south africa
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025
ERNIE ELS 40 SECONDS OF HORROR AT AUGUSTA
AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE DUNHILL LINKS
LIV SET FOR STEYN CITY
WATCH OUR RYDER CUP & TIGER WOODS VIDEOS
BETHPAGE RYDER CUP
CAPTAIN KEEGAN How to Play Under Ultimate Pressure
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Perfect Pairing
Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer sporting similar looks at the 1966 Masters. See more style icons on page 66.
4 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025
Features 50 Under Ultimate Pressure US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley on the brink of career definition. INTERVIEW BY JOEL BEALL
6 Editor’s Letter BY STUART MCLEAN Voices 8 The Ryder Cup Seve
Won by Losing BY JERRY TARDE
58 Bethpage Black No 4
12 Journeys: Jacques Kruyswijk WITH STUART MCLEAN
60 Five Elements of a Great Match-Play Course BY DEREK DUNCAN 64 Seven Most Iconic Ryder Cup Moments BY DREW POWELL Style 66 My favourite dress codes BY MAX ADLER 68 The Best Dressed on PGA Tour Our judges crown one winner from seven finalists. 76 Dress Smart The Dunhill Links might be the hardest tournament to pack for. BY MICHAEL CROLEY Where to Play 84 Trump’s new links Old and New in Scotland. 94 Royal Johannesburg Temporary home for Alfred Dunhill Championship. 96 Kingswood’s new home Clubhouse opens at George estate. What to Play 106 What’s the most important performance metric when buying new irons? No, it’s not distance. Why this number can transform your approach play (page 108). Zero-torque putters are creating a lot of buzz. What are they, and should you switch? (page 110). Playing the right wedges for your game is critical to scoring. Here’s what you need to know to select the proper loft, bounce and grind for you (page 112). Every item in Rickie Fowler’s golf bag (Page 114).
14 The Undercover Pro WITH JOEL BEALL
16 Wall Street’s Lesson BY PAUL SULLIVAN
19 Rub of the Green RULES BY RON KASPRISKE
20 Time for Nine BY CHRISTOPHER POWERS
22 ‘The Best I Ever Did’: Cayce Kerr & Ernie Els by JAIME DIAZ
26 Undercover Caddie WITH JOEL BEALL
28 PGA Awards How to Play 30 Match-play strategy BY JACK NICKLAUS 32 Three Keys to Stop the Pop-Ups BY BUTCH HARMON
34 Wake-Up Call BY LUKE KERR-DINEEN
36 Coming Over the Top? BY MARK BLACKBURN
38 Lag putting BY ANGEL YIN
40 Two-Minute Clinic BY KATIE DAHL
44 Cure Your Slice at the Start BY TODD ANDERSON
46 Turn Your Driver Loose BY STEVE BUZZA
48 Swing Analysis Nicolai Hojgaard
98 Pound for Pound Power How Min Woo Lee squeezes every ounce out of his drives.
EDITOR’S LETTER E LIV A GOOD FIT FOR SA GOLF
T wo positive occurrences for SA golf in 2026 will be The Club at Steyn City hosting a LIV Golf tournament in March, and the winner of the SA Open receiving an invitation to the Masters at Augusta National. Stellenbosch Golf Club, the Open venue at the end of February, must be delighted at that prospect. Hopefully, it will boost the strength of international entries. Having Louis Oosthuizen and his Stingers team on home soil at Steyn City, though, and witnessing the spectacle of a LIV Golf production, is something capable of reshaping the demographics of golf in South Africa. The initial response has already re- sulted in the sale of 30 000 tickets for the three-day event from March 20-22. Traditionalists may not like the dis- ruption LIV Golf has caused to the es- tablished professional tours, yet their circuit does attract new fans who might become future participants, and this is why our hosting LIV is of vital importance. Statistics from the past three years show that 30 percent of LIV Golf attendees are experiencing their first pro tournament. And 40 percent of these first-timers are female, while 60 percent of attendees are under the age of 45. South Africa has the potential to be a substantial future market for LIV, and that’s why the tournament is be- ing played in Gauteng, with its huge local population and easy access for visitors from other cities and African countries. The record attendance for a LIV event was 102 000 at Adelaide, Australia in 2025, and there’s every reason to believe that Steyn City could attract a similar figure. It is a big and spacious course which can accom- modate large crowds, although one issue might be the Jukskei River that runs through the middle of it – there is currently only one crossing point. Certainly, we should beat the 60 000
American attendance record. The Shotgun Start format of their tournaments helps in dispersing a large crowd around all 18 holes, al- though I would expect a mass of fol- lowers for Bryson DeChambeau. Attractions include fan zones, enter- tainment activities, a “Party Hole” on a par 3, “Club 54” hospitality on the 18th, and live music concerts. Families make up 40 percent of fans, because all children aged 12 and under attend free with a paying adult. Australia and Africa are two con- tinents which do not host PGA Tour events, so LIV Golf is our only oppor- tunity to watch a guaranteed large grouping of the best household names in the game. The biggest positive about LIV is that none of their players miss an event, unless incapacitated. The Adelaide tournament this year generated a record $81.46 million in terms of economic impact for the host region. The average is only $40 million at other events. Many will wonder how South Africa can afford such an event. Our weak rand means we are no longer finan- cially able to host the Presidents Cup match we had in 2003. Firstly, the prizemoney of $30 million is fully funded by LIV Golf. Event and op- erational costs are typically shared among LIV, local government, the host venue, and event partners. Rev- enue from ticket sales and hospitality is reinvested into the operations and global growth of LIV Golf, supporting the sustainability and expansion of fu- ture venues, like this one at Steyn City. The goal is to ensure a sustainable, long-term model that delivers mutual value, building something that ben- efits the local economy, communities, and the growth of the game. Stuart McLean stuartm@morecorp.co.za
MY GAME: TIGER WOODS –
Episode 1 Driver Distance Episode 2 Driver Control Episode 3 Approach Shots Episode 4 Playing Par 3s Episode 5 Trajectory Episode 6 Fairway Bunkers Episode 7 From the Rough Episode 8 Great Escapes Episode 9 Uneven Lies Episode 10 Distance Wedges SHOT-MAKING SECRETS Each episode 15 minutes Click below...
