualifying School.

This year also marked the first steps in growing South African senior golf. The Sunshine Senior Tour is still in its early phases but this year teed off with the Sunshine Senior SA Open Championship.

The new tour is already attracting some of the game’s biggest senior golf stars, including eight-time PGA Tour Champions winner Mark McNulty, five-time PGA Tour Champions winner John Bland, three-time PGA Tour Champions winner Hugh Baiocchi, and three-time PGA Tour winner Denis Watson, who has also been inducted into the South African Golf Hall of Fame.

The Sunshine Senior South African Open Championship featured a combined initiative

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SUNSHINE TOUR

in which the professionals helped raise funds for the Endangered Wildlife Trust. Each tournament on the Sunshine Senior Tour is dedicated to an endangered animal or bird.

At a development level, the most significant advancements in 2017 were the upgrade project of Soweto Country Club and the continued growth of the Gary Player Class for historically disadvantaged professionals.

The Soweto Country Club project has already seen the building of a new clubhouse, a new practice facility, a conference centre, a new halfway house and a fence has been constructed along two boundaries of the golf course.

The work currently in progress includes the building of a wall along the south boundary of the golf course, the refurbishment of an existing storage facility to house a fully operational pro shop and the South African Golf Development Board Andrew Mlangeni Academy, and then the upgrades to the golf course.

The refurbishment of the Gary Playerdesigned golf course will begin by the end of the year, with Player agreeing to undertake the golf course redesign at no cost. New fairways, bunkers, tee boxes, greens and an irrigation system are all planned.

Late in 2016, the Sunshine Tour launched its most ambitious golf development project in its history – the Gary Player Class, which benefits from the considerable support of the South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) and the Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation (EEFF).

Dean Burmester is congratulated by fellow pros after his maiden European Tour victory at the Tshwane Open at Pretoria Country Club in March.

It is the most holistic approach to development ever conceived by the Sunshine Tour, as it has targeted not only the playing side of the game but also the many social challenges faced by the country’s historically disadvantaged golfers.

To select the first squad of 30 players for the Gary Player Class, the Sunshine Tour monitored Black South African professionals over a period of 18 months as they competed on both its main tour and the Sunshine Big Easy Tour and

Darren Fichardt, Stuart Manley (Wales) and Paul Waring (England) all qualified for the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale thanks to their top finishes at the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club in February.

selected them according to their performances.

These golfers then gathered at the Momentum World of Golf in Midrand where they were addressed by Gary Player before undergoing the first of three training camps. During these camps they were given everything from technical coaching to fitness instruction and nutrition advice, mental coaching and even advice on how to develop their own brand through social media and how to interact with amateurs and sponsors during a pro-am. The squad is reviewed annually and players are rotated based on their performances.

These golfers have free access to the practice facilities at the Momentum World of Golf and Virgin Active gym membership. They are also given financial support to assist with transport and accommodation costs when they travel to tournaments, and there have been playing opportunities created for them on the main Sunshine Tour, the Sunshine Big Easy Tour, which includes the co-sanctioned tournaments with the MENA Golf Tour, and the IGT Challenge Tour.

At every level of the game in South Africa, the Sunshine Tour has laid the platform for a solid structure on which to build as the country keeps creating opportunities for the development of the next stars of southern African golf.

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King Louis, the Farmer? Well, maybe.

Louis Oosthuizen grew up on his parents’ farm near Mossel Bay, so it’s safe to say that farming could have had another dairy farmer in its midst, if it hadn’t been for his passion for golf – but then he loves tractors too!

Louis Oosthuizen has one of the best swings in the business. And he is the winner of the 2010 Open Championship, seven European Tour events and seven Sunshine Tour titles.

Like Ernie Els, his early mentor, Louis is an inspiration to all South Africans and golf fans around the world.

The Sunshine Tour is where champions, current and future, get to perform at the highest levels. Rich in talent, the Sunshine Tour has set the stage for professional golfers who are determined to continue in the winning traditions of those who have gone before.

Louis has a 150-acre cattle farm close to his parents’ farm to which he returns for a bit of peace and quiet, but the game of golf is his profession for now – thank goodness.

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PL AY ER PROFIL E

B

RANDEN GRACE led the South African challenge with his finish of tied third in last year’s Nedbank Golf Challenge, hosted by Gary Player.

And while he finished seven shots behind a marauding Alex Noren, it was a statement of intent in terms of how badly Grace wants to be the South African to break the foreign invasion of Africa’s Major.

“We need a South African winner. I think it’s been lacking for quite some while,” he said last year.

Grace will head back to the Gary Player Country Club this year still determined to end a South African slump that stretches back to Trevor Immelman’s victory here in 2007.

Tim Clark was runner up by eight strokes to Lee Westwood in 2010, and Charl Schwartzel missed out by two strokes to Martin Kaymer in 2012.

Grace hasn’t had the kind of blowout year

he’s often produced in the past. On the PGA Tour he finished 10th in the Valero Texas Open and 11th in the RBC Heritage.

And on the European Tour he had top finishes of tied ninth on the BMW PGA Championship and tied 13th in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

But the highlight for Grace in 2017 will undoubtedly be his share of sixth place in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. And that record 62 he shot in the third round.

With a three-foot putt for par on the 18th hole on a glorious day in Southport, England, Grace claimed the lowest round ever shot in a men’s Major Championship.

And he didn’t even know he’d done it.

“I promise you, I didn’t know. I was just so in the zone of playing, hole after hole. I knew I was obviously playing really well, and making the turn in five-under was pretty special. And I thought if I could make a couple more on the back nine, then it’s going to be a great score.

I had no idea that 62 was the lowest ever.

“My whole thing on the 18th was trying just

not to make bogey. I hit a great wedge in there, just caught a fly, a little bit of a jumper and made it tough for myself. But obviously I knocked in the three-footer. And Zack [Rasego, his caddie] came up and said, ‘You’re in the history books’. And I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’”

With eight birdies on that par-70 layout, five of them on the front nine and starting as early as the first hole, Grace did indeed play himself into the history books.

“It was a special day. It was nice to start the day off with a birdie on the first. It always gives you some momentum and some confidence heading into the round. And then I just played flawless golf. I think I missed two fairways or two greens the whole day. The putter was hot.

I missed a couple of shortish ones, but made a couple of bombs, which was nice. And to do it at a special place at one of the events that I actually like playing at – The Open. I’ve not always finished great in them. But The Open is the one that I’ve always liked. So what a special place to get myself into the history books.”

Branden Grace plays a global schedule, seen here at the Scottish Open in July.

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And Grace wasn’t having any talk of his achievement being any less significant because it came on a golf course with a par of 70.

“Talking about this can go on forever. It’s like when somebody plays on a 70 and you shoot a 59. I’ve shot 12-under on a links golf course and I’ve shot 60. I’ve actually bettered the score that person has done.

“I’m just happy with, like I say, shooting a good round at a special tournament. But, you know, whether you shoot 63, 62 or 60 you have to do something right and things have to go your way to be able to do that. I’m not going to take anything away from a guy shooting 63 on a 72 or anything of what I did.”

With his five wins in 2012, two in the 2015 season and then two last year, Grace is taking a winless 2017 in perspective.

“Every year is different. I had a good couple of years, some good performances in the Majors, which have been nice, and that’s where I want to keep knocking.”

Winning on the PGA Tour in last year’s RBC Heritage, though, was a major boost for Grace and points to the kind of player he sees himself becoming.

“It was nice to get over that thing. Playing Europe, the field is still tough. The courses are tough. So you really have to be on top of your game wherever you win these days. But I wanted to make a point of being a worldwide winner. I won in South Africa, and you have to step over that hurdle again to try to get yourself winning outside of South Africa. And, being on the PGA Tour, it was really a goal of mine to get a victory in the States.”

Caddie Zac Rasego (left) informs Grace that he’s just made Major championship history.

If there is one area of Grace’s game that has always required work it’s his putting. A self-described “streaky” putter, he is well aware that when this part of his game is on, he is unbeatable.

“I make a lot more putts than I used to.

When my putting is on, there aren’t really a lot of guys who are going to beat me,” he said.

This year, however, his putting was not at the kind of consistent level he would’ve liked. But he has started working with vision specialist and performance coach Dr Sherylle Calder again.

“The putting is getting better, which is nice.

This year has been a little bit frustrating. The days I hit it good, I don’t make the putts and the days I hit it poorly, I make the putts.”

Grace will certainly be a favourite with the local fans, but perhaps even more so this year.

After learning of the fires that devastated Knysna, where he spent some time growing up, Grace donated a significant amount of money to help with the relief efforts.

And after that 62, Grace spoke about how just making the people of Knysna smile a bit with his performance was reward for him.

“A hundred percent. There was actually a spectator out there who said, ‘Do it for Knysna’.

That was great. Then you start thinking about things again. It is really tragic what happened back there. But knowing that I was in the position to help; that’s the right thing to do. So you don’t even think twice about it. Hopefully a lot of lives can be changed and can be kind of restored, if I can put it that way. And like I said, if it puts a smile on those people’s faces, and maybe there’s a light tomorrow for them.”

If Grace’s putting can match the rest of his game at the Gary Player Country Club, there will be few to bet against him adding the Nedbank Golf Challenge to his list Grace and compatriot of titles. And it would be a win made Louis Oosthuizen have even more special by the formed a formidable tournament’s inclusion on the Presidents Cup pairing.

European Tour’s elite Rolex Series.

But for Grace, there is no more motivation needed to win this tournament than the fact that it is Africa’s Major. And like all of his South African contemporaries in the field, it’s a tournament that has defined their own careers as they grew up dreaming of contending on the fairways of Sun City one day.

“I grew up watching this tournament over the years and it’s any young South African golfer’s dream to make it into this field, and especially at a time when the tournament is entering such an exciting new era.”

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Sweden’s first ever major champion with his astonishing victory in the Open Championship at Troon in 2016. His final-day duel with Phil Mickelson is regarded – and always will be – as one of the most memorable final rounds in major championship golf history.

While the drama was unfolding, many were drawing comparisons with Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson’s famous 1977 battle in the final round of the Open at Turnberry, while others said that the quality of shot-making from Stenson and Mickelson eclipsed that of the two Americans.

With his first Major secured, Stenson took his confidence to Rio for golf’s first appearance at the Olympic Games, where he had another spectacular tussle on the final day – this time with Justin Rose – before winning the silver medal behind the Englishman.

A family friend introduced Stenson to golf. “No-one in my family played golf. I played soccer and badminton,” he said. He was immediately hooked on the game, and by the age of 18 was a scratch handicap who spent most of his days at the golf club.

“These were long days but all my friends were also on the course all day. We played short game competitions, and searched for balls in ponds and ditches. My mom soon got so tired of washing and drying dirty, wet clothes and shoes that she offered to buy balls instead. But the real

attraction was the thrill of the search,” he said.

Stenson even believes it may have been these thoughts of his mother worrying about his clothes that prompted him to produce one of the great moments in golf during the 2009 WGC-CA Championship when he stripped down to only his underwear and golf glove to play a recovery shot from a water hazard.

“Maybe it was my mother I was thinking of when I took off my clothes at Doral, to avoid soiling my shoes and clothes.”

He represented Sweden as an amateur and won a host of tournaments. But his breakthrough year came on the European Challenge Tour in 2000 when he claimed three victories on his way to topping the Order of Merit. It was also when a golf commentator first gave him the nickname “Iceman”.

Stenson graduated to the European Tour and won in his first season on the main tour, beginning a career that now includes 17 victories on the European and PGA Tours and four Ryder Cup appearances, the first of which in 2006 saw him hole the winning putt for Europe. Later in 2009 he claimed his second victory on American soil in the Players Championship.

But what followed was an agonising three-year slump that saw his ranking drop to 230th in the world. There were some off-course financial difficulties in which

2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson returns the Claret Jug to R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers during a practice round leading up to the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

Stenson and a number of other high-profile sportsmen and entertainers lost huge sums of money. His game also suffered as he struggled with a wayward driver and inconsistent putting.

One of the lowest points for Stenson must have been the week he didn’t qualify for the PGA Championship two years ago.

So he returned home and entered the club championship at his home course in Barsebäck, Sweden. He finished second. But it spoke volumes for his passion for golf and his desire to do whatever it took to get back to the top.

“Life is ups and downs – stock market, golf, everything kind of goes in cycles. There’s no magic potion. It’s just hard work on the right things that eventually pays off,” he says of his philosophy and approach.

It would appear that there might be some magic potion for him at Sun City, though.

Seven appearances, one win, three second places, two fourths and one eighth (in last year’s expanded field) speaks of a player and course ideally suited to each other and, as the highest ranked player in the field this week, few would bet against him taking another title.

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Gary Player with his son Marc have lead Black Knight International’s design projects across the globe.

spotted the little dishevelled fence that he hadn’t seen before.

“Well, tell him he’s got honorary membership of this course if he leaves the tee box there,” Player replied.

The great golf course architect Alister MacKenzie said that to be a successful designer of golf courses required the following: the designer had to have an intimate knowledge of the game, he should have the judgement to be able to put himself in the shoes of the world’s best golfer and the world’s worst, and ensure both get value out of his design, and he shouldn’t be put off by criticism.

Added to this, MacKenzie believed in having the business sense to keep costs as low as possible, and a certain knowledge of botany and the natural world.

No doubt, golf course design is a complicated business.

“It’s a far more sophisticated process than most people would imagine,” says Player, designer of nearly 400 golf courses in more than 36 countries on five continents.

“It requires a great deal of vision and clever planning. To a large extent the land you’re given to work with determines the design and I work as much with the natural environment as I can.”

Playability is another key factor in Player’s designs. “The golf course must capture the essential challenge of a game that must always

“The golf course must capture the essential challenge of a game that must always seem to be within reach of both the hacker and the good player.”

Gary Player seem to be within reach of both the hacker and the good player.”

As far back as the early ’90s, Player was lamenting the direction in which golf course design was heading and warning of the many dangers we find in so many modern designs.

“Some architects are missing the point – or ignoring it,” he said in 1991. “They are building golf courses on which people cannot even come close to playing to their handicaps. The architect must always remember that he is trying to entertain the golfer, not overwhelm him.”

Another of Africa’s great golf course designers, Peter Matkovich, says he takes great delight in the fact that there’s nothing about his designs that makes golfers recognise his hand in it immediately.

“I love it when golfers come off a course and say, ‘Oh, did you design it?’ I don’t want them to see anything that tells them, ‘This is a Peter Matkovich course’. Every piece of ground you get to is different, and as such my courses are different because they fit the land.”

Matkovich has some unique ideas as well, especially when it comes to the positioning of clubhouses on golf courses.

“In the old days they used to do this – and some designers still do it today – where they stuck the clubhouse on the highest point for a view. It’s the worst place for a clubhouse. Your finishing hole should be coming down the hill not up.”

And don’t get him started on the term “signature hole”.

“You get some holes on golf courses at the coast called signature holes because they’re pretty. Well, of course it’s pretty. But it may not be a good golf hole in my opinion. I’ve had enough of people saying this is my signature hole, and in the meantime the other 17 holes are horror stories.

“C’mon, I can take you on top of a hill and you look down and you say, ‘Wow, that’s a great golf hole’. Well, what about getting back up the hill? Can you build a golf hole that does that?

That’s where good golf design comes in. Let’s not create postcard holes. My saying is let’s bring golf back to golf design.”

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To this end, Matkovich is a firm believer in what has become his mantra: listen to the land. “I listen to the land. I feel it, feeling where the wind comes from. By now I’ve got all the info on wind, rain, sunshine and all of this must come into the design.”

MacKenzie, too, had this as one of his great principles of design. “A first-class architect attempts to give the impression that everything has been done by nature and nothing by himself.”

Another prolific designer, Jack Nicklaus, says one key area of his design philosophy involves “making the player use his mind ahead of his muscles – to control his emotions sufficiently enough to think through his options before drawing a club from the bag”.

“Beyond that, I want to make well-thoughtout shots look interesting and inviting, and I want the ball to be collected rather than repelled whenever it is properly played or only slightly missed.”

Or, as Player would concur, “A golf stroke that overcomes fear and intimidation and is properly played should be adequately rewarded.”

“There are more mistakes made in the designing of golf courses by attaching too much importance to the element of luck than anything else,” MacKenzie stated.

And to this, Nicklaus would add the one element he takes greatest pride in from all of his designs.

“Honesty. Not tricking up holes – trying to keep everything out in the open. I don’t want to play with the golfer’s mind, just make him or her use it fully. I go to great lengths to avoid deception – making a shot look one way when it actually plays another way.”

Yet if there is one golden thread running through the design ambitions of the world’s best golf course designers, it is the desire to create something of lasting significance.

“I feel we are putting something back into nature by designing and building golf courses.

I get a great kick out of knowing that hundreds of years after people have long forgotten me, the courses with which we have been involved will continue to give people tremendous pleasure,” said Player.

It’s a sentiment shared by Nicklaus.

“I feel I am contributing something of value and permanence to the game that has been so good to me.”

“I want to make well-thought-out shots look interesting and inviting, and I want the ball to be collected rather than repelled whenever it is properly played or only slightly missed.”

Jack Nicklaus

Aerial view of back-to-back greens on the Jack Nicklaus Four Seasons Golf Course at Punta Mita, Nayarit, Mexico.

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Nicklaus, and Oosthuizen could see the lighter side of it when he posted a video on Twitter of him lip-syncing the Andra Day song “Rise Up”.

Oosthuizen explained exactly how that came about: “I was very surprised by how much attention it got. I was just trying to entertain the kids so they would sit still in the plane. So the song came on and we had a little speaker there. My wife had the phone out and she asked me, ‘Should I put this out on Twitter?’ And I said, ‘Well, I never really do anything. So why not? Go ahead’. So yeah, it was just one of those moments that happened. Nothing planned, really, and at least the kids sat still and listened to it.”

It once again summed up the approach to golf from a man who has always said the game is not the beginning and end of his life, and who has certainly diversified his interests outside of it.

Oosthuizen still actively pursues his love of farming. He also has personalised wine and craft beer, and a restaurant as part of his commercial interests.

