Naidoo, 61, top at best golf course in SA
WINNING the Durban Country Club Championships last month at 61 years old, was “the most significant moment” for senior amateur golfer Basil Naidoo.
“The club has the best golf course in the country and to come out on top in an open age division felt great,” said Naidoo, who has been golfing for 50 years.
Naidoo, of Phoenix, is the number 2 senior player in the country. He will participate in the senior amateur championships in Ireland next month.
Among his fondest memories was captaining Tim Clarke and Rory Sabbatini when they were amateurs in the South African Interprovincial Tournament at the Royal Durban Golf Course in 1994.
Another was qualifying for the South Africa Open at the Durban Country Club in 1991.
Naidoo, who started as a member at the Mount Edgecombe golf club, joined the Greater Durban Golf Club in 1998.
While here, he, and other players, coached children to play the sport.
Speaking about his interest in golf, Naidoo, formerly of Avoca, said: “My dad was a caddie master at the Beachwood golf course and I used to take his clubs to practise in the garden at our home.
“In 1974, when I was 16, my cousin, James, took me to the Durban Golf Club and that’s when my interest really sparked.”
He won his first tournament, the Coca-Cola Championship in 1975 at the Durban Golf Club, while a pupil at Clare Hills Secondary School.
Naidoo went on to win the same tournament the following year.
After he matriculated in 1976, he relocated to Johannesburg and secured a job at Stewarts and Lloyds, a construction and engineering company.
He worked as a sales clerk for six years before returning to Durban in 1982.
Naidoo worked for the Durban branch of the company and went on to start his own business, Valve Specialists, in Riverhorse Valley in 1990. The business is still in operation.
He is married to Sushie and they have three children.
His sons, Leon and Prince, also play golf. Leon is a scratch and Prince plays off a 6.