EDITOR STUART MCLEAN DESIGN ELINORE DE LISLE MEDIA SALES DANIEL EGDES (daniele@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 LEAD- BETTER, CAMERON MCCORMICK, JIM MCLEAN, MICHAEL NEFF, RENEE POWELL, RANDY SMITH, RICK SMITH, DAVE STOCKTON, JOSH ZANDER PLAYING EDITORS: COLLIN MORIKAWA, JORDAN SPIETH 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 enter- tainment, serving a passionate audience of superfans around the world with content that inspires, informs and entertains.
6 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
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THE NEXT ONE’S GOOD
FROM THE FRONT LINE An aging
Ballesteros played first to energise his teammates.
The Ryder Cup Seve Won by Losing BY JERRY TARDE
ON SATURDAY NIGHT at the Ryder Cup, the captains will have to make the most impor-
with the Europeans trailing 9 to 7, Seve Ballesteros shouted to captain Bernard Gallacher, “Put me down the bottom!” This was laughable on the face of it. Ballesteros was gasping on the last va- pours of his career with an aching back and a balky driver. He had been play- ing so badly that Gallacher left him out of the foursomes on Friday and Satur- day. For the previous 16 years, Seve had been the soul of Europe, and he wanted one more chance to play the deciding match. It was crazy. He couldn’t break 80. In a brilliant move, Gallacher’s strat- egy instantly came together as he re- plied, “No, Seve. You will not play at the end. We want you to play first! You will lead us!”
Often, the key singles match is third from the end on Sunday when the win- ning point is played; in this draw was the classic decider, Bernhard Langer vs Corey Pavin, both high-pressure players. Seve’s draw was Tom Lehman in the opening match. Lehman had the unim- pressive look, as Dan Jenkins said, of “a girls’ high school basketball coach,” but Lehman was a killer at the top of his game, contending in every major the next year and winning the Open Championship. “Seve’s game is a hor- ror movie,” Jenkins wrote. Seve’s manager, Roddy Carr, had dinner with the renowned teacher John Jacobs on Saturday night and asked him to give Seve a lesson. >
tant decision of the week – who to play at the bottom of the singles draw. If the matches come down to the end, you do not necessarily want your best players in the final spots; you want clutch play- ers for when the heavens shatter and the earth gives way beneath their feet. Tour pros might say otherwise, but in their hearts, they fear the bottom like the Normandy beaches on D-Day. Silence breaks like thunder in the team room when everybody’s head is bowed. Some might talk boldly, but “Oh, cap- tain, my captain, take anyone, not me,” is what they’re thinking. At the 1995 Ryder Cup at Oak Hill,
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par and hit the lip, but it wouldn’t go in, 1 down. Gallacher approached Seve on the 10th tee and asked him why he was smiling. “I should be 9 down,” Seve said. On the 10th he missed the green again but got it up and down from a long bunker shot, making a 15-footer to tie. Chills went up the spine of the whole of Europe. “We can’t let Seve down,” they said. “Do it for Seve!” I was walk- ing the course with Jenkins, who never walked the course, but he had to see what Seve was doing. At one point Lehman lagged a putt to within a foot, and tapped it in. Seve went apoplectic. Lehman had played out of turn! Seve called a rules official and demanded that Tom replace his marker. After some debate, he did. “I want to use his ball as my line,” Seve said, knowing exactly what he was doing. On he fought. “Braveheart,” the Eu- ros were calling him (the movie was released that May). Seve started losing holes, but the damage was done. The US team had slipped, and Gallacher’s players were gaining momentum. On the 15th hole, again Seve got it up and down, but finally Seve fell, 4 and 3. By then it was too late for the home side. Heartened by their leader, the Euro- peans won five out of six consecutive matches. Pavin beat Langer 3 and 2, and so rookie Philip Walton scored the winning point against veteran Jay Haas in the penultimate match. Europe took the Ryder Cup, 14½ to 13½. “It’s the greatest nine holes I’ve ever seen,” Lehman told me recently. “Ev- ery hole, Azinger was walking with our group and says to me, ‘Seve’s got no lie. He’s dead,’ and Seve gets it up and down. If I had been playing me and hit it where he did, I’d have lost 10 and 8.” Seve didn’t play in another Ryder Cup. He died of brain cancer in 2011 at age 54, heralded as Europe’s Arnold Palmer. It was Seve who put the Europe- ans on his back and reversed American domination with a 12-9-1 team record since his first event in 1979. Across all those heroic seasons, the greatest match Seve ever won was that singles match he lost 30 years ago.
