Burmester was claiming his fourth individual success, having won in Tshwane in 2017 and 2021 in Tenerife. He also joined four other South Africans to have won four titles on the Tour – Dale Hayes, Trevor Immelman, Gary Player and Thriston Lawrence. Dare we suggest that he’s getting into the discussion around winning a Major, despite the fact he’s restricted by his commitment to the LIV Golf Series? He already has an automatic invite to the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon, and his back-to-back wins saw him return to the world’s top 100 men.

Victory at Houghton had seen him go from 154th to 106th in the World Ranking, and the SA Open success further elevated him to 77th. That’s still short of the career-high 55th he reached after his fourth-place finish at the PGA Tour’s 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship in October 2023. He then decided to take the guaranteed riches on offer to set up his family financially and cross to LIV Golf, and he gave up his DP World Tour membership in May.

It looked as though Burmester was set for an early exit at the SA Open, as he wasn’t feeling well on the Friday and was in danger of missing the cut. He finally signed for a 74 to land right on the line. Then, he had the weekend of all weekends, with rounds of 65 and 68 for 11 under and a three-shot win over GolfRSA prodigy Ryan van Velzen, Italy’s Renato Paratore and Sweden’s Jesper Svensson.

“Last week I won and my family wasn’t there,” he said after lifting the famous silverware at Blair Atholl. “This week I won and my wife and my two kids were there. So it means everything, just to have my two boys there seeing me out front, living out my dream – that’s everything, so I’m very thankful.”

He also paid respect to Investec, title sponsors of the SA Open. “To be involved in this tournament and to win it, with a bank that used to sponsor me and got me off the ground when I was just a kid is super special. So to be the SA Open champion is something I’ll never forget. It’s a tournament I watched growing up and I watched a lot of legends.”

They say nice guys come second. But Burmester has shown that they can win too.

The Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation member also made his debut alongside world No 1 Christo Lamprecht and Christiaan Maas at the Eisenhower Trophy in Abu Dhabi in October, where the trio finished seventh – South Africa’s best finish at the World Amateur Team Championship since 1982.

Now his name will be etched on the trophy below those of Major champions Bobby Locke, Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman, and other legends of the game including Dale Hayes, Tony Johnstone, Hennie Otto, Branden Grace and Brandon Stone.

“It’s ridiculous to think that five days ago, I didn’t even know what the Freddie Tait Cup was. What an incredible honour it is to join some of the greats of the game,” he said.

“This year has been a wild ride, and I am so grateful to GolfRSA for giving me so many opportunities to improve and advance my career, and to the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation for all their support. I also have to give a shoutout to the crowds this week. I had an absolute blast playing in front of the fans, they were amazing and incredibly supportive.”

Meanwhile, Lamprecht (76-74) and last year’s Freddie Tait Cup winner Maas (73-73) were among the casualties of the cut that fell at level par and left 71 players in the battle for glory over the last two rounds. Other amateurs to miss the cut included Jordan Burnand, who rallied with a one-under-par 71 after an opening 80, and the country’s top junior, Dan Bennett, who followed up a first-round 72 with a 79 in the second round. The final two amateurs to miss the weekend action were the qualifiers Ivan Verster (78-77) and Keagan Crosbie (76-78).