Left: Casey Jarvis was the youngest South African to shoot 59. Right: Shaun Norris after his 60 at Wild Coast.
Below: Jorge Campillo, left, and Colin Nel after their 59s at Mount Edgecombe.
Interestingly, his nett score was 64 as he was playing off +8. The previous record was 15-under 57 by Louis Oosthuizen at his former home club of Mossel Bay in 2002 (he also had a 59 in 2004), matched by Sunshine Tour pro Daniel Greene at the 9-hole Bosch Hoek course in the KZN Midlands in 2019. Bradford Vaughan had a 58 at Maccauvlei in 2006, Bran- den Grace a 59 at Knysna in 2015. Colin Nel, whose 59 was not rec- ognised at Mount Edgecombe, has signed for 59 or lower at three different courses in KwaZulu-Natal. He had a 58 at Maritzburg Golf Club in 2014, and a 59 at Port Shepstone CC in 2020. KZN courses have experienced at least three other 59s, twice at Victoria CC by Mark Truter and Greene (again), and once at Gowrie Farm by Matt Saulez. Records are sketchy about the first person to shoot 59 in South Africa in a social round. The late John Bland had at least one 59 at ERPM, where he was the club pro, in the 1970s, yet there are reports of a 59 earlier than that, at the old Windsor Park course (now Rand- park Bushwillow) by Eric Moore and Rod Mullan. These are unconfirmed. The most recent 59 to our knowledge was in January 2024 at Pecanwood by Sunshine Tour Wynand Dingle in a so- cial game.
the Saturday with the state funeral on Sunday, December 15. The first round took until the third day to complete due to heavy rain which flooded fairways and again meant a compromised layout (The Woods at Mount Edgecombe) and a 54-hole decider. Jorge Campillo and Colin Nel had 59s in the second round on a par 70 layout. Nel played his first 15 holes in 47 shots with 9 birdies and an eagle. Coincidentally, they holed out for their 59s within seconds of each other, first Campillo at No 9, then Nel at the adjoining No 18. They were exceptional scores – the next lowest round was a 62 – but while these rounds were her- alded that day as “historic,” the Euro- pean Tour decided not to recognise them as the par-5 fifth had to be played as a 3, there were preferred lies and use of some front tees. The European Tour thus had to wait until September 2018 for the first “official” 59 by Oliver Fisher in the Portugal Masters. The lowest recorded round in South Africa on a full-length course is a 16-under 56 by 21-year-old amateur Christiaan Burke in a monthly medal at Potchefstroom Country Club in July 2021. He had four eagles and 8 bird- ies. Being mid-winter the course was playing short with the firm conditions.
Last year saw the first Sunshine Tour 59 in South Africa, from 19-year-old Casey Jarvis in the third round of the Stella Artois Players Championship at Dainfern, where he had 2 eagles and 9 birdies. However, he lost the tourna- ment by six shots to Kyle Barker who had a 61 of his own on Sunday. At the time, Jarvis was the second youngest person to shoot 59 or lower in a 72-hole tournament on a recognised pro tour. Mind you, the Sunshine Tour has had several asterisked scores of 59 or lower. There were two 57s at Royal Durban in the 2012 Nelson Mandela Champion- ship (co-sanctioned with European Tour) by winner Scott Jamieson and Jaco van Zyl. (Van Zyl shot 58 at State Mines in a 2003 mini-tour event.) But they were deemed unofficial and not worthy of the record books as the course had been shortened to par 65 instead of 70 due to flooding which curtailed the tournament to 36 holes. Three par 4s and one par 5 had to be played as 3s. Jamieson had five 2s on his card. The Nelson Mandela Champion- ship in December 2013 was an ill-fated tournament. Initially it was in danger of being cancelled when Mandela died the previous week on December 5, during the Nedbank Challenge at Sun City. The NMC began a day early, on a Wednesday, as it had to finish on
Please email stuartm@morecorp.co.za if you know of any other 59s at SA courses in social rounds and can verify them.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 27
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
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