bass fishing. I’m continually watching YouTube videos to learn as much about this sport as I can. My Tornado bass boat has a Mercury 250 Pro XS outboard, and there’s a long deck where I can stand and cast my line. I take it out on various dams around Pretoria or Buffelspoort Dam near Rustenburg, where my caddie Theunis Bezuidenhout comes from. Theunis is a good golfer himself – he played in the SA Amateur – and we hooked up in the middle of 2021. ● ● ● I’m a member at Pretoria CC, and in my off weeks I will play money games there with my mates and at Silver Lakes, where I used to live in a granny flat when a young pro. I also do some carp fishing at Pretoria CC, from the banks of their dam behind the clubhouse. A good spot to have a braai. ● ● ● I was born in Johannesburg, but my folks soon moved to Nelspruit. My dad Steven, a PGA professional, owned the pro shop at Nelspruit Golf Club and that’s where I developed my golf under his tuition and won back-to- back SA Amateur trophies in 2013 and 2014 with my dad as my caddie. I made history the first time at Country Club Johannesburg in being the youngest winner (16 years and 88 days), and at Hermanus the following year I became the first South African to win the trophy in consecutive years (Zimbabwean Teddy Webber was the only other back- to-back winner, in 1977-78). My parents now live in Ellisras (Lephalale) in Limpopo to be closer to family. ● ● ● I was pretty much broke and at a low point in my life when I won the Joburg Open at Randpark in November 2021. I was 503 in the World Ranking when I teed up. It had been a year of disappointments, and I had only just returned home from the United States where I had missed earning a card on the Korn Ferry Tour by one shot at Q School. And there was no Q School in Europe due to Covid restrictions. When I entered the Joburg Open, the opening event of the 2021/22 DP World Tour season, it was the first time in my pro career I didn’t have the money to pay for
THRISTON LAWRENCE, WHO defends his South African Open crown at Blair Atholl Golf & Equestrian Estate from November 30 to December 3, is SA’s only golfer in the Top 100 of the World Ranking. A golfing prodigy as a teenager, compared at the time to Ernie Els when he became the youngest winner of the SA Amateur, he talks about his struggles playing overseas after turning pro at 17, his passion for fishing, and why the Gary Player Country Club is a nightmare venue for caddies. I had just celebrated my 13th birthday when I first visited Sun City with my mom and dad for the 2009 Nedbank Challenge. We drove there from Nelspruit for the weekend and stayed in a lodge near the resort. I was bubbling with excitement and, being a promising golfer, it was my childhood dream to become one of the 12 players invited to play in it. What I most remember about the tournament was the disappointment of Rory McIlroy having to withdraw due to food poisoning. It wasn’t my first big tournament though. Living in Nelspruit it was a short drive to Leopard Creek, and every year we attended the Alfred Dunhill Championship. My favourite player to follow was Ernie Els. I finally got to play golf with him in a practice round before the Dubai Desert Classic in 2016, along with Brandon Stone.
AGE 27 ON DECEMBER 2 WORLD RANKING 95 DP WORLD TOUR WINS 4
JOBURG OPEN 2021, OMEGA EUROPEAN MASTERS & SA OPEN 2022, BMW INTERNATIONAL OPEN 2023 SUNSHINE TOUR WINS 1 VODACOM ORIGINS STELLENBOSCH 2019 DP WORLD TOUR CAREER EARNINGS ¤€2 709 386
● ● ● Now I have bought an apartment in Pretoria, and when touring overseas I come home every four or five weeks for a break. The other South Africans on the tour mostly do the same. Wilco Nienaber has an apartment in Portugal, but that doesn’t appeal to me. I want to be back home with my friends. My results haven’t been as good this year as in 2022, but I’ve been happy with my game, and had my second victory in Europe at the BMW International Open in Germany. You need momentum in tournaments, and I haven’t had that this year. ● ● ● During my down time I love to go fishing on my boat. It has been my passion since I was a kid. My uncles were keen fishermen. I’m crazy about
● ● ● In 2022 I spent seven straight months, from March to October, living overseas in hotels and guest houses while playing my rookie season on the DP World Tour. Not once, in that time, did I return home to South Africa, even the weeks when there were no tournaments. I would remain in a foreign country and practice. I played in 35 of their tournaments in 18 different countries. I will never do that again, for the sake of my mental health, but it was my “university of life” experience. I learnt the ropes and it was a successful year for me as I won twice and finished 14th in the Race to Dubai standings. And became the first South African to win the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award, which is a wonderful honour.
● ● ● I know the Gary Player layout well because the Sunshine Tour regularly plays there, but it’s a totally different experience during the Nedbank Challenge, a more severe test. The rough is thicker, softer fairways means the tee shots don’t run as far, and worst of all are the hot winds which swirl around so much it’s a joke. A caddie’s nightmare deciding on the right club for their player. However, having all the stands and the crowds does make it easier for us. Some greens are more inviting to attack because of the galleries surrounding them. At No 10, the par 5, going long over the green can be a killer because the ball rolls a long way down the slope. A crowd around the back of the green means they will stop it.
● ● ● And my dream did come true last year to tee up in the Nedbank Challenge. Of course, it was no longer an invitational event but part of the DP World Tour, so the format had changed from a field of 12 to something much larger at 66. Still very special though. I was pleased with my performance other than a final round 76. A 65 with eight birdies on Saturday had put me just one shot behind the leaders. My final round started badly with a triple-bogey at the third. My long game is solid, and thus I feel I have an advantage on longer courses like the Gary Player Country Club and Blair Atholl, where I won the SA Open last December. Blair Atholl suits my eye, and I’ve twice shot 64 there in tournaments. I had 26 birdies there in the Open.
58 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 59
NOVEMBER 2023
NOVEMBER 2023
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