Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2020 i Compleat Golfer

Last year this magazine celebrated 30 years in existence and it underwent a relaunch in January 2016. We are proud to say it has continued to grow in stature and is the most established publication in the country. Now we have joined forces with the Sunshine Tour, the breeding ground for international champions. We are unashamedly supportive of the Sunshine Tour brand and are excited by the partnership which also extends to our digital and online platforms. In this issue, we talk to the commissioner of the Sunshine Tour, the one and only Selwyn Nathan. He has spent more than 50 years in the industry and talks to us about his life in the game and some of the people and experiences he’s enjoyed along the way. It’s a fascinating…

At some stage we’re going to have to start talking about Dustin Johnson, specifically on the subject of where he stands in the pantheon of golfing greats. At least among those of the past 35 years. When Johnson won the season-ending Tour Championship, having finished on top of the FedExCup standings, he pocketed another $15-million, which took his on-course career earnings to over $67m. That lifted him above Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Adam Scott into fifth place on the all-time list of PGA Tour earnings. Ahead of him lie Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Furyk and Singh are only $4m ahead of him, so expect ‘DJ’ to move into third position behind Woods and Mickelson pretty soon. OK, we hear you say, you can’t base…

Standing on the edge of the 17th green during the final round of the 1994 Open at Tumberry, Nick Price was barely clinging to a glimmer of hope of lifting the trophy he craved most in this world. Having been denied by Tom Watson at Troon in 1982 and by Seve Ballesteros at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1988, Price knew he needed something special to catch Jesper Parnevik over the closing stretch. The Swede, having built up a two-shot lead, was playing the final hole and looked a certainty to become the first Scandinavian to claim a Major title. “We haven’t made a long putt all week,” Price mentioned to his caddie, Jeff (Squeaky) Medlin. “We’ve got to hope Parnevik bogeys 18.” Both wishes came true as first…

I explained the ruling around when you miss your ball in making a stroke at it. Further clarity might be needed as to how to proceed when the ball still lies in the teeing area after the missed stroke. I stated that you need to play the ball as it lies as it is in play. However. I did not clarify that when the ball is still in the teeing area you can move it anywhere within that area and also re-tee the ball if you wish. On the fairway, if you make a stroke and miss the ball completely, you count the stroke and play it as it lies.…

Soweto Country Club is not a very long course, and if you catch it on a day when the wind doesn’t interfere with your game, you can certainly put a good score together. This has a lot to do with numerous elements of risk versus reward on the layout, and there is no better example of this than the par-four 13th hole. There may be a few more visually impressive holes, but there is something really memorable about this one, which measures just 301m from the club tee. To run you through playing this hole, Nhlanhla Lux, communications director of the Sunshine Tour transformation committee, and a passionate golfer who has grown up on the course, shares his views. ‘The further you get into your round at Soweto Country Club,…

• 2000-01 Order of Merit winner: Mark McNulty (R1.60-million)Highest-placed foreigner: Mark McNulty (Zimbabwe, 1st)Players who later won a Major: 2 – Retief Goosen and Trevor ImmelmanFinal earning spot: Rob van Schalkwyk, 190th with R940 • 2001-02 Order of Merit winner: Tim Clark (R1.67-million)Highest-placed foreigner: Justin Rose (England, 2nd) Players who later won a Major: 3 – Justin Rose, Retief Goosen and Trevor ImmelmanFinal earning spot: William Theron, 202nd with R975 • 2002-03 Order of Merit winner: Trevor Immelman (R2.04-million)Highest-placed foreigner: Mark Foster (England, 2nd)Players who later won a Major: 3 – Trevor Immelman, Chari Schwartzel and Louis OosthuizenFinal earning spot: Wilhelm Winsnes, 179th with R975 • 2003-04 Order of Merit winner: Darren Fichardt (R726 544)Highest-placed foreigner: Marc Cayeux (Zimbabwe, 11th)Players who later won a Major: 2 – Chari Schwartzel and…

LEADERBOARD OCTOBER PICK OF THE MONTH BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP WENTWORTH GOLF CLUB 8-11 OCTOBER 2019 winner: England’s Danny Willett won the BMW PGA Championship by three shots after a five-under- par 67 on the final day at Wentworth. Willett began the day tied for the lead with Spain’s Jon Rahm, who shot 70 to finish second, with South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout third. It was the 31-year-old’s biggest win since the 2016 Masters and the seventh of his career. ‘This has been a fairytale week for me,’ said Willett. ‘To win on home soil has been amazing. This course produces fantastic winners and it’s an honour and a privilege to put my name alongside theirs.’ Willett was catapulted into golf’s higher echelons when he took advantage of Jordan Spieth’s spectacular collapse…

Fifty-five. That’s the number. In my long and unimpressive career I have shot 55 for nine holes on several occasions It’s not that hard when you deal in double* bogeys the way I do. But in August a fellow shot 55 for 18 holes, Alexander Hughes (right) thus joined Rhein Gibson in the Guinness Book of Records as the only two golfers to shoot 55 for 18 holes. Amazingly, both rounds were in Oklahoma at two separate clubs, eight years apart This is the same Oklahoma immortalised by Oscar Kammerstein in the eponymous Hollywood blockbuster Oklahoma where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain/And the wavin wheat can sure smell sweet/When the wind comes right behind the rain’ Its safe to assume that for Hughes and Gibson the wind and…

Reducing anxious thinking during a competitive golf round is an immensely advantageous mental skill to develop. Yet few golfers, including elite golfers, have the ability to readily make this play. Anxiety, loosely defined, is ‘a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome’, and is a common ‘intruder of mindfulness. It’s here, it’s there. It’s everywhere. Do any of these anxious thoughts sound familiar to you or your situation the past few trying months? • Am I going to get this dreaded virus? • Will I be able to pay my bills this month? • Am I good enough to compete with the best? • What if I have no idea where the ball is going to go today? Freeing the airwaves of your thinking can…

This month we look at some bag options, whether you’re taking a cart or carrying your clubs. We can all agree that even casual golfers have moved on since 1995 when the then Springbok lock, Phillip Schutte, pulled up into the parking lot at Pretoria Country Club in his newly sponsored VW Golf and manoeuvred his 2.01m, 120kg frame out of it, after seemingly having been shoehorned into it. He opened the boot and reached in with a big paw, taking out four golf clubs and one ball. He then shut the boot. Suffice to say Schutte wasn’t an avid golfer, but that’s one of the many things which makes this sport so great - anyone can play it, and with the handicap system, anyone can beat the opposition on…

Finally, after what seemed an interminable wait, the Els for Autism show got back on the road with a day’s play at Randpark Golf Club in early September. Golf only recently got the green light to proceed in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdowns which all but brought the industry to its knees. Golf clubs had to close their doors, laying off staff in the process, while manufacturers took hard knocks with equipment not moving off the shelves due to closed golf courses. Therefore a great deal of relief, not to mention joy – and, admittedly, players who were ‘scratchy’ with their rusty games after the lockdown – accompanied the Els for Autism day at Randpark. Strict protocols were observed with social distancing being the new buzz phrase. This not…

Have you been able to get back on to the course after your cancer treatment? Late last year I was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and I’m now in recovery after having extensive treatment. I have just started swinging the golf club slowly while I wait for my clubs to arrive from Ernie [laughs]. How did you get started in the game? I started playing golf in 1989 after I was banned from the World Surfski Championships in Hawaii due to the sporting boycott. I had won the event seven times in a row. So I took up golf and I went from a 24-30 handicap to scratch inside a year. In December 1990, I was playing with Graham Beck at Royal Cape and he said if I could break…

Nick Price kept another Major away from the Americans on Sunday - that's eight of the last 10 and four in a row, if you’re counting. Price won The PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa by six shots over the best field since, well, since ever. All top 40 guys in the Sony Ranking were there, which had never happened before. And when you put this with his Open Championship win in July, it means the Zimbabwean belongs with Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead on the list of seven guys who’ve won back-to-back Majors since World War II. He’s one of those relentlessly cheery guys who signs every T-shirt and smiles for every Kodak and shakes every paw. Even…

