Golf In South Africa

Press, Volume C, Issue 29433, 8 February 1961, Page 13

Golf In South Africa

Before I arrived in South Africa, I imagined that such player* as Bobby Locke, Harold Henning, Trevor and Brian Wilkes, Denis Hutchin* son and Brie Moore would provide the stiffest opposition, and that they would be the only ones to worry about in the tournaments. I have found already that such is not the case. There are many young professionals in South Africa capable of winning these tour* naments.

Since Gary Player's tremendous success overseas, there has been a marked increase in the number of young players turning professional In my first South African tournament, the Western Province open at the Mowbray club. Cape Town, Cedric Amm, the club's 20-year-old assistant, carded two 70‘s in the first two rounds. So at the half-way stage he shared the lead with Belief Waltman, who is only 22, but who has already had a season of golf in the United States. Alan Brookes and Bobby Verwey, both aged 19, also showed great potential in this tournament

This year Gary Player has decided to play the full winter tour in the United States, and so he will miss all the tournaments in South Africa, including the open. Last year he won every tournament in South Africa; his absence makes the tournaments more open, although Henning could enjoy similar success this year.

Henning won the Western Province open by one shot from Verwey, who is Gary Player’s brother-in-law. After an indifferent first round of 74, Henning recovered well with rounds of 70, 69 and 71. Verwey’s first-round 67, the lowest of the tournament, was one shot more than the course record established by Player in the Open last year.

Although there had been a long dry spell before the tournament, the course was in exceptionally good order.

Water had been poured on day and night for weeks. There were gale-force winds for the practice rounds, but the tournament weather was almost perfect

Par Score Par for the course was 75, but the scratch score should have been more like 71, tor all the s's could be reached in two shots. Yet only Henning would have equalled par had it been 71—his winning score was 284. The difficulty in scoring lay in the penalties for being off line. The fairways were narrow, and bordered by long, tufty grass and sandy wastes. Any shot off the line or badly positioned invariably meant a shot lost.

With a score of 294, I finished joint tenth with Bobby Locke, and so made money in my first tournament. While practising, I holed putts from all corners of the greens, but in the tournament my putting let me down. My round of 77 was the result of 38 putts— I missed two of 18 inches and many more of under six feet. To the green, my ’ game was unsteady at times, but with good, consistent nutting those lapses could have been rectified. However, I was pleased with my game—and with finishing in the money.