Sports stars to hit the fairways
Sportsmen better known for other disciplines, such as cricketer Vernon Philander, to vie for Shoot-out honours
WHEN Vernon Philander eventually bowls his final over some time in the future, perhaps he should consider making his living on the fairways of the world instead of the cricket pitches.
Quote remarkably, the Proteas’ fast bowler only took up golf two years ago and is already down to a two-handicap. He has already broken par a few times, shooting rounds of 70 and 69 at Clovelly.
Today, though, the 29-yearold is at beautiful, sub-tropical Zimbali for the first round of the Telkom SuperSport Shootout – the annual charity driven event which brings together top sportsmen and women, captains of industry and people from the world of politics.
And while the focus is on raising money for the needy, the golf gets pretty serious too and Philander is pumped up for the 36-hole event. “I’ve really fallen in love with this game,” he said after a booming drive left him no more than an eightiron approach at Zimbali’s par5 eighth yesterday in a practice round with fellow cricketergolfer Herschelle Gibbs.
Also relatively new to the game and here for the Shootout is former Bafana goalkeeping legend Brian Baloyi. And while he saved a good many penalties in his stellar 20-year career, he was, understandably, never entirely sure whether to dive left or right.
And it’s the same with his golf. “I’m ambidextrous and when I took up golf about 18 months ago I had two sets of clubs – one right-handed and one left-handed,” he says with a chuckle. “I was switching from one to another which had me in two minds which to use, so I’ve finally opted for the left-handed ones and given the others away.
“I’ve also become passionate about golf and former sportsmen like ourselves from other codes find we need to be committed to whatever else we start playing, so I’m going to be committed now to these left-handed clubs and see where they take me.”
Philander and Baloyi are two of the many sporting stars who will be trying for individual honours today and tomorrow but also team glory because, as of this year, a Ryder Cup for mat has been introduced with Jabu Mabuza, chairman of Telkom, captaining Team Telkom, and Imtiaz Patel, chief executive of MultiChoice/SuperSport, leading Team SuperSport.
Of the close to 120 competitors there is, for example, rugby’s Breyton Paulse, Chester Williams, Flip van der Merwe, Hanyani Shimange, John Smit, Naas Botha, Nick Mallett and Toks van der Linde – while on the cricketing front Philander and Gibbs are joined by Graeme Smith, scratch golfer Lance Klusener, and Shaun Pollock (a two-time club champion at Zimbali).
From the football world, the likes of Baloyi, Mark Williams, Shaun Bartlett, Neil Tovey and Irvin Khoza will be on the tee today, while legendary paddler Oscar Chalupsky – a mean golfer – is also in the line-up, as are former tennis Grand Slam doubles winners Danie Visser and Kevin Ullyett (again, a man reportedly pretty handy with a golf club instead of a racquet).
Former tennis ace Kevin Curren, who reached No 5 in the world in the 1980s, is the Shootout’s founder and because he is also the tournament director with organising duties he won’t be teeing it up over the next two days, although he too plays off a two-handicap.
The charity-driven tournament is in its 11th year and in that time has raised about R21-million (a grand annual auction is central to this) for, among other beneficiaries, the Gozololo Centre for Needy Children and LIV Village.
Gozololo, which means “stay for a while”, was established in 1997 by Durban businessman Terry Rosenberg and Miriam Cele.
Funds raised help provide for the clothing, food and education of these children – their needs are immense – in the KZN KwaMashu community.
LIV Village, which is a sustainable working far m, was started by Tich Smith, the former Natal and SA cricketer.
It provides holistic residential care for orphaned and vulnerable children. Their credo is Rescue a Child, Restore a Life, Raise a Leader and Release a Star.
Watch on SuperSport TV today and tomorrow from 1pm.