Last year he moved into golf course design when he partnered with celebrated African golf course architect Peter Matkovich.

Oosthuizen and Matkovich will co-design their first golf course in Mauritius as part of a second

18-hole championship course at the famed Heritage Resort.

But it doesn’t hide the competitive nature of the man. He and Branden Grace were undefeated as a team at the 2015 Presidents Cup in South Korea, and when asked what made South African golfers such fearsome competitors, Oosthuizen said, “I think it’s our sport. I think we’re always sort of the underdogs and have to fight for that win. It’s just the way we’re brought up. Whenever we play any sport, we play as hard as we can to get a win and never give up.”

Oosthuizen says he’ll continue to fight for the one thing that still eludes him in a career of winning a Major and multiple European Tour victories – a win on the PGA Tour.

He has yet to claim a victory in the US, although he has come close. This year alone he finished second in The Players Championship, second in the PGA Championship and third in the Waste Management Open.

“I don’t know why that’s the case,” he said when asked why he feels he hasn’t yet broken through there. “I’ve come close a few times, and I’ve felt I’ve played really well. I don’t really want to think about it, but you do now and then.

It’s odd to think that I haven’t won on US soil.”

Oosthuizen says he’ll continue to fight for the one thing that still eludes him in a career of winning a Major and multiple European Tour victories – a win on the PGA Tour.

Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace have forged a strong friendship and formidable Presidents Cup pairing in recent years.

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Oosthuizen certainly feels comfortable in the US, where he and his family have settled in Florida.

“The best part is going home on Sunday nights to the family and seeing the kids and going out Tuesdays again to a tournament...

The thing for us is all our family and friends are back in South Africa, and as you know, it’s a 17-hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, so it’s not like you’re just going to go for a week when you go.

“You’ve got to really work on your schedule to make time to go back and see the family, and to us it’s important that the kids can spend time with their grandfather and grandmothers.

That’s the hard part – to fit it into a schedule, to take some weeks off where you probably wanted to play, but you need to make those sacrifices.”

There is no doubt that Oosthuizen is grounded in more than just his performance on the golf course. And it shines through even when he speaks about the pressure to add to his Major win.

“I think for everyone who’s won one, you want to try and win a second, A high-five for dad during the and if you’ve won two, you want Par 3 contest prior to the Masters to probably try and win a third.

Tournament at Augusta National.

That’s just what we play for. But that’s also where you test yourself because you’re playing against the top in the world. Playing Major championships, there’s nothing like it. Learning about yourself, what you go through if you’re leading or if you’re not playing great, and you get tested at a Major championship because there’s so much more at stake.

“I would love to win a few more. I’ve come close a few times. But I don’t really dwell on that. Every time I go into a Major, I try and play the best that week. It’s just patience, really. Play yourself in a position with four or five holes to go and take it from there. If you are within four shots of the lead on the final nine holes of a Major, you’ve always got a chance.”

Many believe it is the back injury that has kept Oosthuizen from adding to his Major tally.

But Oosthuizen says he has this side of his game well under control now.

“I’ve been great for the last year-and-a-half.

I do the stuff that I have to do. Every week I work out with my physio to get everything where I want it to be body-wise. I still have the niggles every now and then that I think every golfer has with lower-back stuff, tightening up

during a round, and some mornings you wake up and it’s not great. But the stuff that I struggled with is something of the past. I mean, I’ve worked really hard to get rid of it, and I’m happy with how my body feels now.”

It’s certainly not a technical issue, as Oosthuizen is often lauded by his peers as having the most perfect swing in golf. But as sublime as his swing appears, Oosthuizen still believes there are elements of it that he has to work on.

“I have a lot of things in my swing that I work on, and if I don’t get it right, it might look good, but there are a few things that can go horribly wrong and I can hit it all over the place. It might, I think, always look like it’s really good, but it still takes some work to keep it there. It’s nice to hear that I’ve got the best swing, but it’s

also something that I don’t really worry about.

I’ve got my things I’m trying to work at tempo-wise and playing-wise, and other than that, I just try and make it better every time I play.”

When it comes to other swings that he admires, Oosthuizen points to Adam Scott and countryman Charl Schwartzel.

“I love watching Adam Scott hit the ball. You know, things that he does that I would love to be able to do. I love seeing Charl hit a long iron. It’s little things that I look at in swings that I really admire. And then just watching Rory [McIlroy] and Dustin [Johnson] hit drivers that would drive anyone crazy – even me as a professional – because the speed they can do it at... It is unbelievable to watch.”

No doubt they would all say the same.

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GOLF GETS SOME

SIX APPEAL THE INAUGURAL GOLFSIXES HELD EARLIER THIS YEAR ACHIEVED WHAT IT SET OUT TO DO – BRING MORE SPECTATORS TO THE GAME OF GOLF

I

F YOU are struggling to understand what is going on in the mind of the average teenager, have no fear. So is golf.

The game has been through a number of attempts, and some would argue is still in the process of, trying to reach the new generation with a product that is engaging and appealing enough to tear them away from Xbox and mobile phones.

The pace of the game – both in the playing thereof and watching – has been seen as a challenge to be overcome. But so too the entire atmosphere surrounding tournament golf. Is it too staid? Do we need more than just a jungle gym for the kids at tournament venues? And can golf actually survive having a DJ on the driving range?

So this year the European Tour decided to throw open the doors to innovation and launch its new GolfSixes event – two days, 32 players, 16 countries, and two-man teams competing over six holes.

The Group Stage of greensomes match play saw three points awarded to a team for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The top two teams from each group went through to the knockout stage, with a Thorbjorn Olesen and quarter-final, semi-final and final.

Lucas Bjerregaard of There were celebrity commentators out on the course. There Denmark celebrate was music and team theme songs when they walked onto the tee. victory in the GolfSixes.

There were long-drive competitions, a shot clock on one hole where players had to play their shot within 40 seconds, big screens, whisky bars, fan zones and pretty much everything that you could legally and legitimately throw at a golf tournament.

And it worked.

“This is just what golf needs,” wrote respected BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter. “Traditional professional golf becomes genuinely absorbing ‘down the stretch’. GolfSixes catapults us straight to that point with no preamble. Every shot counts, making the importance of a good start paramount, but there remains the opportunity for dramatic fight-backs.

“Certainly it feels as though the Tour has arrived on a concept that can complement the existing diet of predominantly 72 holes’ stroke play… It lays down a very encouraging and exciting marker for the future development of the game.”

English professional Andy Sullivan embraced the concept perhaps more than most of the players, having both the persona and the game for a perfect fit with GolfSixes.

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Andy Sullivan of England interacts with fans on day one of GolfSixes.

“It’s been an unbelievable week. The best thing about it was we had a lot of fun out there but there’s competitiveness, you want to win as well. I just think it’s a perfect combination over such a short format. It’s fantastic.”

The normally staid British golf writer John Huggan wrote, “GolfSixes is worth repeating.”

The shot clock itself was seen as such an important innovation in the sense of it highlighting the scourge of the game – slow play. Many are now even calling for it to be implemented at traditional tournaments.

For European Tour CEO Keith Pelley, this kind of debate is exactly the success he was hoping to achieve with GolfSixes. “You know, GolfSixes was an interesting format that was successful by all accounts.

“Nineteen percent of the people who watched GolfSixes had not watched another European Tour golf event on Sky TV this year.

It was the number-two-rated golf event on the Golf Channel in the US this year. We have received all the feedback we have from our 32 players. We have received feedback from our stakeholders.

“I believe that the 72-hole tournament will always be at our core. It is who we are. It is what we do. And the Majors and the WGCs and the national championships and the Rolex Series events will continue to grow.

“But I think there is a narrative worldwide that is looking for golf to develop another format and be a little bit more innovative, and we are going to lead that charge. We’re going to be at the forefront of innovation. We believe

“Nineteen percent of the people who watched GolfSixes had not watched another European Tour golf event on Sky TV this year. It was the numbertwo-rated golf event on the Golf Channel in the US this year.”

Keith Pelley European Tour CEO

strongly in it and we believe strongly that, in order for us to grow our game, to maximise the commerciality of it, to continue to support our members in everything that they need to do, we need to be more innovative.”

Nobody in the game is for a moment suggesting that a new format and a bit of music on the tee will be the saviour of golf as it joins so many other sports in competing for attention.

The number of youngsters that turned up at the BMW South Africa Open earlier this year when Rory McIlroy played is proof again that the world’s best players remain the biggest draw card. But in speaking to a new audience outside of golf, GolfSixes certainly succeeded in drawing a new awareness of the game. It’s even being put forward as a possible format for golf at Olympic level.

“It’s been a long time coming. I’m not going to turn around and say GolfSixes is the answer to solving golf’s problems, but it’s a step in the right direction,” said Scottish professional Richie Ramsay.

“I think there have been a lot of people sleeping at the wheel. A lot of different bodies have not been doing anything. They go on about this being a problem and that being a problem but you have to take action.”

For a game in which one of the key principles is keeping your eye on the ball, the inaugural GolfSixes has certainly brought a few more eyes to golf. And many in the game are just as excited to see where this goes from here.

