his second shot – but it can also result in wide misses if he gets it even slightly wrong. When Aldrich is on with the driver he’s unbeatable. I believe he’s going to be our next great superstar. ● ● ● I won six times on the Sunshine Tour between 2008 and 2013, including the Cape Town Open and Zimbabwe Open. What is unusual is that I won the first five of them in playoffs, and the Zimbabwe Open by one shot. And, to show how fickle pro golf can be, after winning those six tournaments I then lost five consecutive playoffs between 2014 and 2021. I beat Justin Harding in a playoff at the 2012 Lombard Insur- ance Classic in Swaziland, and six years
later he beat me at the sixth extra hole in the same tournament. ● ● ● To sustain your career as a tour pro- fessional in SA you do need to up- grade and play one of the bigger overseas tours where you can earn substantial prizemoney. The Sun- shine Tour has done exceptionally well recently with bigger purses and tour- naments throughout the year, but it remains a stepping stone for younger players to advance elsewhere. It’s what I call a “graduation” tour. It’s perfect for youngsters, but unless they eventually move out of their comfort zone to the DP World Tour or elsewhere they are not going to become wealthy or test their
There were critical comments passed about Aldrich’s short-game technique on Sunday, but he has very good hands and you can’t call it a weakness of his game. However, he does get a bit steep going back, and I think he can work on his pitching tech- nique, to have something he can rely on under pressure. His main weapon is the driver, and on Sunday at Sun City he was only able to use it on three holes, 9-10-17, because he hits it so far and we didn’t want to risk bad bounces going into the bush. He has an incredible clubhead speed of 130 miles per hour (208kph), which is a huge advantage – as I witnessed at No 9 on Saturday when he had a wedge into the island green for
games when anxiety levels are ramped up. Youngsters must chase hard for 10 years before settling down. I know how competitive an environment this is to make a living. If you don’t keep improving, you will
JAKE ROOS WON 16 PRO TOURNAMENTS AGE 44 LIVES MOSSEL BAY
be overtaken by a new wave of fearless youngsters joining the tour every year. ● ● ● Our players are fortunate to have four European Challenge Tour events in SA to start the year – at Zebula, Pe- canwood, Royal Cape and Fancourt. Perfect timing. Win one of those and it’s a pathway to securing a DP World Tour card. I won twice on the Challenge Tour, in Kenya and Germany, and gained my European Tour card in 2015. However, by then I had started a family and hav- ing those responsibilities does affect your playing career. You can no longer wing it as a single person. Living in the Western Cape for support reasons was also to my detriment as my coach, Doug Wood, was in Gauteng, and practising is not as easy in the Cape as it is on the highveld where many of the tourna- ments are played. ● ● ● Tournament golf is in my blood, and it’s an addiction. I miss the challenge and the amazing places I’ve been to. I was 44 when I played my final tourna- ment, and I’m glad the stress is over, and I don’t have to rely solely on golf for an income. I’m a partner in a funeral business in Mossel Bay. I hope though to get another opportunity to caddie for Aldrich at the Nedbank Challenge.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 15
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025
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