The long and short of being Jbe Kruger
JBE Kruger may be the smallest golfer on tour, but he’s also one of the longest hitters – often booming drives well over 300m, to the astonishment of spectators as well as his much bigger and taller fellow competitors who find they just can’t belt it out there as far as he does.
And yesterday, ahead of today’s first round in the R3.5-million Telkom PGA Championship on Country Club Joburg’s Woodmead course, the little man revealed a couple of secrets as to just where the booming tee-shots come from.
“When I was playing amateur golf, I realised that, being a little guy, I just had to hit the ball a lot harder than the other players if I was to compete,” says Kruger, 25, who is bidding for back-to-back victories this week following his brilliant debut win on the European Tour on Sunday in the Avantha Masters in India.
“So right from the start, I learnt to swing hard and today I can honestly say that the harder I hit the ball, the straighter it goes.”
That may fly in the face of the so-called wisdom of the swing gurus and coaches who tend to advocate swinging within one’s limits.
But then Jbe’s circumstances are different and he has adapted accordingly. He also speaks fondly of the influence his father, Hannie, has had in his life and career.
“My dad’s also a little guy and he was a really good marathon runner in his day. He used to kill the people on the uphills by surging past them, and he always advocated how important it was to work on one’s physical strength. That rubbed off on me so in a very real sense my strength also comes from him.”
Kruger is also a man of faith from his top to his toes and he shared yesterday how, in a strange way, he felt his first win on the European Tour would come in India.
“To see the poverty there, right in your face, is a very humbling thing which brings you down to earth.”
Maybe, he theorised, that put him in the right mental state to win because he was able to make the most of his own far more fortunate circumstances and, as a result, could head out on to the course each day and play attacking golf.