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The global series of six pro-am tournaments in the United Arab Emirates, China, Japan, the UK, the US and South Africa has to date helped The Player Foundation raise $62 million for charity, and the Black Knight has set himself the goal of reaching $100 million.

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Host Ernie Els with the winning team at the Els for Autism Pro-Am in Florida in March. From left to right: Former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani, Wine Spectator magazine’s Marvin Shanken, US talk radio host Rush Limbaugh and Branden Grace.

“It’s through support such as this that we can ensure a programme that delivers results and offers our young golfers some extra benefits,” said Grant Hepburn, Managing Director of the SAGDB. Tournament host Gary Player’s own global series of Gary Player Invitational events annually raises millions for children’s charities around the world.

The global series of six pro-am tournaments in the United Arab Emirates, China, Japan, the UK, the US and South Africa has to date helped The Player Foundation raise $62 million for charity, and the Black Knight has set himself the goal of reaching $100 million.

The Player Foundation itself was formed in 1983, born of Player’s desire to build a school and church on his farm for the local community.

Playing in the Gary Player Invitational presented by Coca-Cola at Sun City a few years ago, Irish golfer Padraig Harrington explained why he feels the need to give back through golf: “Most professional golfers do something for charity, and what lies behind it is we’re very lucky. We’re out there and we’re earning colossal sums of money throughout the year.

Prize funds have gone up so much. And to be able to look at yourself in the mirror in the

morning you’ve got to give something back. We have to always realise the position we’re in and how privileged we are to be doing so well out of it.”

During the 2015 Nedbank Golf Challenge, former winner Danny Willett was so touched by his interaction with Reach for a Dream beneficiary Suné Klopper that he donated R100 000 of his prize money that year to giving her and her family a memorable Christmas.

South African European Tour campaigner Jaco van Zyl stunned many when, during last season, he gave his caddie a piece of land on a golf estate that he’d won during a tournament.

He also donated a luxury BMW he’d won for a hole-in-one to somebody else on his team.

“I’ve always said we’re very fortunate to be able to do what we do for a living and earn the money we earn,” Van Zyl said. “It doesn’t make us any better than the next person. It just makes us a lot more fortunate. In the 20 years I’ve been playing golf I’ve made my fair share – and, like my dad always said, how much is enough? The more you make, the more hobbies you get, the more cars you buy…

It almost becomes a bit of a waste.

“I always like to share my success with other

“Most professional golfers do something for charity, and what lies behind it is we’re very lucky. We’re out there and we’re earning colossal sums of money throughout the year.”

Padraig Harrington people. It drives me to want to play better.

Not so that I can drive more sports cars or buy more houses. It’s to be able to help more people around me. It’s nice to be able to do something that makes a big change in somebody’s life.

It’s a privilege to be in that position to be able to do it.”

A privilege certainly not taken for granted by those doing the giving, nor those on the receiving end.

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THE LAUREUS WORLD SPORTS AWARDS The Best in Sport The Awards celebrate and honour the most remarkable achievements of men, women and teams from the world of sport within a calendar year. Proceeds from the Laureus World Sports Awards directly benefit and underpin the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

“SPORT HAS THE POWER THE LAUREUS WORLD SPORTS ACADEMY The Best of Sport The Academy is the ultimate sports jury who selects the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards. The Members of the Academy also volunteer their time to act as global ambassadors for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Laureus Ambassadors are sports men and women who are supporting the Academy by inspiring the next generation.

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the golf clubs increase their rounds while getting the opportunity to interact with these golfers and perhaps convert them to members.

Playmoregolf Momentum even offers a brokerage service whereby you can take up membership with a golf club and receive an official handicap.

In assessing the future sustainability of the game – and, as importantly, its related industries – it is impossible not to acknowledge the massive contribution made

by Playmoregolf SA – part of the Moregolf stable along with The Pro Shop and

Momentum World of Golf – towards introducing new players to the game and sustaining clubs that might otherwise be viewed as marginal or even untenable.

“Moregolf has invested into many areas within the game of golf in SA, to make sure that golfers are able to play more, at affordable rates, have fun with friends and stay engaged in the game,” says Playmoregolf managing executive O’Brian Barber. “That is why we are not just a retail golf business but also massively committed to growing the game through our practice and play businesses.

“Playmoregolf and Lastminutegolf and our digital online golf booking system, GolfTimeSA, partner with golf clubs to assist in getting new and old golfers to play more golf and stay in the game. We stay committed to being on the cutting edge of new development, especially in the digital space, when it comes to the growing demands of the new-age golfers that are now participating in the game”.

Their efforts have not gone unrewarded.

The membership base of Playmoregolf, approximately 12 800 at the time of writing, makes it the biggest membership-based golf

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PL AY MORE GOL F

offering in the market, a membership that can choose from 125 affiliated courses through one membership.

Playmoregolf has been around for just on eleven years and over that time almost 18 000 people have converted from Playmoregolf members to joining a golf club as a member. In addition, almost 220 000 rounds per annum are played through Playmoregolf, contributing R135 million in paid-for tee times to golf clubs.

At a competition level, the Sanlam Cancer Challenge this year brought in a new initiative to its 25-year competition for club golfers in aid of raising money for the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA). A separate competition was held for non-handicapped golfers. Clubs who had available spots in their Club Competition draw could fill them with golfers who did not have an official handicap.

These golfers played in their own competition, and the leading man and woman qualified for a lucky draw. Four players were drawn to win an all-expenses-paid trip to play in the Sanlam Cancer Challenge National Final Delegates’ Competition.

The PGA of South Africa, too, has tackled the issue with an extensive research-andeducation drive to understand the needs of the South African golfer better.

In 2015 the PGA of SA launched its Valuing the PGA Professional programme. The programme is aimed at increasing rounds of golf, membership numbers and revenue at golf facilities, and developing golfers along their pathway in the game. More people playing the game and enjoying it means they are spending more time at golf clubs, which in itself increases revenue at the clubs.

“Player development revolves around identifying the specific need of each individual golfer – who is the customer – and understanding why they play the game. You would assume all golfers play the game for the same reason, but we all have our different goals and ambitions within the sport,” said Ivano Ficalbi, Chief Executive of the PGA of SA. Another area that has been identified as a barrier to entry in terms of golf participation is the perceived difficulty of the game. The PGA of South Africa has long been driving the message that proper lessons with a PGA professional can enhance a golfer’s enjoyment of the game significantly, at whatever level they’re playing at. If you’re playing the game slightly better than before, it follows that you’ll enjoy it more and so spend more time playing it.

It’s a focus that has had success in the US,

The PGA of America revealed that golf club members who are in a coaching programme with their local PGA professional are 100% more likely to remain members of that golf club than those who aren’t. And rounds of golf at these clubs increased by 20%. where research done by the PGA of America revealed that golf club members who are in a coaching programme with their local PGA professional are 100% more likely to remain members of that golf club than those who aren’t. And rounds of golf at these clubs increased by 20%.

The South African golfer is under scrutiny now more than ever in an effort to understand

what he or she wants to get out of the game and the club experience.

The global economic pressures and general competition for people’s leisure time may have forced golf into this position of reflection.

However, as James points out, it’s just as well. And he still sees certain obvious mistakes being made. “Beginner golfers are still being given a few lessons, then let loose on the golf course and told they are a golfer when clearly they are not because they cannot get the ball in the air, they cannot drive it very far, and they are taking seven shots just to get to the green,” he says. “That is a failed transaction and it needs to change.”

The generational change will also increase the pressure on golf to adapt quickly.

“Generationally, somebody who was born before 1945 would probably turn up at their golf club every Saturday and might not have a great golf experience, but next week they would be back at the same time to play with the same group of people because they see it as their duty.

It’s their loyalty to their group,” said James.

“Well, let me tell you: Generation X and millennials have a whole new paradigm.

If they’re not getting value out of their experience, they’ve got so many other choices and they’ll go somewhere else. The golf consumer has changed radically.”

Now more than ever, the golf customer is indeed king.

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PL AY ER PROFIL E

Stone entertains local fans during the defence of his South African Open title at Glendower GC in January.

“The first Major that you play in, you get caught up in the aura around the event. The golf course, all the people, everything around you. I know that for the Open and PGA Championship last year I was so caught up in the sheer magnitude of the event that it took my focus away from the playing of the game.”

Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player compared with the one who made his debut in this tournament last year.

In the 2016 showpiece, Stone finished 69th in the field of 72 players, with three rounds of 76 and then a third round of 82. But he returns armed with the two things that could make him one of the title contenders this year – desire and experience.

“It’s Africa’s Major and it’s always a big event for a South African player,” Stone said about his desire to do well in this tournament. “It’s nice to represent your country abroad but it’s even better to represent your country at home.

As a South African player, the support you get at that event is always great.

“Last year I didn’t play to the standards I would’ve liked. It was the first time I had been in the Final Series (now known as the Rolex Series) on the Race to Dubai, and I hope to build on the lessons I learnt last year.”

This echoes what Stone said about making his debut in the Majors and taking time to adjust to this level of golf: “The first Major that you play in, you get caught up in the aura around the event. The golf course, all the people, everything around you. I know that for the Open and PGA Championship last year

I was so caught up in the sheer magnitude of the event that it took my focus away from the playing of the game.” (He missed the cut in both).