Seve and John weren’t speaking because of an old grudge. (As European Ryder Cup captain in 1981, Ja- cobs was part of the three-man commit-
WORTHY ADVERSARY Tom Lehman was in his prime during the 1995 Ryder Cup.
tee that barred Seve from playing be- cause he had taken appearance fees. Actually, Jacobs had voted in favour of Seve; it was Neil Coles and Langer who cast their ballots against him.) Jacobs told Carr: “Play nomination with him, no standard shots.” He wanted him to forget mechanics and instead visualise and play like Seve the artist. The next morning, Roddy found Seve, a lonely figure on the practice tee with a white pyramid of balls beside him. “What do you want, Roddy?” said Seve suspiciously. “Hit me a low cut, Seve,” Roddy said. Then he said, “Hit a high hook.” After 10 minutes of nominating every shot, Roddy says his parting words were: “Now play like that, Seve. Make up every shot as you go along today.” Meanwhile, Lehman’s teammates were warning him about Seve’s gamesman- ship. “Never make eye contact,” they told him. On the first tee, Lehman was staring at the American flag with “horse blink- ers” when Seve purposely dropped his glove and reached low to catch Tom’s eye. “It’s like a bolt of lightning goes through Lehman’s body – game on,” said Roddy. Seve did not hit a single fairway the first nine holes and only saw Lehman on tees and greens. Seve drove it 30 yards offline at No 1, hacked it up the fairway, and made a one-putt bogey to lose the hole, 1 down. On the second, he drove it 20 yards right into heavy rough, slashed his second shot behind a bunker and then holed a pitch to a short-sided flag for birdie – even. On No 4, a par 5, Ballesteros hit a tree and his drive went only 92 yards, but then hit two 3-woods to save par. Seve drove it deep into the woods at the fifth. Lehman’s brother Jim was standing beside Seve and his caddie who were discussing the shot. It was out of the rough, over water and through trees. They were talking about a gap in the branches for Seve to hit his ball
through. Jim Lehman saw no gap. Seve hit it through the trees onto the green again to save par and score another half. “He is magical to watch, man,” said Dave Marr on the telecast. Johnny Miller responded, “It’s tough to play somebody who is playing all over the lot and tying you or maybe even beating you – you just start shaking your head.” At the sixth, Seve holed a 20-footer for another half. Howard Clark, playing in the second match, said, “Jake LaMotta from ‘Raging Bull.’ He won’t go down. Seve won’t go down!” Word was spread- ing around the course. The Europeans were energised. On seven, Seve missed the green again in the deep stuff. He hacked a wedge to 12 feet. “How many more times can you go to the well?” whis- pered Paul Azinger on the telecast. Seve poured it right in the middle – still even. On eight, he pitched over a bunker for “It’s the greatest nine holes I’ve ever seen ... If I had been playing me and hit it where (Seve) did, I’d have lost 10 and 8.” –TOM LEHMAN
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 11
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025
JO U RNEYS
‘My friends know I’m not going to join them for social golf’ Watching the Nedbank Challenge hooked me on golf, and I will finally compete in it this year. By Jacques Kruyswijk with Stuart McLean
I had no financial backing when I started my playing career on the Sunshine Tour. I was 20 years old, and to sustain myself I had a full-time job for three years. I was the night manager at Centurion Country Club, which enabled me to practice at their range during the day. I was able to juggle the job and take time off to play in tourna- ments. That regular work provided stability in my life because I had nothing else to fall back on. After matriculating from school, I hadn’t studied further, so professional golf had to work out for me.
away from the golf course as possible after my work is done. It sounds bad to say this, but I’m not crazy about golf. My friends never ask me to play with them, because they know I cannot stand social golf rounds. I’d rather catch up with them at a braai. Golf is my job and in between tournaments I want to spend quality time with my wife and friends. I like hunting and being outdoors in my spare time. ● ● ● Boxing is my other pastime. I don’t get in a ring and fight other people though. I box at home. I took it up earlier in my pro career as an outlet to get rid of my frustra- tions and disappointments on the course, and love sparring and using the punch bag. It’s great for maintaining my fitness. My new home has a gym with a boxing setup included. I am very focused on my fitness and building muscle. It’s some- thing I work on every day, whereas I might not hit golf balls every day. The happier I am about my body; I know that will bene- fit me on the golf course. I’m in the gym at tournaments. You cannot be overweight as a professional golfer and need to make sacrifices by eating healthily. ● ● ● My rookie year on the Sunshine Tour in 2013 was a tough one. I earned my tour card through the Q School – Erik van Rooyen and Dylan Frittelli were fel- low qualifiers at the same tournament at Schoeman Park – but even with that card I only got into 30% of the tourna- ments that year. You had to pre-qualify for most of them back then. Those early experiences moulded me as a person and pushed me to succeed as a pro golfer. When I achieve a particular goal, I al- ways ask myself what’s next. It’s never been about the prizemoney for me, I’ve always been focused on results. ● ● ● Each of my wins as a pro has served as a stepping stone. First one on the Big Easy Tour, then the Sunshine Tour
for the NGC. I hung around the first tee and practice green most of the Thurs- day hoping that someone might with- draw, but it never happened. It wasn’t a big deal being first alternate, because I was essentially the only person pre- pared to be there on the day. ● ● ● I played amateur golf for Limpopo at interprovincials but had no one coaching me during that time. I knew the basics and that was it. My mentor though was the late Ray Earle, the club professional for many years at Polok- wane Golf Club. Uncle Ray was tremen- dous with the juniors in the province, driving us long distances to tourna- ments in his mini-bus, and handing out loads of good advice. It was only in 2015, when I was playing the Sunshine Tour, that teaching professional Kyle Phelan came into my life and became both my coach and one of my best mates. Kyle has the teaching academy at Centurion CC. ● ● ● My home is in Centurion, but not at the golf estate. I like to get as far
