SUNSHINE TOUR REVIEW 2025-26
CASEY RIDES A HOT STREAK TO BECOME NO 1
Casey Jarvis with the Investec SA Open trophy at Stellenbosch. Victory earned him invites to the Masters and The Open.
THERE’S NOTHING LIKE returning home to the Sunshine Tour for promis- ing young tour players to regain form, and that’s exactly what sparked a turn- around in the fortunes of 22-year-old Casey Jarvis this summer. Jarvis, the newly crowned 2025/26 Order of Merit champion, had a mis- erable 2025 season on the DP World Tour, disappointing for a player of his obvious talent. Not one Top-10 finish, 17 missed cuts, and 95th in the Race to Dubai rankings. His World Ranking slumped last year to 403; now he’s hit a high of 69 within a few short months. His 2025 DP World Tour season ended with the Genesis Champion- ship in South Korea, and 10 days later he was home in Benoni and teeing up on November 6 in the Hyundai Open at Ebotse Links, a course he knows better than most. Relaxed and at ease in the company of good friends, Jarvis shot 23-under in this 72-hole tournament to win for the first time on the Sunshine Tour. On a tough final day where he had to play 35 holes, he edged close friend and local rival Ryan van Velzen by a shot. Jarvis took a week off while everyone else went to Randpark for the Stella Artois Players Championship, and then teed up the following week in the Vodacom Origins Final at Pezula in the Garden Route. He again produced four magnificent rounds, posting 24-under this time – including a course record 62 – before ousting Barend Botha with an eagle in a sudden-death playoff. In those two weeks he had 49 birdies and 4 eagles, evidence that he had fully regained confidence in his game. It set him up perfectly for the summer co- sanctioned tournaments. The new 2026 DP World Tour season has already seen four victories for Be- noni boys Jarvis and Jayden Schaper. Their performances also lit up the Sunshine Tour, and it’s a shame that Schaper failed to contest the Order of Merit race, not playing the minimum number of tournaments to be eligible. Instead, Jarvis comfortably wrapped
EDITED BY STUART McLEAN
to become the new Open champion, a significant shift in his mental approach. The previous three years he had twice missed the cut in this championship, at Blair Atholl and Durban CC. This year he stood tall on the Saturday with a third round 64 to move into the lead. On Sunday he held off his challengers with a defiant 67 under pressure. His re- liable putting stroke was a strength on tricky greens, and Jarvis had only four bogeys in the four rounds, which says everything about his powers of con- centration. One of his closest pursuers, Hennie du Plessis, had 11 bogeys and a double bogey. Jarvis ended with a stroke average of 67.5 from 30 rounds this summer, more than three shots a round better than his stroke average on the 2024/25 Sunshine Tour. His results were so poor a year ago that he could only finish 51st on the Or- der of Merit.
Casey’s results in 2025/26 Hyundai Open 1 267 R396 250 VOG Final 1 264 R396 250 PGA Champs 10= 280 R57 750 Alfred Dunhill 32= 206 R217 414 Mauritius Open 3 271 R1.267m NTT Data 13= 207 R97 300 SA Open 1 266 R4.055m Joburg Open 2= 264 R1.773m it up with a further victory in the In- vestec SA Open at Stellenbosch, and a T-2 finish in the Joburg Open at Houghton. Before that he had finished third in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open. Those impressive performances in three co-sanctioned events were in marked contrast to his previous experi- ences at that level. Financially reward- ing too. He earned R8.26 million in his eight Sunshine Tour events, which equates to R275 000 a round. It was quite some progress on his part
Casey Jarvis celebrates his maiden Sunshine Tour victory in the Hyundai Open at Ebotse Links.
124 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
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MARCH/APRIL 2026
MARCH/APRIL 2026
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