“At Erin Hills I managed this side of it really well. I treated it the same as any normal week on tour. I stayed in a normal hotel room, got there on the Monday and did my prep correctly. Basically I made sure not to skip any of the normal processes that have got me the success in the past.”

It’s this kind of deliberate preparation that Stone is bringing to the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge. He spent some valuable time playing the Gary Player Country Club as early as two months before this year’s tournament.

Stone was in his teens when the last South African – Trevor Immelman – won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 2007. But his sense of golf history is such that he is as keen as any of the local contenders to change this stat this year.

“Visualising 20 000 cheering on the South African boys on Sunday at the #NGC17...

GOOSEBUMPS!!” he Tweeted as he played a shot from the 18th fairway into the famous final green almost surrounded by grandstands.

If any further validation is needed of just how much Stone’s game has been refined in a year of Majors, World Golf Championship events and greater international experience, then it comes from his father.

Kevin Stone was himself an accomplished professional with a multitude of Sunshine Tour titles behind his name. His contemporaries were Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, so he’s seen a few good swings in his time.

“I’ve been travelling with Brandon the last few years and you see how good they are. It’s scary, actually,” said Kevin. “There’s a huge difference in the standard of today’s professionals. They get used to playing in difficult conditions, and they are still shooting plenty under par. More of our South African professionals need to get overseas and see what it’s like playing there, because they’ll improve so quickly.”

At the age of 51, Kevin says watching the level Brandon and his peers are at has changed his own approach to the game. “Just watching Brandon and who he plays with has changed my own focus a bit when it comes to my game.

It makes you set your own standards at a different level.”

When it comes to his son, that’s a standard that is also constantly on the rise.

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in previous years and that in 2017 they were quietly confident of turning the tables and lifting the team trophy for the first time.

After the rain-shortened first round, Team SuperSport was already well on their way to achieving that goal, holding a commanding points lead heading into the second day.

The Shootout has three events running concurrently: in addition to the team event there are the individual net and better-ball net events, and it was in the latter where the competition was particularly fierce.

One of the themes running through the 2017 event was the 10th anniversary of the Springboks’ victory in the 2007 Rugby World

Cup, with a large number of that team making their way to Legend to remember, reminisce and celebrate together.

Two of their number, scrum-half Fourie du Preez (off a four handicap) and lock Victor Matfield (off 11), who say they play a great deal of golf against each other on their home course, came together as teammates in the better-ball.

They proved that they’re a formidable combination, leading at the halfway mark and squeaking home by a single shot following Sunday’s second round.

Earlier, tennis doubles legend Danie Visser and his partner, multiple SA squash champion Adrian Hansen, had made a strong run to the

finish, posting the clubhouse lead at 12-under par.

However, Du Preez and Matfield were in the final group and well aware of what was required. Despite a wobble at the par-three 17th hole where they both three-putted for bogey, they were able to secure the par-five they required on the closing hole to stay one ahead of Visser and Hansen. Piet Chauke and Gavin Pratt were a further shot back on 11 under par.

Chauke, playing off a 14 handicap, had a superb second round on his own ball, coming strongly through the field to post a 27-hole total of six under par in the individual net competition. He was neck-and-neck with

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Dr Sherylle Calder helped Ernie Els see his game quite differently.

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NEW PERSPECTIVES

worked with athletes who have bad eyesight but have good visual skills. And in turn we’ve had athletes with brilliant eyesight but really bad visual skills.

“Eyesight is what you see. Vision is what you do with what you see. We train the brain as much as we train the eyes. When it came to Ernie, I fixed his ability to coordinate what his eyes are seeing with his hands.

“Your eyes tell you how to judge, but then you’ve got to get the information correct and then you have to transfer it to your hands successfully. It’s about seeing what you’re seeing and then putting that information into your hands.”

Even singer and avid golfer Kurt Darren has benefitted from Calder’s science. “It helped tremendously,” he says of the work he began doing with her to correct the damage done to his eye following a car accident. “On the golf course I would see two solid balls and didn’t have a clue which one was the right one.”

Calder is fascinated by the challenge that golf presents.

“What makes golf so unique is that a little mistake made here with your putting becomes a bigger mistake closer to the hole. The margins are unbelievable. In certain sports you can make a mistake and still win. Not in golf.

“But I think you can be consistent in golf if you do the right things. There is no reason why you can’t do well consistently, and I don’t mean win all the time. There are too many variables in golf for that, such as the weather and so on.

“But there are things you can control, which I don’t think golfers are controlling enough.

We have that and can put it into their game.

Nobody is thinking of preparing their eyes and their brain and hands for golf. They just do technical skills all day and hit balls. I almost want to ask the question: are you fit enough to play golf? And when it comes to this area of the game, most golfers aren’t.”

But Calder is adamant that she is not a golf coach nor does she want to become one.

“It comes down to my work as a scientist, not as a golf coach, and how I make sure that what the golfer sees is right. Judging line and length is huge in putting. I have certain visual performance parameters that play a role in how you stroke a putt. If your system is fit enough and you’re able to apply them you’ll be a better player.

“We also don’t spend hours and hours on the putting green. We have very definite goals and once we’ve reached these we move on.”

Calder welcomes the statistical feedback

“Your eyes tell you how to judge, but then you’ve got to get the information correct and then you have to transfer it to your hands successfully.

It’s about seeing what you’re seeing and then putting that information into your hands.”

Sherylle Calder

Branden Grace is among the golfers in particular and sportsmen in general that Dr Calder has assisted with their games.

Whether you’re an amateur or a professional golfer, if you’d like to know more about EyeGym visit http://eyegym.com/contact/

that golf provides. “Stats don’t always tell the whole story, but I welcome my science being judged by the statistics. I know it works and have seen it work. I can confidently say that, as a golfer, if you haven’t trained in this way then you are underperforming. There are ways of putting better and we’re proving it.”

Calder’s science speaks for itself. She’s won two Rugby World Cups with England and South Africa, has worked with the All Blacks, British Olympians, America’s Cup yacht teams, Tottenham Hotspur Football Academy, and currently she’s working with AFC Bournemouth, the Miami Dolphins in the NFL, F1 driver Valtteri Bottas, as well as the England rugby team – again. She is also working with referees in the English Premier League.

And if you’re a golfer hoping to solve the riddle of putting performance, Calder certainly shares your vision.

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A coaching drive held at Maldane in Mpumalanga.

Scotland and India and the regular Tests we handicap is no longer the carrot it used to be.

Our research shows that many people play golf play against them have seen so many other with their friends or their own little society, but countries follow suit. aren’t members of clubs.

“We now have a period at the beginning of “So we are looking at opportunities to engage the year where we have about 15 countries’ top with social golfers who enjoy the game but don’t golfers playing against our top amateurs in SA.” have official handicaps. We will be consulting This passion for amateur golf and ensuring with clubs about how we can bring those golfers its health stretches to discussions with the into the fold, help them get official handicaps Sunshine Tour in order to better manage and also find ways of encouraging them to join the flow of amateurs turning professional. clubs. We are engaging with experts who have “We’ve created a professionalism around data and research from around the world on our amateurs and preparing them for the initiatives that are working to attract new professional ranks so that they don’t just turn pro golfers to the game as well as ones that help when they’ve won a minor amateur tournament. retain current membership bases.

“We’ve got a great relationship with the “Golf RSA intends to go on a roadshow Sunshine Tour, who are very kind to consult around the country engaging with clubs and with us before they announce their Qualifying golf unions regarding workshops on growing School dates so that it doesn’t clash with any of the game and sustaining golf clubs. We are also our top amateur tournaments. looking at ways to embrace people through the “This enables us to stop losing players we’ve handicapping system and not create a barrier developed either through the SAGDB or our to entry here.” other programmes like the Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation in Golf RSA, and have them stay longer in the amateur ranks and be better prepared for turning professional one day.”

Golf RSA will also be reaching out to a mass of golfers who play the game socially but are not members of a golf club.

“Our research shows that the rounds of golf are not dropping, but club membership is. It’s a sign of the economic times but also of the fact that people’s lives have changed and they don’t have the time to spend all day at the club.

The South African Golf Development “Joining a golf Board team that travelled to Australia. club to get an official

“Golf RSA intends to go on a roadshow around the country engaging with clubs and golf unions regarding workshops on growing the game and sustaining golf clubs.”

Moreover, Golf RSA will soon be launching its own digital magazine as part of its commercialisation ambitions.

“We’ve also got our weekly emailer that goes out to nearly 90 000 affiliated golfers. That’s a powerful platform to get out the message that we want, and a platform for sponsors to become involved with us. And we’ve now been given the go-ahead by the Board of Golf RSA to bring disabled golf (SADGA) and the SAGDB under the umbrella of Golf RSA. So we’ll all have the same objectives with the same framework, which is equally appealing to sponsors, rather than operating in separate silos.”

The variety of being involved with club golf, provincial golf, development golf and elite amateur golf is what keeps Hepburn excited about the challenges that lie ahead.

“Golf RSA is an organisation that you would want to be involved with purely because you’re engaging with so many facets of amateur golf.”

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5 6 7

5 / When it’s too hot to follow the action on the course, just head to the spa! 6 / The live broadcast is beamed across the globe from Sun City.