I was born in Pretoria, but grew up in Limpopo, my primary school years spent at my grandfather’s farm in Louis Trichardt. I was keen on rugby and cricket, but my direction in life changed when my father Paul was ap- pointed as the first golf director at the new Koro Creek golf estate in Modi- molle, previously Nylstroom. The original 9-holer was still there when we arrived, and Douw van der Merwe was building a new 18-hole layout. I became so in love with golf that I stopped play- ing other sports in my first year of high school. ● ● ● I’m one of the taller golfers on tour at 6 foot 5, but my father towers over me. He’s 6 foot 8, a massive human being. While he has never been a sports- oriented person, he did take me with him every year to watch the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City, usually just for the one day. I had had no concept of golf before then, but watching that tournament changed everything for me. I was hooked. Today, the two tour- naments I most want to win are the Masters and the Nedbank Challenge. I haven’t yet played in either of them, but this December I will be making my debut in the NGC. I love the Gary Player course, and I back myself to play well there. ● ● ● In the two years before Covid, I was twice the first alternate at Sun City
JACQUES KRUYSWIJK AGE 32 WINS SUNSHINE TOUR 3 DP WORLD TOUR 1 CHALLENGE TOUR 1 WORLD RANKING 178 LIVES CENTURION, GAUTENG
12 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
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(2016 Cape Town Open), the Challenge Tour (2023 Sweden), and this year the DP World Tour. Winning my first DPWT title on foreign soil, Kenya, was a big moment. Yes, it’s difficult to win one of these titles in South Africa, but triumphing in Kenya was my validation that I can win abroad. Improving the mental part of my game has been a big part of my recent development, working with Mark Fairbank, a Joburg- based sports psychologist. ● ● ● I’m an extremely driven person, so my next goal is to play on the PGA Tour. I can earn a card with a high finish on the Race to Dubai later this year. I’ve had a taste of golf in America. I’m encouraged by a top-five finish in the Barracuda Cham- pionship in July. It was a modified Stabl- eford event like those we played at Royal Swazi Spa for many years. ● ● ● Before that I qualified for my first ma- jor championship, the US Open at Oakmont. I couldn’t have picked a more difficult course for my debut. Oakmont was a monster, more daunting than I had prepared myself for. The slopes on every hole were incredible. I missed the cut on 10-over, but what an experience. I was paired with Eric Cole and learned for the first time that his father (Bobby) was a South African who had won two SA Opens. ● ● ● DPWT pros often play in hot and humid conditions. Notably in Asian countries we visit like India and Singapore. During my Kenya Open win my frequent use of chalk powder on my hands was noticed. I sweat profusely in that equatorial humidity, particularly under pressure, so you need something that keeps your hands dry for every shot. It worked a charm that week.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 13
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025
THE UNDERCOVER PRO
The Not Always Pretty Truth About Captain’s Picks
JUSTIN THOMAS GOT A LOT of undeserved criticism for the optics of cosying up to 2023 Ry-
der Cup captain Zach Johnson in a year when Thomas didn’t have his best stuff. Everyone on tour knows what JT can do in team match play. There are players who need to kiss ass, but Thomas isn’t one of them. However, politicking for team events is a thing. When I say that, your mind might jump to Webb Simpson’s 4am text to Tom Watson that persuaded Watson to pick him just hours before the deadline. The truth is, the practice is more nuanced – and even dirtier. I can only speak for the American side, which I’ve been fortunate to play for. If a captain hosts a clinic or char- ity event, a player whose calendar had been jam-packed in the past now mi- raculously has that Monday date avail- able. Or the captain gets a few more invites to practice rounds or dinner, and his cheesy jokes in the clubhouse earn a few extra laughs. Honestly, the stigma of bootlicking runs so high that most guys are careful not to go over the top. Plenty of players want captains to know they’re hungry to be part of the team, yet being labelled a phoney isn’t far behind being branded a cheater. We all know who the naturally social guys are and who keeps to himself – so when someone from the latter group sudden- ly starts hamming it up with decision- makers, the rest of us notice. You have to be yourself and hope that’s enough. As for canvassing from non-players, that’s when it can get uncomfortable. There’s no better Christmas than the one after you’ve been named captain of the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.
There’s an infamous story about one cap- tain receiving a foot- ball helmet with his college alma mater’s logo on one side and the US flag on the
It’s no secret that the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup sometimes struggle for ratings during the American football season. To ensure that any marquee names who haven’t automatically qualified get serious consideration, rep- resentatives from the broadcasting network insert themselves into more meetings than you can imagine. Phil Mickelson was a captain’s pick in three of his last four team appearances. The 2015 Presidents Cup was egregious – Mickelson finished 30th in points. I’m told that same pressure has often been applied for Rickie Fowler. For those who think the system is dirty – it is getting better. Your patron saint in this regard is Ryan Moore. While other captain’s pick contenders in 2016 were kowtowing to the powers that be, Moore was crystal clear: I want to compete, pick me if you think I de- serve it, but I’m not playing the game. Moore took Rory McIlroy to a playoff at the Tour Championship, earned the nod, and ultimately won two of his three matches at Hazeltine – including the clinching point in Sunday singles. Credit to Davis Love for going with Moore, but in the locker room after- wards, Moore got real credit for refus- ing to be a slave to politics. – JOEL BEALL
RYDER DIE Zach Johnson picked Justin Thomas when he was 15th on the points list.
other. The helmet came from an agent who had three players in the running for picks – and the agent made sure to mention that detail in his accompa- nying letter. A captain might also get a nudge from inside his own agency, gently reminding him that it would be great if one of his picks could “stay in the family.” Sponsors can apply pressure, too. When a captain’s sponsor brings up a name they’d like him to consider, there can be an unmistakable impli- cation about what might happen to the captain’s next contract if that sug- gestion gets ignored. Fairly recently, a captain received advance notice of an equipment manufacturer’s advertising campaign that featured all their staffers with a heavy patriotic theme. The cap- tain informed the manufacturer that several of those players had no realis- tic chance of making the team – which led to a heated confrontation with the company.
