CREAM OF THE CROP

In the more than 50 years that I’ve been involved in tournament golf, I’ve never been more excited about the South African golfing scene. Let’s start at the top and work our way down to the junior level.

Aldrich Potgieter has just won on the Korn Ferry Tour, making him the youngest winner in around 90 years. He has already played at three Majors, which he qualified for after his win at the 2022 Amateur Championship. Aldrich reminds me a lot of Thriston Lawrence who, at 27, is already a multiple winner on the DP World Tour.

Thriston came so close at the Dubai Invitational in January, where he finished tie-second with Rory McIlroy, one shot behind Tommy Fleetwood. Casey Jarvis, a Challenge Tour winner in 2023, and Jayden Schaper are improving every week on the DP World Tour. I think they both may win this year.

They are all products of the GolfRSA National Squad.

Casey is a dedicated player with flair. He’s aggressive on the course and makes tons of birdies. Jayden is small in stature and he calmly navigates his way around the course. At the co-sanctioned events in South Africa last year, he could easily have won had his putting been more consistent.

Another past winner of The Amateur Championship is Ernie Els’ nephew, Jovan Rebula. Jovan looks and behaves much like Ernie on the golf course. Although he has taken a little longer than his illustrious uncle to start producing good results, he is well on his way.

Ryan van Velzen is the son of the popular club professional, Rob van Velzen. Rob has taught his son well as Ryan is the complete package and is already a three-time winner on the Sunshine Tour. Another exciting player is the ex-Milnerton pro Luca Filippi, who backed up two runner-up finishes with his maiden Sunshine Tour win at the Blue Label Challenge at Sun City last year. Luca and Ryan also won the Bain’s Whisky Ubunye Championship as a team.

The 30 players in the GolfRSA National Squad are the cream of the crop in South African amateur golf. Christo Lamprecht, who won the 2023 Amateur, had that amazing first round at The Open Championship and is a seriously exciting golfer to watch. Daniel Bennett is another standout. His 21-shot win at the Nomads SA Boys U-19 Stroke Play Championship was truly amazing, interestingly beating Aldrich’s record of 20 shots from the previous year.

It’s also heartening for me to see that we have so many terrific young golfers coming from different parts of South Africa.

How and why does South Africa produce so many wonderful golfers? I believe there are a couple of reasons. The first is our golf clubs, who welcome juniors and encourage them to play and compete from a young age. The second is that our weather allows us to play all year round.

Since the early 1960s, we have had a full schedule of junior tournaments for youngsters to learn how to play in competitive conditions, firstly through the South African Golf Foundation, and then GolfRSA picked up the baton and continues to host top-class events.

Our coaches are amazing, but often don’t receive the credit they are due. From Gary Player, who learned the basics from Jock Verwey, to the best local coaches today, like Jamie Gough, Dougie Wood, Grant Veenstra and many others.

We’ve also had wonderful women golfers like Jackie Mercer, Jeannette Bird and Gilly Tebbutt, but it was Major champion Sally Little who set the international standard when she came on to the scene in the 1980s.

Then came Ashleigh Simon, now Buhai, who was a young phenomenon. Ashleigh won the SA Women’s Open twice as an amateur and as a pro, and is now a Major champion and multiple winner on the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour.

Caitlyn Macnab is an exciting young talent who won everything in South Africa, including the Jabra Ladies Classic as an amateur. She is now a regular winner on the US college circuit, and it won’t be long before we see her on the LPGA Tour with Ashleigh.

Excitingly, two US college graduates, Cara Gorlei and Danielle du Toit, earned their LET cards for 2024 and we look forward to their debut alongside the likes of Nicole Garcia and Lee-Anne Pace, another legend of the South African women’s game.

Paula Reto is another South African campaigning on the LPGA Tour. In 2022, she had her first win on the Sunshine Ladies Tour and promptly won the LPGA Tour’s Canadian Women’s Open, beating Nelly Korda by one stroke.

The girls on the GolfRSA National Squad are also making great strides. In addition to Caitlyn, Kajal Mistry and Kaiyuree Moodley have done outstandingly on the US college circuit. Gabbi Venter won the St Andrews Links Girls Championship in 2022, and 16-year-old Gia Raad clinched the 2023 English Girls’ Open Amateur Stroke Play title.

Squad players and graduates have recorded 18 individual international wins abroad and won 29 times during the GolfRSA SA Swing events since the Squad launched in 2016, and South Africa won the Junior Golf World Cup in 2019. By giving the best amateurs all the opportunities to improve and compete internationally, we are ensuring that our young players turn professional when they are ready to take the leap, and not losing them because they joined the pro ranks too early.