7 / England’s Andy Sullivan acknowledges fans at the ninth green.

8 / Louis Oosthuizen greets dignitaries after teeing off on the first hole.

9 / The entire Sun City resort is consumed by golf for one week of the year.

8

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12 10 / The Goosen family enjoying the Beach Party at the Valley of Waves. 11 / The Boma Braai is a perennial favourite with players and guests.

12 / There are many different ways to enjoy the action at Sun City. 13 / Everyone needs to leave with a Sun City souvenir. 14 / Kahn Morbee of The Parlotones wowed the crowd at the Superbowl during the welcome function.

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Short game or long, we’ve got you covered.

Success is all about gauging distance and speed, and at FedEx, that’s what we do. Whether you’re shipping a package across the border or across the country, we know how to keep you atop the leaderboard.

Contact us: 08000 (FedEx) 33339 or fedex.com/za.

©2017 FedEx. All rights reserved.

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ROLL OF HONOUR

2015 M LEISHMAN 68 68 66 67 269 H STENSON 66 67 70 72 275 C WOOD 70 71 70 68 279 D WILLETT 67 75 70 68 280 B GRACE 68 74 67 71 280 V DUBUISSON 71 73 68 68 280 R STREB 69 66 72 73 280 B HUN AN 72 70 71 68 281 T JAIDEE 70 72 69 71 282 C SCHWARTZEL 71 74 67 70 282 E GRILLO 72 69 73 69 283 L OOSTHUIZEN 70 72 68 73 283 T AIKEN 73 69 72 70 284 J VAN ZYL 66 68 72 78 284 R FISHER 69 71 73 72 285 K APHIBARNRAT 70 68 73 75 286 A SULLIVAN 71 71 70 74 286 K BRADLEY 72 69 73 72 286 M FITZPATRICK 69 77 68 72 286 S PIERCY 73 68 72 74 287 T FLEETWOOD 71 72 73 72 288 W SIMPSON 75 72 72 69 288 M-A JIMÉNEZ 70 72 75 71 288 R KNOX 69 76 68 76 289 M KAYMER 75 71 72 72 290 S LOWRY 74 71 70 75 290 B WIESBERGER 70 71 68 81 290 L WESTWOOD 72 81 72 75 300 S KJELDSEN 74 81 77 73 305 S BOWDITCH 77 78 77 75 307

2014 $1 250 000 $775 000 $433 000 $270 750 $270 750 $270 750 $270 750 $175 000 $160 000 $160 000 $152 000 $152 000 $144 000 $144 000 $138 000 $130 500 $130 500 $130 500 $130 500 $123 000 $117 167 $117 167 $117 167 $112 000 $107 000 $107 000 $107 000 $103 000 $101 500 $100 000

D WILLETT 71 68 65 66 270 R FISHER 66 70 70 68 274 L DONALD 71 63 69 73 276 M SIEM 68 72 71 68 279 K APHIBARNRAT 72 73 68 68 281 M-A JIMÉNEZ 70 74 69 69 282 J BLIXT 71 73 70 71 285 T CLARK 70 71 72 72 285 T JAIDEE 71 70 71 73 285 L OOSTHUIZEN 70 73 69 73 285 S LOWRY 72 72 71 71 286 B TODD 73 68 75 71 287 S GALLACHER 70 73 72 72 287 C SCHWARTZEL 70 71 75 73 289 T FLEETWOOD 74 67 74 74 289 L WESTWOOD 72 70 78 70 290 G COETZEE 68 74 76 72 290 P LARRAZÁBAL 73 71 71 75 290 B KOEPKA 70 74 75 72 291 D VAN DER WALT 73 72 69 77 291 M KAYMER 74 75 71 72 292 J AHLERS 74 75 70 73 292 A LEVY 68 70 76 78 292 T BJØRN 80 72 68 73 293 J LUITEN 72 74 73 74 293 K NA 77 73 72 73 295 M WARREN 75 73 71 76 295 M ILONEN 76 78 72 72 298 D VAN TONDER 77 78 76 70 301 J DONALDSON 74 WD

2012 $1 250 000 $775 000 $433 000 $348 000 $295 000 $245 000 $172 500 $172 500 $172 500 $172 500 $154 000 $148 000 $148 000 $140 000 $140 000 $132 000 $132 000 $132 000 $124 500 $124 500 $117 167 $117 167 $117 167 $110 750 $110 750 $110 750 $110 750 $103 000 $101 500

M KAYMER 72 69 70 69 280 C SCHWARTZEL 72 71 70 69 282 B HAAS 70 73 71 71 285 L OOSTHUIZEN 71 72 69 74 286 L WESTWOOD 71 73 70 73 287 P LAWRIE 71 69 75 74 289 F MOLINARI 72 71 78 69 290 C PETTERSSON 72 75 74 69 290 P HANSON 72 73 73 73 291 N COLSAERTS 70 78 74 71 293 J ROSE 73 79 69 74 295 G MULROY 75 73 75 74 297

$1 250 000 $660 000 $400 000 $400 000 $330 000 $310 000 $300 000 $290 000 $280 000 $270 000 $260 000 $250 000

Lee Westwood, 2010 & 2011

2013 T BJØRN 67 70 66 65 268 S GARCÍA 66 73 66 65 270 J DONALDSON 67 66 67 70 270 H STENSON 69 67 69 67 272 B DE JONGE 70 68 69 66 273 C SCHWARTZEL 68 70 71 66 275 J ROSE 73 67 69 67 276 R MOORE 71 65 67 73 276 T JAIDEE 69 70 66 72 277 P UIHLEIN 70 69 70 70 279 G FDEZ-CASTAÑO 67 72 72 69 280 F MOLINARI 76 70 69 74 282 D FICHARDT 71 68 69 74 282 R STERNE 73 73 71 66 283 L OOSTHUIZEN 74 69 67 73 283 J LUITEN 74 68 75 69 286 M KAYMER 71 66 74 75 286 DA POINTS 71 67 70 78 286 L DONALD 68 71 74 74 287 V DUBUISSON 73 72 71 72 288 B GRACE 75 71 69 73 288 G WOODLAND 74 73 75 68 290 M MANASSERO 72 74 72 72 290 D VAN DER WALT 77 72 73 69 291 D LYNN 73 71 75 74 293 T WIRATCHANT 71 76 70 76 293 MO MADSEN 76 71 68 78 293 K STREELMAN 75 71 77 72 295 E ELS 75 71 77 77 300 P SENIOR 80 68 75 81 304

Danny Willett, 2014

$1 250 000 $604 000 $604 000 $348 000 $295 000 $245 000 $185 000 $185 000 $162 000 $158 000 $154 000 $148 000 $148 000 $140 000 $140 000 $132 000 $132 000 $132 000 $126 000 $121 500 $121 500 $115 750 $115 750 $112 000 $107 000 $107 000 $107 000 $103 000 $101 500 $100 000

2011 L WESTWOOD 68 70 62 73 273 R KARLSSON 69 69 69 68 275 J DUFNER 70 68 70 69 277 G MCDOWELL 70 67 70 70 277 KT KIM 70 70 70 70 280 C SCHWARTZEL 68 74 68 72 282 L DONALD 70 71 70 72 283 M KAYMER 70 68 70 76 284 S DYSON 70 70 75 72 287 A HANSEN 72 69 77 70 288 F MOLINARI 72 77 73 73 295 D CLARKE 74 69 76 78 297

$1 250 000 $660 000 $400 000 $400 000 $330 000 $310 000 $300 000 $290 000 $280 000 $270 000 $260 000 $250 000

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ROLL OF HONOUR

2010 L WESTWOOD T CLARK R GOOSEN M-A JIMÉNEZ E ELS R FISHER R ALLENBY P HARRINGTON A HANSEN J ROSE E MOLINARI L OOSTHUIZEN

Henrik Stenson, 2008 68 73 72 69 71 67 70 66 72 70 71 71

64 67 70 69 68 68 70 72 70 72 67 73

71 68 70 71 71 73 73 72 68 72 73 72

68 71 68 71 73 75 72 75 76 72 76 74

271 279 280 280 283 283 285 285 286 286 287 290

$1 250 000 $660 000 $400 000 $400 000 $320 000 $320 000 $295 000 $295 000 $275 000 $275 000 $260 000 $250 000

2005 J FURYK 68 70 72 72 282 D CLARKE 67 70 76 69 282 R GOOSEN 70 69 71 72 282 A SCOTT 72 69 68 73 282 Furyk won after a play-off 70 68 75 70 283 L DONALD T CLARK 70 72 67 75 284 C DIMARCO 72 71 72 73 288 A CABRERA 71 64 74 80 289 E ELS 72 70 73 75 290 K PERRY 76 72 75 68 291 S GARCÍA 74 70 74 74 292 S CINK 73 76 78 71 298

2009 R ALLENBY 68 70 68 71 277 H STENSON 70 68 70 69 277 Allenby won after a play-off 69 72 68 69 278 T CLARK R FISHER 73 69 66 70 278 R GOOSEN 69 68 67 75 279 A CABRERA 71 67 68 75 281 N WATNEY 73 73 63 73 282 L DONALD 72 71 68 72 283 R KARLSSON 70 72 71 71 284 H MAHAN 70 71 72 73 286 R STERNE 72 75 70 75 292 R MCILROY Withdrawn