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MONEY GAME
Wall Street’s Lesson for Bethpage Was $750 for Ryder Cup tix
greedy or smart? BY PAUL SULLIVAN
THE PGA OF America IS hop- ing to break all sorts of atten- dance and viewership records
with the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, but one shattered early was the ticket price. At $750 for a one-day pass, the tick- ets are the most expensive in Ryder Cup history. Initial reaction to the price – up 400 percent from the last time the event was played on US soil – was harsh. Food and non-alcoholic drinks are included, but $750 to watch limited groups is steep. Still, all the tickets sold within 48 hours. How the PGA of America priced its tickets has precedent in financial mar- kets. It did exactly what investment banks are paid handsomely to do for every initial public offering of stock or public issuance of bonds. They can- vassed the market, and their research told them tickets to a Ryder Cup at an iconic venue in a sports market like New York could sell for as much as $1 100, so anything between the face value and that theoretical ceiling would mean the PGA giving that upside to ticket resellers. (While the Ryder Cup has an official reseller in SeatGeek, the PGA didn’t direct people to that site un- til after the tickets were sold out.) “If you price that ticket at $200, the only people who are benefiting are in the secondary markets,” says Bryan Karns, the Ryder Cup director at the PGA of America. “You can try to do bot protection, but they’re just as sophisti- cated on the other end. That hurts the customer at the end of the day.” The PGA did two things to limit the disruption of the initial sale of tickets. It scrubbed the list of accounts it consid- ered problematic, and then it worked with SeatGeek to cap the number of tickets an account could resell to four.
Pricing the tickets too low also risks hurting PGA of America members. “The revenue from the PGA Champi- onship and the Ryder Cup funds ev- erything we do,” Karns says. “We could have found ourselves in a position where we left money on the table. How do I look at the PGA’s 31 000 members and say we can’t do what we need to do because we don’t have the money?” Why not just price tickets at $1 100 and get the most for the organisation? Here we can also look at Wall Street. Investment banks like to bake in “some pop” when the offering debuts. If an IPO jumps 5 to 15 percent in value when it starts trading, that’s considered a good thing. “You want people who bought on the IPO to add to their posi- tions and continue to build on them,” says Tom King, a retired chief execu- tive of investment banking at Barclays. “You want to have an interesting stock.” When a stock loses value on the sec- ondary market, it’s called a busted IPO, and while it might seem good for the company in the short term – more pro- ceeds from the sale – it’s not a great sign of what the market thinks of that com- pany, or in this case, the sporting event. Why are this year’s Ryder Cup tickets
so much more expen- sive? The ones to this year’s PGA Cham- pionship at Quail Hollow included food and drinks but ranged from just $117
SELL, SELL! Even at $750 per ticket, the secondary market is active and healthy.
on Thursday to $160 on Sunday. A jus- tification is that the Ryder Cup comes to America only once every four years, so tickets should be priced at a premi- um. The counter argument is it’s only played every four years in Europe, too, and the face-value prices two years ago at Marco Simone in Rome were a much more palatable $277. The PGA of America does not dis- close what percentage of its revenue comes from ticket sales. It’s one of the few revenue items – like TV rights and global partners – that isn’t split evenly with its European counterparts. But the PGA does point to their People’s Perk Plan, which will manage surprise giveaways of 500 tickets for each day of the event. The first pair went to two buddies who braved near-freezing conditions to be the first group out on opening day at Bethpage Black – exact- ly the type of golf nuts you want on site cheering Team USA.
ILLUSTRATION BY ROSS MACDONALD
16 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
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RULES
Rub of the Green
Can you check for moisture before you putt? BY RON KASPRISKE
BACK IN 2019, THE RULES be- came a lot friendlier in terms of what you can and can’t do on a
putting green. For example, if a ball on the green moves after you’ve addressed it, whether you accidentally caused the ball to move or natural forces such as the wind did it, there is no penalty (Rule 13.1d). That wasn’t always the case. You’re also allowed to “tidy” a green, removing loose impediments any way you see fit (Shop-Vac, anyone?), as well as repair damage such as spike marks. All of this is intended to make arguably the most important part of the game more equitable. There’s nothing worse than worrying about a ball moving on a green on a gusty day or seeing it track towards the cup only to have it re-rout- ed by someone’s unrepaired footprint. However, there are some things you still need to be aware of when it comes to the putting green and committing penalties. This brings us to the scenario of checking to see if all that rain from the night before has made the surface you’re about to roll a putt on damp and slow. Can you put your hand down to check for moisture? In a word: Yes. Rule 13.1e says that during a round or while play is stopped under temporary suspension, a player must not deliber- ately rub the surface of a green or roll a ball on it to test conditions. Where things get a little confusing is that the act of putting your hand down on a green to see if it’s wet is not considered testing conditions. To be clear, there is no penalty if you check for moisture by touching the putting surface. However,
on the green to clean off mud or grass.) Some argue that what constitutes test- ing can be a gray area. An example: When someone removes
OVERNIGHT RAIN? Water could slow down your putt. It’s OK to check.
if you run your hand back and forth on the green to see how grainy or firm it is, you would be in violation of Rule 13 and that comes with a two-stroke penalty in stroke play or loss of hole in match play. (However, it’s OK to rub your ball “What constitutes testing can be a gray area. An example: When someone removes sand from a green by sweeping it.”
sand from a green by sweeping it with his or her hand. While that person liter- ally is rubbing the green, it’s being done as an act of cleaning up the surface and not as a way of gauging the speed or firmness of it. If that player happens to glean a little information about his or her ensuing putt, there is nothing in the rule book that says it’s a violation of Rule 13.