Nine months in, and we can all agree that nobody saw what this year had in store for us. It goes beyond the pandemic, too, as just before Covid hit our shores we lost Kobe Bryant, a sporting icon and dedicated family man. Throw in the other ‘lowlights’ from the year and it becomes clear the world really has turned upside down – and then inside out – in 2020. As we all navigate this ‘new normal’ and speculate what next year may hold for us, my wife and I received life-changing news. In April we will be welcoming our first child, who we pray will arrive safely and, hopefully, with a detailed instruction manual. The more I think about becoming a father, the more I reflect on my own…

1. Who was the inaugural winner of the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit, in 1971-72?2. Who has won the Order of Merit title the most times?3. Who was the last foreigner to top the Order of Merit?4. Who was the last golfer to win the Order of Merit more than once?5. Only two golfers have won the Order of Merit three times in a row. Who are they? 6. Three Zimbabweans have won the Order of Merit. Who are they?7. Which Order of Merit winner has won the most money in a season? Clue: it was in 2016-17.8. Who was the first player to win over Rl-million on the Order of Merit in a single Sunshine Tour season? Clue: it was in 1998-99.9. Since the Sunshine Tour started in 1971-72,…

This month’s tip is the most simple one I’ve got. It’s just an easy way to work on your feel and creativity around the green. All you have to do is take three wedges (in my case it’s 58deg, 52deg and PW) and chip a ball, with each club, within a clublength of a cup. If you miss one (outside a clublength) you start again. Once you’ve done that to a cup you can either go to another cup or change the shot just a bit. This drill has really helped me develop a better understanding of how I prefer to chip. It made me realise I’m a lot better with a 52deg that rolls out a bit instead of a spinny 58deg. You might be completely different but this…

Lexi Thompson had social media buzzing for getting tangled with the rules again at the AIG Women’s British Open. The comments were not kind, but the R&A Rules team was on hand to apply the rules as they stand in the book, not in the court of public opinion. On TV Thompson could be seen moving a tuft of grass behind her ball and seemingly improving conditions affecting its lie, which is prohibited by Rule 8.1a. However, upon reviewing the footage, chief referee David Rickman ruled that although she did move the grass, it did not improve the conditions and therefore no penalty applied. At first glance it does look like there may have been a breach. But one of the first things you are taught as a rules official…

Hank Haney was wrong about the winner of the 2019 Women’s British Open. So, for that matter, was he wrong about the 2020 Women’s British Open champion’s nationality, which was also the first women’s Major of the year, thanks to the havoc Covid-19 wreaked on the calendar. Hinako Shibuno, the 20-year-old known as the ‘Smiling Cinderella’ captured last year’s Women’s Open in only her second tournament outside Japan, and in doing so she became only the second Japanese golfer to win a women’s Major. In August this year, Sophia Popov, ranked 304th in the world, became the first German to win a women’s Major, also the British Open. Where are all the Korean golfers the 65-year-old Haney, former swing coach and instructor to Tiger Woods, referenced on his radio show…

Give us a snapshot of how you got started in golf. For as long as I can remember, golf has been my passion. From an early age I was eager to caddie for my dad or knock a ball around the backyard. As I grew older, Saturdays involved a rather long scooter ride, with my clubs on my back, from Faerie Glen to Monument Golf Club. Here I met Matt Heyns, who employed me part time in the shop. There I started ‘earning to pay for my round’. What made you decide on golf as a career? During the time I was working for Matt at Monument, my love for the game and people grew. I went on to study club management and golf directorship, completing my PGA apprenticeship under…

When Sophia Popov claimed the Women’s British Open, she did so as a rank 100-1 outsider. Few had even heard of the 27- year-old German before she teed off at Royal Troon, ranked 304 in the world. It would not be unreasonable to suggest the majority of the field at the opening Major of the 2020 season would be unrecognisable to most casual golf fans. Even fewer would be able to name more than two female golfers in the world’s top 10. The reality is that the men’s game receives infinitely more attention, coverage and sponsorship than the women’s game. So just who are the top-ranked women in the world (as at 31 August) - and how many do you recognise? 10. Hyo Joo Kim (25, South Korea) • 1…