Golf Fix: 100th South African Open

IF YOU’RE A GOLF nut who can’t get enough golf on the tube, my tip is the 100th playing of the South African Open, this week’s event on the European Tour and Sunshine Tour. (The PGA and LPGA tours, of course, are idle. The Asian Tour is playing its season finale, the Black Mountain Masters, which is televised throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.)

Played at Durban Country Club, the South African Open field includes South African golf stars Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Tim Clark, Trevor Immelman and Louis Oosthizen, the current British Open champion. Thursday’s first round was delayed by heavy rain and will resume on Friday.

Dating back to 1903, the South African Open is one of the world’s oldest golf championships. (The oldest, of course, is the British Open, or The Open Championship, as non-Yanks call it.) Gary Player has won his homeland’s tournament 13 times. Player’s first victory came in 1956, the last in 1981. Fellow South African Bobby Locke won nine times from 1935 to 1955. Els has four South African Open titles. Goosen, Immelman and Clark have two wins apiece.

Els assessed his year and chance this week in his online diary.

“I came out of the blocks pretty fast and won twice in March during the Florida swing,” Ernie wrote, “but after the US Open my game went off the boil and it’s been a struggle to get things back on track. But, as I’ve said in my last few updates, during the last month or so there have been signs that the hard work I’ve put in has started to pay off. If I can roll the ball well on the greens this week, then I can finish the year on a high note and hopefully win my fifth national championship.”

2010 South African Open TV Schedule

All U.S. TV coverage is on Golf Channel.

Friday, 12/17
9:30 AM – 12:30 PM ET

Saturday, 12/18
9:30 AM – 12:30 PM ET

Sunday, 12/19
9:30 AM – 12:30 PM ET

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Harry Lime/Flickr)

Tom Watson Demonstrates Bobby Locke Putting Grip

SOUTH AFRICAN GOLF GREAT Bobby Locke was born on this day in 1917.* As Tom Watson says in the above video clip, many players thought Locke was the best putter of all time. Locke’s artistry on the greens helped him to become one of the greatest players of his day, winning the British Open four times from 1949 to 1957.

After playing exhibition matches with Locke in South Africa, Sam Snead suggested Locke come to America. Sam later said his fellow pros chided him because Locke was so proficient at collecting money from American tournament purses. Locke won 15 times on the PGA Tour and was victorious in nine South African Opens over a 20-year span. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977.

Watson offers a few more tips on the putting grip (including the reverse overlap grip), as well as pointers on putting setup. Then he sinks a slippery 30 footer. Bobby Locke would be proud.

−The Armchair Golfer

*Today in Golf History is a daily feature of USGA.org (United States Golf Association).

Oosthuizen Joins Venerable South African Open Champions

IT MUST BE SINKING in for Louis Oosthuizen. Not only is his name engraved on the Claret Jug along with golf’s greatest players, Louis has added himself to the esteemed list of Open champions from the Republic of South Africa.

They include Bobby Locke, Gary Player, Ernie Els and now the low-key, machine-like Oosthuizen.

(Photo: The great Bobby Locke.)

Between 1949 and 1957, Locke won four Open titles. Some of the old-time pros have told me that Locke was the greatest putter they ever saw. After playing exhibition matches with Locke, Sam Snead told the South African he ought to come to America. Sam said his peers ended up mad at him because Locke took Sam’s advice and not long after took home a lot of money from the States.

A nine-time major winner, Player won three Open Championships over a 15-year span. Gary could keep the ball low and was a short-game magician, including one of the greatest bunker players of all time.

Els won his Claret Jug in 2002 at Muirfield and couldn’t be prouder of Oosthuizen. Louis got a jump start in golf through Els’ foundation. Today Ernie wrote about the newest South African champion in his weekly diary:

I take great pleasure in congratulating Louis Oosthuizen on his fantastic victory. Honestly, it could not have happened to a better person. I played a practice round with him last Sunday and, typically for him, he didn’t give himself a chance. He is a quiet and unassuming guy, but he has shown everyone what a great champion he is.

In closing, Ernie added:

I’m so pleased for Louis and, as I said before, it couldn’t have happened to a better person. As Open Champion his life will change, but he won’t. He’s simply a wonderful kid and what he’s done will inspire so many young kids back home in South Africa.

As Mike of Ruthless Golf has been saying since springtime, here come the South Africans.

−The Armchair Golfer