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GAME ON
Time for Nine We have the perfect game when your fourth bails BY CHRISTOPHER POWERS
YOU FIRED UP THE GROUP chat looking for a fourball and get the responses you need.
You make the tee time and set up a game. Handicaps are discussed, betting amounts are set, smack talk begins. The night before, you can’t sleep because you’re so pumped to play. The next morning, you see two of your mates on the range, but where’s your fourth? That’s when your phone buzzes and you get the text nearly ev- ery golfer has read before: “Hey, guys, I have to bail. Sorry.” You are well within your rights to stuff a heavy rock in his golf bag the next time you see him or put him in time out from your rotation, but you still have a problem – you need four to make your wager work. What do you do? Fear not, fellow gamblers, we have the game you need when four becomes three. It’s called “9-point,” “Nine” or “5- 3-1.” It’s all the same game. Here’s how it works: NUMBER OF PLAYERS REQUIRED: Three (duh). BEST FOR: Groups with a golfer who flakes – a lot. Players who don’t treat score like it’s life and death. Golfers of all skill levels who want action on every hole. Folks who can quickly rebound from one or two bad holes. HOW TO PLAY: Each hole is worth nine points, and you assign a value to each point (say, R10). Each hole is its own nine-point match with the lowest score on the hole (it can be net or gross, your choice) earning five points, the second- lowest score getting three points and the highest score taking one. If there are ties on the hole, you add up the combined points and divide them by the number of players who tied. For ex- ample, if Player A and Player B make a 4
on a hole and Player C makes a 5, Play- ers A and B receive four points each (5+3/2=4) and Player C gets one point. In
on every hole (54 points) and Player C finished last on every hole (18 points), and the points were worth R10, Player C would pay Player A R720 and Player B R360. Player B would pay Player A R360 (his winnings from Player C). VARIATIONS: “Casino 9-point” allows the player in last place to assign a new value to points on the final few holes (that could get ugly). Another version rewards anyone who wins a hole by two or more shots. That golfer takes all nine points. You could add bonuses for bird- ies or even give a golfer who wins three holes in a row a “hat trick.” If you have any golf games or variations of golf games we haven’t covered and you’d like to explain, feel free to reach out to me on X @CPowers14 .
NINE AND DIME Play well and you’ll leave the course with quite a bit of cash.
the event all three players tie a hole, they each receive 3 points (3+3+3/3=3) – or none because it’s a wash. Repeat this process on every hole and keep a point tally (tip: use the bottom of the scorecard). At the end of the round, the golfer with the fewest points pays the other two golfers the difference in point totals. The second-place finisher pays the player with the most points the difference in their tallies, too. The most extreme example of how a payout would look: If Player A won every hole (90 points), Player B finished second
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© 2025 Taylor Made Golf Company, Inc.
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75TH ANNIVERSARY
MEASURING CADDIE CREDIT in pro golf is a subjective ex- ercise. Few moments are as
from memory wouldn’t be. Whether on the original CBS telecast or on replay, the 40 seconds of horror can’t be unseen. A ground-level clo- seup of the first putt captured the toe of Els’ putter seized by an evil twitch that produced glancing contact and a slapstick pull. His next three attempts, all from closer range, never touched the cup. The fifth putt, a one-footer hit one- handed, grazed the lip, while the sixth was raked in for a quintuple-bogey 9. With each miss, Els reacted with the same sad, palms-up, “I-told-you-so” half-gesture directed at his caddie. Be- fore the trainwreck commenced, Els had softly but shockingly confided in Kerr that the initial par putt seemed impossible. “Ernie told me the putter felt like a
clearcut as Steve Williams calling Tiger Woods off a bounced-in sand wedge from deep rough in favour of a risky, nuked and spinning lob wedge on the 72nd hole of the 2008 US Open, setting up the most momentous 12-footer ever. Usually, only the two people involved really know what the caddie provided, and even for them, there’s an element of mystery. However, no ambiguity exists about what transpired between Ernie Els and Cayce Kerr following the first hole of the 2016 Masters. While calling Els’ six-putt from three feet an unforgetta- ble moment in golf history might be a stretch, labelling it the hardest to erase
‘The Best I Ever Did’ When caddie Cayce Kerr rescued Ernie Els BY JAIME DIAZ
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in convalescence, the man has a huge motor. Els was Kerr’s last regular bag. When the two got together in early 2016, the South African was a four-time major winner and a Hall of Famer, but at 46, hadn’t won anywhere since 2013. He and longtime caddie Ricci Roberts had taken one of their periodic breaks from each other, and the fill-in, Colin Byrne, had dropped Els’ bag mid-round at Bay Hill, tired of verbal abuse. “I would find out later that Ernie could be a teddy or a grizzly, but you never knew which bear would come out,” says Kerr. “If it was the grizzly, you needed a double Kevlar jacket of thick skin. To the fans he was always the Big Easy but not to the caddies.” Kerr says he was also unaware that Els had devel- oped an intermittent case of the yips. After Kerr separated from Mark O’Meara, he and Els had a decent T-38 start at Houston as a warmup to the Masters, where practice rounds went well. However, everything changed after Thursday’s first hole. After Els putted out, he told Kerr, “I just feel like walking in.” For a long moment he stood still, fixed on the not-so-distant clubhouse, literally at a crossroads. “He looked like the Washington Mon- ument,” says Kerr. “Fortunately, he didn’t move. I knew that his first step had to be in the right direction.” “My thought was to get him going to the second tee. I came up with a complete bullshit lie, but I delivered it gently. ‘Look,’ I said, ‘there’s an official down on the second green. He’ll have a cart. Let’s play that hole, and if you want to go in, you can get a ride.’” Then I kind of herded him that way, and he came along.” With his second shot to the par 5, Els hit a majestic 3-wood to 10 feet be- hind the hole, but even with Kerr urg- ing a lag, Els left himself a four-footer that did not touch the cup. “Even the last one-footer for par did a 360 before barely dropping in,” Kerr says. But at least Els didn’t look for the fictitious official in a cart. Instead, he began to settle in and even birdied the fifth with an accidental 20-footer, al- though he soon resumed his abysmal results from short range.
