December 2020 - Golf RSA

Month: December 2020

GolfRSA National tournaments are a GO in 2021

30 December 2020 – GolfRSA is delighted to confirm that the three Nomads national events scheduled for January 2021 will go ahead in compliance with the National Government Regulations and GolfRSA Consolidated Risk Mitigation Guidelines. The 2021 season will kick off on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, where the Nomads National Order of Merit (NOoM) Coastal…

GolfRSA Statement – 29 December 2020

GolfRSA Statement – 29 December 2020 Dear Unions, Clubs and Golfers, In accordance with the SA Government Regulations for “Adjusted Alert Level 3” issued in terms of section 27(2) and published in the Government Gazette No 44044 on 29 December 2020, GolfRSA confirms that golf may continue to be played. Golfers and Clubs must strictly…

Festive Season message from GolfRSA CEO Grant Hepburn

As the end of one of the most challenging years in recent history approaches, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all golfers a safe and restful Festive Season. When we look back on 2020, few people will have fond memories of a tumultuous year where the Covid-19 pandemic threw the world as we…

GolfRSA – A look back at the 2020 highlights

24 December 2020 – Caitlyn Macnab and Casey Jarvis dominated the headlines early in the year with their unprecedented “double-double” for Ekurhuleni and Gauteng juniors Samantha Whateley and Kim Turgut drew the curtain on the shortened 2020 season with a joint victory in Kwazulu-Natal. Macnab and Jarvis joined a short and exclusive list of golfers…

Old dog Daniel sparkles in GolfRSA Race to 2021

24 December 2020 – If there’s an alarm clock that goes off when a player turns 40, signalling it’s time to pack away the clubs, Eddie Daniel is deaf to it. The super competitive 66-year-old built a serious case that golf has no age limit when he won the Mpumalanga Golf Union GolfRSA Race to…

Telfer hitting the high notes in the US

24 December 2020 – GolfRSA Elite Squad member Kaleigh Telfer made her debut in this week’s Arnold Palmer Cup where she joined the cream of the US college crop in the Ryder Cup-style event, co-founded by the legendary Major champion and the Golf Coaches Association of America in 1997. The invitation to compete in this…

GolfRSA Rising Star: Introducing Kesha Louw

For the final segment of our 2020 GolfRSA Rising Star Series, we headed to Border to get to know one of our new GolfRSA Womens Golf South Africa Talent Identification squad members, Kesha Louw. A sports fanatic, this 13-year-old firecracker has earned junior provincial colours in tennis, hockey and golf and last year, she rewrote…

Vorster eyes comeback in 2021

24 December 2020 – With his injury trouble practically squared away, Martin Vorster is working harder than ever to kick the 2021 season off on a high note. Still South Africa’s highest ranked amateur in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR), the World No 30 made his first competitive appearance after a lengthy seven-month layoff…

Breaking through in 2020

18 December 2020 – The masses may not remember this year the fondest terms, but for a trio of GolfRSA National Squad graduates, 2020 will go down as the year that they announced themselves on the international stage. Garrick Higgo Age: 21 World Ranking: 90th Professional wins: 4 Season earnings: €324,740.61 (R6.2 million) Having started…

Double delight for PGA of SA’s Ficalbi in Mbombela

18 December 2020 – Ivano Ficalbi reeled in a trio of birdies over the five closing holes at Mbombela Golf Club on Tuesday to seal a successful title defence in the PGA National Pro-Am hosted by Darren Plumb. The Chief Executive of the Professional Golfers Association of South Africa had swapped his desk for a…

Lin lucks out with birthday wish in the SA Blind Open

18 December 2020 – Not many people would undertake an 80-hour roundtrip journey to compete in a golf tournament, but that is exactly what 2020 South African Blind Open Championship winner Luke Lin did this December. The 18-year-old American scholar recently lifted the B3 Division title in the SA Blind Golf Association’s flagship event at…

Old King Cole

December 2020 – When Cole Cruickshank fulfils his lifelong dream to play golf as a professional in the upcoming months, he will do so at the ripe old age of 23. That’s a full two years older than world No 14 Matthew Wolff, three years more life experience than rising South African star Wilco Nienaber…

SA Blind Golf Open tees off at Glendower

8 December 2020 – After all the excitement at Sun City this past weekend with Christiaan Bezuidenhout celebrating another victory for South Africa in the SA Open, local blind golfers are hoping to follow suit in the South African Blind Open Championship, which teed off at Glendower Golf Club today. Former Protea blind cricket player…

Bezuidenhout & Jarvis bank big wins in 2020 SA Open

6 December 2020 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Casey Jarvis scored a clean sweep for Ekurhuleni in the South African Open Championship on Sunday when Bezuidenhout added his name to the greats of South African golf with a five-shot victory and Jarvis lifted the Freddie Tait Cup as the leading amateur at the Gary Player Country…

SA Open Fast Facts – Most Prolific Champions

December 2020 – The South African Open is one of the oldest golf championships, dating to 1903. Not surprisingly, Grand Slam champion Gary Player has the most victories, with Bobby Locke – the youngest champion at age 17 – second with nine. Gary Player: 1956, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981…

SA Open Memories – Levenson’s Longevity

December 2020 – “The thrill of lifting the national title was immense. Once your name is on that trophy, among those of some of the greatest players in the world, the thrill never goes away.” – Gavan Levenson, the champion in 1985 at Royal Durban Country Club. Two-time European Tour champion Gavan Levenson made it 40…

SA Open Memories – Johnstone’s Double Glory

December 2020 – “Ernie and I were neck-and-neck all through the final round and it was one of the best rounds of match play I can remember playing. Even if the records say I won by seven shots, it never felt like that.” – Tony Johnstone, 1993 at Durban Country Club. A young, freckled-faced Tony Johnstone…

SA Open Memories – Hayes’ Revenge

December 2020 – “I was absolutely seething that they wouldn’t give me a free drop and Brian Henning told me the best way to show them, was to go out there and win it. And so I did.” – Dale Hayes, 1976 winner at Houghton Golf Club. In 1953, Dale Hayes watched his father Otway lose…

SA Open Memories – Allan makes it a Henning Treble

December 2020 – “It took me until the next SA Open to see my name on the trophy and finally believe that I’d done it. That’s the measure of the prestige of winning the SA Open.” – Allan Henning, champion in 1963 at Bloemfontein Golf Club. Allan Henning teed it up in 33 consecutive South…

Bezuidenhout chasing SA Open glory

December 2020 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout has the chance to join South African golf royalty as he takes a five-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the South African Open at the Gary Player Country Club. Bezuidenhout signed for his third consecutive 67 to top the leaderboard on 15 under par, with Dylan Frittelli and Jamie…