Haindl returns to his happy hunting ground
ALEX Haindl’s life-changing moment came in early May 2006 at the Durban Country Club where he won his maiden Sunshine Tour event – the Suncoast Classic – in a play-off and the 38-year-old has not looked back since.
In his early days as a professional he had battled at times – sleeping in his car to save as much as he could – but the win at Country Club changed his life and today he has five Sunshine Tour wins with the latest coming last week at the Vodacom Origins of Golf at the Sishen Golf Club in Northern Cape.
He has won two in Kwazulunatal – the first at DCC and then at Mount Edgecombe Country Club where be beat local favourite Jared Harvey by a shot in the Sun Sibaya Challenge in 2017.
His other wins came at the 2018 Vodacom Origins at St Francis Links and the Sunbet Challenge at Sun City in June this year, and now the Bloemfontein professional returns to Durban Country Club on September 16-18 for the third leg of the 2021/22 Vodacom Origins of Golf. PGA TOUR
ERIK van Rooyen has continued his rise on the PGA Tour with another fantastic finish, this time at the BMW Championship in the Fedexcup Play-offs. He finished in fifth place at 21-under-par and that moved him to No 27 on the list of players who qualify for this week’s Tour Championship where only the Top 30 qualify. Two weeks ago Van Rooyen finished seventh at the Northern Trust which was also a Fedexcup Play-off event.
The South Africa has made tremendous strides this year and is now ranked No 55 in the world.
The good news for Van Rooyen is that he will be in all four Majors next year following his BMW Championship top five.
Charl Schwartzel tied for 17th at 15-under while Louis Oosthuizen tied for 38th at 10-under and Branden Grace tied for 52nd.
Oosthuizen, who is No 14 on the Fedexcup list, will join Van Rooyen this weekend at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Catch all the action on Supersport from today to Sunday from 7pm, GOL (213).
SOLHIEM CUP
THIS week’s major attraction on the women’s scene is the Solheim Cup at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
The last event, held at Gleneagles in Scotland in 2019, was a dramatic win for Europe (14.5-13.5), as Suzann Pettersen sank the winning putt on the last hole in the final match.
Day one and Day two have a morning session of foursomes and an afternoon session of four-ball matches, while Day three is singles.
The event will be broadcast live on Supersport.
TV Times: Saturday: 9pm-midnight (SS Grandstand); Sunday: 9pm-midnight (SS Golf); Monday: 6pm-midnight (SS Golf)
THIS WEEK
With only two South Africans involved in the PGA Tour this week, most of the travelling professionals will be looking ahead to the DA Automobiles Italian Open which starts today.
The list is headed by Dean Burmester and will also include Brandon Stone, George Coetzee winner of the Vodacom Origin of Golf just a month ago, Thomas Aiken, Zander Lombard, Justin Harding, Wilco Nienaber, Garrick Higgo, Daniel van Tonder, Justin Walters, Haydn Porteous and Darren Fichardt. The European Tour’s Italian Open will be televised live on Supersport.
Meanwhile Stacy Bregman, Nicole Garcia, Lejan Lewthwaite, Cassandra Hall and Nobuhle Dlamini will be at the Ladies European Tour event - Creekhouse Ladies Open this week.
CANON KWAZULU-NATAL DISABLED OPEN
Leg amputee Robin Singh won the Canon Kwazulu-natal Disabled Open at Mount Edgecombe Country Club’s The Woods course after a play-off with Namibia’s Chris Wood.
They tied on 160 in the strokeplay event and Singh won on the first play-off hole.
Craig Moorgas won the Physically-disabled Stableford category on 70 pts; Jay-jay Botha won the Deaf Strokeplay on 162 and Shannon Van Der Berg won the Deaf Stableford with 63 pts.