EDITOR’S LETTER E SA Open returns to Durban CC
I t will please many golfers around the world that Durban Country Club is again hosting the SA Open in 2025. It held its first Open 100 years ago, but since hosting the 2010 Centenary Open there were fears the club might never hold the championship again. The course was struggling in terms of conditioning, notably the greens, and had become outdated in its ability to challenge the modern tour professional. The 2010 Open saw a record Open total of 25-under-par for 72 holes posted by Ernie Els, so you can imagine how vulnerable it would be today. Nature, however, has contrived to give DCC another chance. The April 2022 floods in Durban which devasted the course led to a serious appraisal of the club’s future. A decision was taken to rebuild DCC as a modern design masterpiece, with the generous financial support of club member Nic Jonsson, and return DCC to being an exclusive members club. His company Jonsson Workwear has been a major sponsor on the Sunshine Tour the past three years. The Jonsson Workwear Open was played in Durban in 2022, Steyn City in 2023, and Glendower in 2024, the last two co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour. Golf Data’s superb 2023/24 upgrade of DCC’s 18 holes has made each of them infinitely more characterful and challenging, even though there was no room to lengthen the layout. At roughly 6 250 metres it remains relatively short from the back tees. New greens complexes, though, with bent
grass to speed up the putting surfaces, will enable the SA Open tournament director to find tricky pin positions and put more of a premium on shot- making. And there’s now a wide burn winding through several holes at the far end of the course from the clubhouse which will emphasise accuracy and course strategy. The DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour must disregard the club par of 72 and play DCC at par 70 with two par 5s instead of four. This is now the norm at the major championships and it’s anachronistic to do otherwise. The Sunshine Tour seems unfathom- ably loath to introduce this at their tournaments. Holes which were par 5s for Gary Player and his contemporaries in years gone by are not 5s today. At Glendower, in February, a 477-metre par 5 (the club’s eighth) had 48 eagles and 281 birdies. Even at that length it was a straightforward 4 for the tour pros. The par-5 third at DCC is, in reality, a 4 even for low-handicap club golfers, so why keep it as a 5. And either No 10 or 14, both par 5s with water close to the greens, and running in opposite directions to each other, would make strong 4s for the Open. If there’s wind, tees can be moved to suit the conditions. This will be DCC’s 18th SA Open, a record, and ends the longest interval between Opens of 15 years. Its popularity reached a peak when it held six Opens in 18 years, from 1988 to 2005. The championship has been played
in Gauteng since 2011, other than two occasions at Sun City, and it was overdue to be returned to the coastal venues. Hopefully, Humewood (last Open 2006) and East London (2000) will earn a turn to host again. The Open has a new date of February 27 to March 2, so there will be no 2024 SA Open. But that’s nothing new – two SA Opens were played in 2020 – due to where it traditionally fits into the calendar around the turn of the year. Mind you, it hasn’t been played as late in the summer as this for many decades. Stuart McLean stuartm@morecorp.co.za
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE OUR
TOP SIX VIDEOS
How Xander Schauffele unlocked his swing Scottie Scheffler’s staggering on-course earnings Brooks Koepka’s keys to hitting tough shots Michael Breed: the correct takeaway Fitness: Isometric golf warmup Fitness: Fast-twitch moves
EDITOR STUART MCLEAN DESIGN ELINORE DE LISLE MEDIA SALES RICHARD ROWE
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, 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
A LICENSING AGREEMENT BETWEEN WARNER BROTHERS DISCOVERY AND MORECORP, OWNERS OF THE PRO SHOP AND WORLD OF GOLF. WARNER BROTHERS DISCOVERY IS A GLOBAL LEADER IN REAL-LIFE ENTERTAINMENT, SERVING A PASSIONATE AUDIENCE OF SUPERFANS AROUND THE WORLD WITH CONTENT THAT INSPIRES, INFORMS AND ENTERTAINS.
6 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator