Locals chasing their slice of the co-sanctioned cake
IT’S hard not to like Andy Sullivan, the Englishman who won the Joburg Open on Sunday to add to his South African Open victory in January.
What endears people to the 27-year-old is that he plays golf with something close to a permanent, boyish smile on his face. And his attitude out on the course is exemplary. No temper tantrums, no sour looks. He’s just happy to be earning good money doing something he loves.
But Sullivan winning two multi-million rand, cosanctioned events on the Sunshine Tour is not sitting too well with SA’s leading professionals. It’s not that they resent the little Englishman making all those birdies, but they have aspirations of their own.
Which is why players like Richard Sterne, Jaco van Zyl and George Coetzee hope things will be different in the Africa Open – also co-sanctioned with the European Tour – starting at East London Golf Club tomorrow.
It will be recalled that in 2008 Sterne won the Joburg Open, the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the SA Open. Now the 33year-old has set himself the unique target of become the first winner of all the European Tour co-sanctioned tournaments staged in this country.
And the Africa Open is at the top of his list. “Most people would think that kind of record is impossible, but I think it can be done,” he says. “So, hopefully, I can find some form this week.”
Sterne comfortably made the cut in the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington last week, but a pair of 72s over the weekend saw him slip down the leaderboard and he will be looking for a better showing this time.
Van Zyl, meanwhile, will be hoping for a maiden European Tour win this week and he is in fine form, having tied for second place in the Joburg Open and shared third before that in the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt.
He’s done exceptionally well in the Africa Open before, finishing fourth in 2011 and 2012, sharing a runner-up finish in 2013 before tying for fifth last year.
“I’ve been in contention for the last four years, but the course has never showed me any mercy,” he said. “Buffalo City is always my favourite stop of the season, because my dad, some other family members and friends all travel here for the tournament. We have a good old fashioned boys’ week and I would love to lift the trophy with all those guys surrounding the 18th green. I think East London owes me one and this year I hope to collect.
“What I love about this course, is that it gives you a lot of options. It’s not a bomber’s course. You need accuracy and you need a hot putter.”
Coetzee was the defending champion in the Joburg Open and was in the hunt at one stage but a final round 73 blew his chances, and he will want to make amends this week.
Sullivan, then, leads a strong overseas challenge in a tournament in which last year’s winner Thomas Aiken will not be defending his title. Twelve months ago Aiken, his wife Katie lugging his golf bag, won here in sensational fashion by sinking a 45-footer for birdie at the first extra hole to defeat England’s Oliver Fisher.
But as the winner of the 2014 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit he qualifies for this week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship at the Doral Resort in Miami where the prize fund is a hefty $9-million. So after finishing tied 10th in the Joburg Open he boarded a plane for the US in search of a big pay day.