$1.2 million $600 000 $350 000 $350 000 $275 000 $260 000 $250 000 $240 000 $230 000 $220 000 $210 000

Jim Furyk, 2005 & 2006

$1.2 million $433 000 $433 000 $433 000 $250 000 $225 000 $210 000 $195 000 $185 000 $175 000 $165 000 $155 000

2004 70 71 71 69 281 70 74 72 71 287 70 69 74 74 287 74 76 66 72 288 71 74 69 74 288 75 74 70 72 291 70 70 71 80 291 74 72 71 75 292 71 70 74 78 293 75 78 72 72 297 80 75 72 72 299 75 76 74 78 303

$1.2 million $500 000 $500 000 $275 000 $275 000 $217 500 $217 500 $195 000 $185 000 $175 000 $165 000 $155 000

$1.2 million $500 000

$1.2 million $600 000 $400 000 $300 000 $275 000 $255 000 $255 000 $240 000 $230 000 $220 000 $210 000 $200 000

S GARCÍA 68 66 70 70 274 R GOOSEN 70 67 68 69 274 García won after a play-off 65 72 71 69 277 V SINGH D CLARKE 66 71 74 67 278 J KELLY 67 67 76 71 281 K PERRY 65 68 73 75 281 C DIMARCO 66 71 74 71 282 A SCOTT 66 74 74 68 282 S APPLEBY 67 75 70 72 284 F FUNK 71 71 71 72 285 J HAAS 70 72 71 72 285 T CLARK 68 71 73 73 285 P HARRINGTON 72 70 74 70 286 R ALLENBY 66 78 69 74 287 S LEANEY 68 72 70 77 287 C HOWELL III 73 67 75 72 287 E ELS 72 75 74 69 290 N PRICE 69 75 75 73 292

$1.2 million $600 000 $400 000 $300 000 $275 000 $260 000 $245 000 $245 000 $230 000 $220 000 $210 000 $200 000

E ELS 70 65 69 63 267 C MONTGOMERIE 74 69 65 67 275 C DIMARCO 68 68 72 70 278 R GOOSEN 68 72 70 71 281 J FURYK 69 71 72 69 281 S GARCÍA 70 73 70 70 283 N PRICE 71 70 73 70 284 B ESTES 73 69 72 71 285 R ALLENBY 70 71 74 70 285 D CLARKE 72 67 71 75 285 P HARRINGTON 72 70 69 77 288 M CAMPBELL 71 71 69 78 289

2008 H STENSON K PERRY R KARLSSON R SABBATINI S GARCÍA L WESTWOOD KJ CHOI J KINGSTON J ROSE T IMMELMAN L DONALD M-A JIMÉNEZ

63 73 72 68 72 70 72 72 73 72 72 75

71 70 68 70 70 72 67 77 73 73 74 76

65 68 67 72 72 70 73 70 72 69 71 73

68 65 72 70 70 72 74 67 72 77 75 69

267 276 279 280 284 284 286 286 290 291 292 293

$1.2 million $600 000 $400 000 $300 000 $267 500 $267 500 $245 000 $245 000 $230 000 $220 000 $210 000 $200 000

2007 T IMMELMAN 67 66 67 72 272 J ROSE 68 65 67 73 273 E ELS 69 67 69 72 277 H STENSON 72 65 72 72 281 R SABBATINI 76 68 67 71 282 G OGILVY 69 73 70 71 283 L DONALD 68 71 71 73 283 A SCOTT 67 71 72 76 286 N FASTH 74 72 70 72 288 C SCHWARTZEL 74 74 68 74 290 S CINK 72 73 75 71 291 R GOOSEN 74 71 75 78 298

2003

$400 000 $300 000 $200 000 $165 000 $145 000 $135 000 $130 000 $125 000 $120 000 $115 000 $100 000 $95 000 $90 000 $85 000 $80 000 $75 000

2002

2006 J FURYK 68 66 68 74 276 H STENSON 67 71 71 69 278 P HARRINGTON 69 71 65 75 280 E ELS 72 67 70 72 281 C SCHWARTZEL 70 69 71 72 282 R GOOSEN 70 70 71 75 286 S GARCÍA 72 76 68 71 287 T IMMELMAN 71 69 73 74 287 C DIMARCO 74 75 66 73 288 D HOWELL 69 73 73 76 291 J-M OLAZÁBAL 71 73 69 79 292 C MONTGOMERIE 75 77 70 76 298

R GOOSEN E ELS S APPLEBY J FURYK C DIMARCO J HAAS L WESTWOOD T HAMILTON N PRICE F JACOBSON C CAMPBELL S GARCÍA

$2 million $300 000 $250 000 $212 500 $212 500 $175 000 $150 000 $150 000 $150 000 $150 000 $150 000 $150 000

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ROLL OF HONOUR

Erne Els, 1999, 2000 & 2002

1998

2001 S GARCÍA 68 71 66 63 268 E ELS 67 66 66 69 268 García won after a play-off 68 67 67 69 271 B LANGER M WEIR 68 67 69 68 272 L WESTWOOD 69 65 70 71 275 P HARRINGTON 70 72 61 73 276 N PRICE 68 71 70 70 279 T BJØRN 71 72 68 70 281 R GOOSEN 68 68 74 71 281 C MONTGOMERIE 68 69 72 73 282 D CLARKE 75 68 74 76 293 J FURYK 71 67 DQ

$2 million $300 000 $250 000 $225 000 $200 000 $175 000 $160 000 $150 000 $150 000 $150 000 $150 000

$2 million $350 000 $237 500 $237 500 $200 000 $175 000 $160 000 $150 000 $150 000 $150 000 $150 000 $150 000

N PRICE 71 68 68 68 275 E ELS 69 70 70 67 276 D LOVE III 68 67 74 67 276 P MICKELSON 67 68 69 73 277 B LANGER 69 70 67 72 278 J LEONARD 74 72 67 68 281 C MONTGOMERIE 78 68 69 71 286 T LEHMAN 74 74 69 69 286 J PARNEVIK 70 70 79 70 289 M O’MEARA 76 71 69 75 291 N FALDO 73 73 71 74 291 I WOOSNAM 74 73 72 73 292

Corey Pavin, 1995

1999 E ELS 67 66 64 66 263 C MONTGOMERIE 66 69 68 65 268 D CLARKE 72 69 64 65 270 L WESTWOOD 68 70 70 66 274 J FURYK 70 71 65 69 275 C FRANCO 70 72 68 67 277 N PRICE 68 72 68 72 280 J HUSTON 67 76 68 70 281 S GARCÍA 71 67 70 75 283 J-M OLAZÁBAL 69 74 73 68 284 M-A JIMÉNEZ 76 72 69 69 286 P LAWRIE 65 76 71 74 286

$1 million $250 000 $200 000 $150 000 $150 000 $105 000 $105 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000

1997

2000 E ELS 66 67 67 68 268 L WESTWOOD 65 69 68 66 268 Els won after a play-off 69 66 67 67 269 N PRICE T BJØRN 70 65 65 69 269 J HUSTON 72 67 64 71 274 C MONTGOMERIE 69 74 64 69 276 J-M OLAZÁBAL 65 75 67 70 277 S APPLEBY 70 70 71 69 280 M CAMPBELL 72 68 70 70 280 C FRANCO 77 67 69 68 281 D CLARKE 68 75 73 68 284 M-A JIMÉNEZ 75 69 70 74 288

N PRICE 67 68 72 66 273 T WOODS 72 68 67 66 273 Price won after a play-off J LEONARD 69 68 68 69 274 M O’MEARA 69 67 72 68 276 L WESTWOOD 72 65 66 73 276 E ELS 70 69 70 71 280 B LANGER 69 70 74 67 280 J PARNEVIK 74 70 71 66 281 J FURYK 75 71 72 64 282 D DUVAL 72 73 71 68 284 C MONTGOMERIE 71 74 70 69 284 T WATSON 72 70 73 70 285

1996

$1 million $250 000 $200 000 $175 000 $150 000 $125 000 $110 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000

C MONTGOMERIE 65 71 70 68 274 E ELS 67 70 71 66 274 Montgomerie won after a play-off 67 71 67 70 275 S JONES N PRICE 71 76 66 71 275 S STRICKER 68 70 69 70 277 I WOOSNAM 68 69 67 73 277 B LANGER 69 70 69 71 279 M O’MEARA 69 71 70 72 282 T LEHMAN 71 71 68 73 283 N FALDO 73 68 69 73 283 M BROOKS 68 70 72 73 283 C PAVIN 68 71 76 69 284

$1 million $250 000 $187 500 $187 500 $137 500 $137 500 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000

1995 $1 million $225 000 $225 000 $175 000 $150 000 $125 000 $105 000 $105 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000

C PAVIN 69 72 69 66 276 N PRICE 71 67 72 71 281 B LANGER 72 69 71 71 283 S TORRANCE 69 73 70 72 284 T LEHMAN 71 70 73 73 287 D FROST 74 76 71 68 289 E ELS 72 72 69 78 291 N FALDO 72 78 69 72 291 C ROCCA 76 75 67 73 291 V SINGH 75 72 74 72 293 C MONTGOMERIE 79 76 71 71 297 P MICKELSON 73 77 72 76 298

$1 million $250 000 $200 000 $175 000 $150 000 $125 000 $103 330 $103 330 $103 330 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000

1994 N FALDO 66 64 73 69 272 N PRICE 71 66 70 68 275 E ELS 68 70 67 72 277 D FROST 73 67 71 66 277 B LANGER 68 69 74 68 279 T LEHMAN 71 69 70 69 279 S BALLESTEROS 76 71 68 66 281 M MCNULTY 72 69 68 73 282 C PAVIN 71 70 72 70 283 H IRWIN 72 70 74 72 288 C MONTGOMERIE 72 71 72 73 288 V SINGH 80 73 76 78 307

$1 million $250 000 $187 500 $187 500 $137 500 $137 500 $110 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000

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Go golfing for Sea Rescue There’s never been a better excuse!