Hubert Green, with whom he stayed four years. Extended stints with Fuzzy Zoeller, Fred Couples and Vijay Singh followed, but it was the several dozens of other players he picked up, either on off weeks or between regular bags, in years when he might work more than 40 tournaments worldwide, that earned his reputation as an ironman among his peers. All told, Kerr has looped in some 1 000 tournaments including well over 100 majors. The 2016 Masters marked his 30th consecutive trip to Augusta National as a caddie. While he prides himself on a solid and emotionally level style on the course, Kerr is known as a colourful and loquacious raconteur off it – the caddie entrepreneur extraordinaire. When golf rangefinders first came out, Kerr bought 350 of them for $1 000 apiece in “It seemed like Ernie’s career was ending right before my eyes,” Kerr says. Catching himself, he then felt a strong call to action. a deal with the manufacturer and with- in a year sold all of them at $3 300 each throughout the pro golf world. Other profitable ventures have been flavoured ice coffee, memorabilia sales and a side hustle transporting players’ clubs to the next tour stop in his eponymous 2005 Chevy van, which logged 1.2 million kilometres before being retired to his driveway in San Antonio. “I always wanted to be a millionaire, and I made it,” Kerr says. “In my opin- ion, no one can outwork me.” Kerr has had to slow down. In 2022 he was diagnosed with stage-four rec- tal cancer, requiring surgery to remove a tumour and extensive chemotherapy. He’s currently in remission, with the hope of caddying again, but has stayed busy as a businessman and writing a memoir entitled Walking With Great- ness with journalist Andrew Both. Even
snake,” says Kerr, reminiscing at a breakfast nook in Augusta during the 2025 Masters. Caught off guard, Kerr could only think of suggest- ing the same impro-
CADDIE CAPITALIST Kerr has had many successful side-hustles outside the ropes.
vised, on-the-spot-instructions he had once given to David Frost in a similar crisis: Close your eyes and while swing- ing the putter, do 10 toe raises and take 10 deep breaths. Frost holed the ensu- ing putt, but after Els performed the ritual, all he could report was feeling worse. In the excruciating sequence that followed, Kerr had the same chilling thought that those who watched in per- son and on television doubtless shared. “It seemed like Ernie’s career was end- ing right before my eyes,” Kerr says. Catching himself, he then felt a strong call to action. “I knew he needed all the help I could give him, and that I had a lot to give. That round turned out to be the best I ever caddied in my life.” Both men sensed that this was an emergency. “You know what makes a great caddie?” says Kerr. “A great player. When they are playing well, it’s fun and exciting, and they don’t need a lot of as- sistance. But when everything is awful and he’s lost and desperate and you dig deep to help minimise the psychologi- cal damage, that’s when you really earn your money.” Kerr, now 64, whose given first name is David, came to golf late. In the 1970s he was a formidable amateur boxer in the same Washington, DC, system that produced Sugar Ray Leonard but decid- ed not to turn pro and left the sport at 18. After several years of gritty jobs that included chimney sweeping, concrete construction and managing a liquor store, he learned that he could make $1 000 a week caddying at the Congres- sional Country Club. His work ethic and thoroughness led to him being called “Pro,” which in the caddie tradition of oblique nicknames morphed into “Cayce,” after the club’s actual head pro at the time Kent Cayce. Kerr ventured out on the PGA Tour in 1987, and in his fourth event talked his way into a job with Hall of Famer
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75TH ANNIVERSARY
Els shot 80 with 39 putts. “I’m a little dead inside,” he confessed to the media. “I don’t know how I stayed out there.” “I had ridden
IRONMAN The 2016 Masters
with Els was Kerr’s 30th consecutive trip to Augusta.
to the course with Ernie and his wife Liezl,” says Kerr, “and during the round I was kind of dreading the return ride. I wanted it to be free of any suspicions that I had quit on him, and there wasn’t. In fact, he thanked me, saying, ‘Case- man, you gave me 100 percent today.’ I answered, ‘And tomorrow, I’m going to give you 110 percent. But I’ll tell you, I’ve never been more exhausted after a round.” The next day, Els shot an admirable 73, fittingly finishing it off with two missed four-footers. The next week at Hilton Head, Els recovered with a T-14, and, remarkably, led the statisti- cal category of total feet of putts made. It was the second-best finish Els and Kerr had together in their three years on the PGA Tour, which ended when Els turned 50. Anyone who follows the PGA Tour Champions knows that Els is a dominant presence, with seven wins as of this writing. Els remains a friend, lending his name to one of Kerr’s bever- ages, Els Iced Coffee. “You know, I was made to be a tour caddie,” Kerr says wistfully. “How can I say it? It’s a sexy job, you know, being inside those ropes with the best in the world, feeling the heat. My own mix of talents matches the job well, especially the big one, coming up with right thing to do and say at the right moments, usually with no time to think about it. After that first hole, I did that all day with Ernie.” The tough campaigner falls quiet for a moment, his eyes welling until two damp streaks roll down his cheeks. “Who knows how much time I have left, but I’m just going to fill it with good stuff,” Kerr says, with extra ebullience. He wants to caddie again. “I’ve got my goal of getting out there again, and I’m good at reaching goals. Like the movie says, ‘Get busy living, or get busy dy- ing.’ For a guy like me, that’s not a hard choice.”
