EDITOR’S LETTER E ICONS CUP COMING TO FANCOURT
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T eam events are a big part of autumn tournament golf in the northern hemisphere, with the recent Walker Cup and Solheim Cup providing us with a different perspective to the weekly grind of 72-hole strokeplay contests on the respective world professional tours. These biennial team events arguably attract the biggest television audiences outside the major championships, and the head-to-head matchplay in differ- ent formats is both entertaining and nail-biting, especially when the under- dogs get the better of the mighty Unit- ed States teams, whose players don’t appear to travel especially well these days when they embark for Europe or the United Kingdom. The Walker Cup at the ancient La- hinch links in Ireland was particularly memorable, even though the partici- pants were amateur golfers of which we knew little beforehand. Some may be- come future stars. It’s the oldest team contest of them all, established in 1921. This year’s edition was the 51st, and the result was a rare one, in that the Great Britain & Ireland team conquered the Americans for only the tenth time. In the most dramatic of circumstances. The Walker Cup today has become the antithesis of the Ryder Cup, its pro- fessional equivalent. It’s a timeless oc- casion and would easily be recognised as the same event by those who played in it a century ago. The Walker Cup tro- phy is one of the biggest in sport – it was donated by an American after all – and dwarfs the Ryder Cup, given by an
Englishman. The trophy stood promi- nently on the first tee at Lahinch, and the only spectator seating around the opening tee were three rows of chairs. The match is wrapped up in two days; there is no commercial signage or corporate presence; the crowds are limited to 8 000 a day; there are no grandstands, and spectators are gener- ally allowed to walk down the fairways behind the players. They are also of a more sporting nature, not inclined to hurl continual abuse at the visiting team, or cheer when they miss a putt. South Africans would dearly love to have a team event which involved our own top players. Historically we missed out on that possibility, not having estab- lished a rivalry with another country. However, a new teams event in De- cember at The Links at Fancourt might prove an entertaining distraction for holidaymakers from December 11-13, the week following the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City. Ernie Els will be captaining a team of South African sporting celebrities in a match against a world team led by Ryder Cup icon Jose Maria Olazabal. The event is the Icons Cup South Africa, part of the Icons Se- ries. It will be televised. Els represented the International team at nine Presidents Cup matches between 1996 and 2019 – the final oc- casion as team captain, while the Spaniard took part in eight Ryder Cups between 1987 and 2012 – the final one as a victorious captain at Medinah. There will be 12 players on each team, as in the Ryder Cup (the format
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has fourballs, greensomes and sin- gles), and early selections for the home side include cricketers A B de Villiers, Shaun Pollock and Vernon Philan- der, plus Springboks Fourie du Preez, Butch James, Schalk Burger and Victor Matfield. Team World have announced Brian Lara, John Terry and Ash Barty. De Villiers has already played in an Icons series event at Liberty National in New York for Team World against Team USA, and says he found it “insanely competitive and nerve-wracking.” In- terestingly he revealed that he only met Ernie for the first time recently. “I never met him during my cricketing days,” said De Villiers. “Then, on holiday at Herold’s Bay my wife and I saw this guy walking past us towards the sea. It was Ernie. I grew up watching him on TV, so I walked over to him like the biggest fan in the world and introduced my- self. We became friends and had a beer together.” Stuart McLean stuartm@morecorp.co.za
GOLF DIGEST USA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JERRY TARDE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR MAX ADLER EXECUTIVE EDITOR PETER MORRICE INTERNATIONAL EDITOR JU KUANG TAN
TEACHING PROFESSIONALS: TODD ANDERSON, MARK BLACKBURN, CHUCK COOK, HANK HANEY, BUTCH HARMON, ERIKA LARKIN, DAVID LEADBETTER, CAMERON MCCORMICK, JIM MCLEAN, MICHAEL NEFF, RENEE POWELL, RANDY SMITH, RICK SMITH, DAVE STOCKTON, JOSH ZANDER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS: AMY ALCOTT, RANDY MYERS, NICK PRICE, JUDY RANKIN, LUCIUS RICCIO, BOB ROTELLA, BEN SHEAR, RALPH SIMPSON, DR ARA SUPPIAH PLAYING EDITORS: COLLIN MORIKAWA, JORDAN SPIETH
EDITOR STUART MCLEAN DESIGN ELINORE DE LISLE MEDIA SALES DANIEL EGDES (daniele@morecorp.co.za)
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8 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2026
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