If your Golf Club or Company is hosting a golf day please consider SEA RESCUE as your beneficiary.

Sea Rescue is the charity that saves lives on South African waters and is run by over 1 000 highly skilled, unpaid volunteers who are on standby day and night throughout the year.

Donations and sponsorships cover our annual running cost of R73.4m. NSRI is SARS 18A and BEE compliant so all donations afford tax and BEE benefits.

For more information please contact Alison Smith on 021 434-4011 or 082 992-1191 or e-mail alison@searescue.org.za www.searescue.org.za

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ROLL OF HONOUR

Nick Price, 1993, 1997 & 1998

1990 D FROST 71 71 71 71 284 J-M OLAZÁBAL 73 70 73 69 285 B LANGER 69 74 70 75 288 S ELKINGTON 77 68 68 75 288 F ALLEM 73 72 74 71 290 R GAMEZ 79 76 69 69 293 K GREEN 75 72 70 76 297 S LYLE 80 67 74 76 297 T ARMOUR III 81 71 71 77 300 T SIMPSON 75 74 73 81 303

$1 million $300 000 $225 000 $225 000 $150 000 $135 000 $135 000 $120 000 $110 000 $100 000

1989 D FROST S HOCH T SIMPSON D POOLEY C BECK A BEAN S LYLE F ALLEM S SIMPSON K GREEN

67 66 75 68 276 67 72 71 69 279 67 69 72 72 280 73 71 76 71 291 72 70 76 76 294 81 74 71 69 295 75 73 76 74 298 76 75 70 78 299 72 75 80 74 301 72 77 75 77 301

$1 million $300 000 $250 000 $200 000 $150 000 $140 000 $130 000 $120 000 $105 000 $105 000

1988

1993 N PRICE M MCNULTY B LANGER F ALLEM N FALDO C PAVIN E ELS D FROST M O’MEARA L JANZEN P STEWART I WOOSNAM

67 66 66 65 264 71 70 68 67 276 72 69 70 68 279 72 70 72 66 280 67 73 72 69 281 71 70 71 73 285 76 69 69 73 287 71 70 73 74 288 74 71 70 75 290 76 73 75 71 295 75 75 72 73 295 76 78 80 75 309

$1 million $250 000 $200 000 $175 000 $150 000 $125 000 $110 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000 $100 000

D FROST 70 69 68 69 276 J COOK 73 68 70 69 280 F COUPLES 74 70 73 67 284 E ELS 70 69 77 68 284 B LANGER 73 69 74 70 286 J-M OLAZÁBAL 72 73 73 74 292 I WOOSNAM 75 73 75 73 296 C PARRY 74 75 76 72 297 N PRICE 72 67 DQ N FALDO 69 72 DQ

$1 million $300 000 $225 000 $225 000 $150 000 $140 000 $130 000 $120 000

1992

1991 B LANGER 68 65 67 72 272 M CALCAVECCHIA 72 67 71 67 277 M MCNULTY 66 71 71 74 282 N FALDO 72 69 68 76 285 F COUPLES 71 71 74 71 287 J BLAND 74 70 68 75 287 I WOOSNAM 73 68 78 74 293 J DALY 72 73 72 77 294 S ELKINGTON 67 74 79 78 298 D FROST 72 75 77 76 300

F ALLEM D POOLEY K GREEN I WOOSNAM C BECK D FROST M MCNULTY B LANGER

72 71 66 69 278 67 72 74 66 279 67 72 70 71 280 72 70 69 72 283 74 70 68 72 284 71 69 72 73 285 71 73 71 72 287 76 74 78 78 306

$1 million $200 000 $100 000 $90 000 $80 000 $70 000 $60 000 $50 000

I WOOSNAM 67 71 68 68 274 $1 million N FALDO 68 71 68 71 278 D FROST 70 70 68 72 280 C STRANGE 72 69 72 70 283 J-M OLAZÁBAL 68 73 70 72 283 F ALLEM 66 69 74 74 283 B LANGER 70 68 73 74 285 L WADKINS 71 72 72 75 290

1986 74 70 70 68 282 69 72 71 70 285 70 68 74 74 286 75 68 75 69 287 75 70 71 71 287 69 69 74 76 288 71 75 71 72 289 73 74 72 71 290 75 74 71 73 293

$300 000 $150 000 $105 000 $81 000 $81 000 $65 000 $60 000 $56 000 $52 000

B LANGER 69 70 68 71 278 L WADKINS 70 69 68 73 280 M O’MEARA 70 71 71 69 281 S BALLESTEROS 73 72 70 67 282 L TREVINO 69 69 71 74 283 TC CHEN 75 67 69 73 284 D GRAHAM 72 74 70 69 285 D WATSON 75 70 68 75 288 H GREEN 76 74 70 69 289 S LYLE 71 70 77 73 291

$300 000 $150 000 $100 000 $87 000 $75 000 $65 000 $60 000 $56 000 $52 000 $50 000

1985 $1 million $300 000 $250 000 $200 000 $145 000 $145 000 $130 000 $120 000 $110 000 $100 000

1984 S BALLESTEROS 69 71 65 74 279 N FALDO 70 72 71 72 285 L TREVINO 74 72 71 69 286 R FLOYD 74 74 75 68 291 I AOKI 76 69 69 78 292 T KITE 70 75 76 72 293 B CRENSHAW 73 74 72 75 294 G PLAYER 76 76 71 74 297 G NORMAN 74 70 78 75 297 D WATSON 73 75 73 76 297

$300 000 $150 000 $105 000 $85 000 $75 000 $67 000 $60 000 $52 700 $52 700 $52 700

1983

1987

M MCNULTY L WADKINS B LANGER TC CHEN I WOOSNAM H CLARK D FROST D GRAHAM G PLAYER

David Frost, 1989, 1990 & 1992

S BALLESTEROS 69 67 70 68 274 F ZOELLER 75 72 67 65 279 N FALDO 70 67 73 69 279 D GRAHAM 67 71 71 70 279 J MILLER 74 70 69 68 281 R FLOYD 71 70 69 71 281 L TREVINO 72 68 72 70 282 C STADLER 74 69 71 70 284 N PRICE 77 68 71 69 285 L NELSON 69 71 73 72 285

$300 000 $127 500 $127 500 $85 500 $71 500 $71 000 $60 000 $56 000 $52 000 $50 000

1982 R FLOYD 72 69 68 71 280 C STADLER 72 67 70 71 280 Floyd won after a play-off 71 73 70 67 281 L TREVINO L WADKINS 70 70 68 74 282 J MILLER 72 68 71 72 283 S BALLESTEROS 67 71 73 75 286 J PATE 67 73 66 80 286 J NICKLAUS 70 71 72 74 287 G NORMAN 71 72 78 70 291 G PLAYER 71 75 72 76 294

$300 000 $150 000 $105 000 $85 000 $75 000 $63 500 $63 500 $56 000 $52 000 $50 000

1981 J MILLER 72 68 66 71 277 S BALLESTEROS 69 68 69 71 277 Miller won after a play-off J NICKLAUS 70 70 69 69 278 L TREVINO 70 74 74 71 289 G PLAYER 70 77 72 73 292

$500 000 $160 000 $130 000 $110 000 $100 000

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Art Deco

C o l l e c t i o n

Inspired by beauty and power, our Art Deco Collection represents a style that is elegant, sophisticated and distinctive.

18ct Rose Gold & Diamond Art Deco Signature Ring Total Diamond Weight 1.00ct Priced from R45,995

Nelson Mandela Square Gateway Theatre of Shopping info@bellagiojewellers.co.za www.bellagiojewellers.co.za +27 (0)11 883 2215 bellagio_jewellers

@BellagioLuxury

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WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE FLOW OF MONEY DIFFERENTLY, YOU CAN DRIVE EFFICIENCY. Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) Transactional Services is proud to bank eThekwini, Ekurhuleni and the Western Cape Provincial Government. At Nedbank CIB, we offer world-class, end-to-end solutions that fulfil our country’s banking needs.

To partner with a public sector team that understands your business, send an email to PublicSector@Nedbank.co.za.

see money differently Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking is a division of Nedbank Ltd Reg No 1951/000009/06. Authorised financial services and registered credit provider (NCRCP16).

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