As the round progressed, Kerr’s mind went back to his amateur boxing days, when his coaches would buck him up during tough moments. Now he was the cornerman. “Ernie didn’t say anything, but he got into grind mode, his champion’s pride at stake,” says Kerr. “I just walked with energy and stayed in his ear, speaking with compassion but not overdoing it because anything phony would have set him off, just pumping him up, reinforc- ing that he was Ernie Els and to show these people who he was. I dug deep, and he dug deep. It was hard because he was putting so poorly, but because of how he had come back from that first hole, it was exhilarating.”
All told, Kerr has looped in some 1 000 tournaments including well over 100 majors.
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Sage Words from a Resort Course Veteran
I ’ve been a caddie for nearly 20 years, with stints at some of the world’s best resorts. Al- though I’m not big on soapboxing, a lot of you could use some friendly advice. Before I tell you what you get wrong, let me start by telling you what you get right: You tip well. You’re generous about asking if I’d like a dog and a drink at the turn. It’s impossible to count how many players, many of whom I had for just 18 holes, send me cards and gifts during the holidays. Overall, you’re a good group, but you lack self-awareness. Here are some things to work on:
ILLUSTRATION BY VAN SAIYAN
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UNDERCOVER CADDIE
at Ballybunion), and, man, the cad- dies there dig Americans. But, as one told me, Yankee golfers struggle with vanity. You endlessly talk about your golf game without complimenting your playing partners. Same goes for discussions about business, family, politics and sports. There’s little group discourse or listening, just four indi- viduals waiting for someone else to stop talking so they can talk. (One time a woman said she was going through a divorce, and her competitor nodded and said, “For the life of me, I can’t keep this 5-iron out of the wind.”) Golf is an individual game, but if you let it, it can be a communal experience. You have the emotional intelli- gence of a puppy. I spent a quarter of my career at Pebble Beach, a place golfers spend their lives dreaming of visiting. You’d think it would be four hours of walking on rainbows. Instead, you base your enjoyment on the shot you just hit or the hole you just finished. I get it. No one wants to pay $700 for a tee time and play like crap. But you’re not a pro. Try to hit a few good shots, and if that doesn’t happen, so what. You’re playing golf; life is good. That goes for a round at a bucket-list venue or your mid-week 9 holes. Stop apologising – and lying. “I’m so sorry” or “I’m normally not this bad.” I hear a variation of this about three times a week after a player has made consecutive bogeys. I ap- preciate where you’re coming from, but I’ve seen bad, brother. I want you to play well, and I’ll do my best to help you, but I don’t care what you shoot. Just try to have a good experience. Besides, I can tell within two shots if you’re a player or a hacker, and 95 percent of the time, the apologies are coming from a hacker. ‘I can tell within two shots if you’re a player or a hacker.’
You don’t prepare for bad weather. The hardest items to keep stocked in our golf shop are rainsuits and sweaters. If you think those pieces are expensive online, you have no idea about the bill coming your way at a resort golf shop. A lot of prime courses are on or by the water, so expect three seasons in one day. Also, even if you’re playing at your home course, you should have rain gear in the bag. You don’t know how far you hit your irons. For every ball that goes long, 30 fall short. If I say 150 yards, and your response is 8-iron, stop and think: Is that how far my 8-iron usu- ally goes or just when I catch all of it? Most golfers let the latter dictate the shot when it should be the former. Next time you’re at the range, note how far your average shots travel, not just the pured ones, and that’s your stock number. I guarantee you’ll start hitting more greens. Stop blaming your caddie. If I give you a bad read, I’ll let you know it. Same if I misjudge the wind. If you want to get mad at me when that hap- pens, I don’t blame you. But often, when a shot doesn’t go the way the player envisions, there’s a glare or mumble in my direction, and sudden- ly the player who was chummy sec- onds before is now a sourpuss. More infuriating is when a player hits a good shot and acts like my buddy again, as if what happened before didn’t hap- pen. That’s no way to treat people, especially on a golf course. The worst thing I’ve heard? “You shouldn’t be a caddie if you can’t make that read.” Took a hell of a lot of willpower not to toss his clubs into the fescue. You’re bringing too many damn balls. I don’t care how bad you are. You don’t need more than six. If you feel secure with three sleeves, that’s fine. But if I see another golfer stuff three dozen balls – and in case you’re wondering, the record is five dozen – into the side carriage, I’m go- ing to lose it. – with joel beall
You’re too slow. Perhaps not too surprising but it seems like half of my job is prodding a group like sheep to play ready golf. I don’t like being the time-cop enforcer because when people feel rushed, the tips aren’t as generous. But please stop standing around and watching your playing partners. Take a practice swing, read from one angle and get on with it. You talk about yourself – a lot. I did two seasons in Ireland (one
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