Celebrity Golfer Profile - Pierre Joubert, CEO Titans Cricket Union

1. Where were you born and what schools did you attend? Born in Pretoria – Attended L/S Swartkop & H/S Eldoraigne.

2. Did you come from a sporting background? Yes, very much so. Mom was a double Springbok and dad played Carlton cup rugby for Police.

3. What other sports did you do at school? Rugby, Athletics & Tennis.

4. When did you realize that cricket was the sport you want to take further? When I was contracted at the age of 17 to represent the Titans.

5. You played first class cricket for over 15 years in South Africa as well as England, what are some of your fondest memories? Winning trophies in front of my family at SuperSport Park. I was never one for personal stats etc, but enjoyed the team winning.

6. Who has been the most influential person in your cricket career? Too many to mention.

7. Having been a all rounder your whole career, did you prefer batting or bowling? I preferred batting because it was less work, but the bowling and especially the battle in the middle got my juices flowing.

8. Soon after retiring you got into coaching, did you always want to get into coaching and the development of cricket and cricketers? I started coaching while I was playing. I did like the one-on-one coaching and discussions with players. There was never the thought of doing it for a living at the time.

9. You have recently taken over from Jacques Faul as CEO of Titans Cricket, what were your immediate challenges? I’ve only taken over in an acting capacity for now, but the COVID is a massive challenge for the union and SuperSport Park.

10. You have been a cricket commentator as well since retiring from the game, do you still enjoy commentating and how do you make time for all this? The commentating has been put on hold for now – I do enjoy this as we get to see the best young talent on the circuit. We also get to spend some time with ex-players so the banter never stops.

11. How did this lockdown influence Titans and domestic cricket and how difficult is it to plan ahead? We are lucky to an extent, because this is our off-season. We are affected because our partners and sponsors are struggling during this time. The positive to this is the new skills we are learning and finding a way to be productive. Planning is very difficult because of the unsure future of the macro and micro environments that persist as of now.

12. Exciting times ahead for South African Cricket with a lot of former players getting involved, what are your thoughts on this? Good to see ex players giving back their experiences and upskilling the youth quicker to prepare them for test cricket.

GETTING ON TO GOLF

1. When did you start playing golf? About 12-13 years ago, after my cricket career.

2. What is your current handicap? 13.5.

3. Are you a member of a golf club? Yes, Serengeti Estates.

4. What is your favorite club in the bag? Putter.

5. When you play, do you walk or take a cart? Cart most of the time.

6. If you could pick a golf swing, who’s would it be? Adam Scott.

7. Have you ever had a hole-in-one? Unfortunately not.

8. What would be your ideal fourball? AB de Villiers, Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen and myself.