COVER FEATURE
Crowning
GLORY
Hometown hero Dylan Naidoo showed that dreams can come true when he made history by winning his national Open
By GARY LEMKE
Dylan Naidoo’s whole world changed the moment he sunk the short birdie putt to win the Investec South African Open at Durban Country Club on a final Sunday reduced to a playoff shootout down the 18th hole.
Mop-up operations after torrential rain that had flooded the course, reminiscent of the 1995 Rugby World Cup semi-final at neighbouring Kings Park which eventually went ahead – and the Springboks won – had reduced the world’s second-oldest national Open to 54 holes but left Naidoo and England's Laurie Canter alone on 14-under-par 202. The right decision was made to have the pair contest a sudden-death playoff.
This was the second time Naidoo, who turned 27 a week before the SA Open, had slept on a three-round lead while looking for his maiden DP World Tour win. It was always going to be a matter of when, not if the breakthrough arrived. It could have come at the AfrAsia Mauritius Open in December, but the golfing gods had ordained that it would be on a bigger stage.
“I didn’t have a lot of fear on the shot. It was actually a really nice shot for me to have at that moment”
In the end, only one extra trip along the closing hole at Durban Country Club was needed, with Naidoo hitting a stunning chip to within four feet.
“The boys who play practice rounds with me know I do that all the time,” said Naidoo of the shot which all but secured the title for him. “I didn’t have a lot of fear on the shot. It was actually a really nice shot for me to have at that moment. I was more worried about the putt. That putter went back like a little squiggly worm.”
It didn’t matter how the putter went back; the forward motion sent the ball straight and true into the hole.
Some 60 years ago, Sewsunker "Papwa" Sewgolum had beaten Gary Player to win the Natal Open for a second time at the same venue, but he famously had to receive his trophy in the rain outside the Durban Country Club clubhouse because of the country’s apartheid policies.
“For what this means in terms of Papwa Sewgolum and him having won the Natal Open here, it’s incredible”
The occasion wasn't lost on Naidoo, also of Indian heritage. “For what this means in terms of Papwa Sewgolum and him having won the Natal Open here, it’s incredible. I feel like he was with me here today... It’s overwhelming”
Naidoo was the most popular man on a soggy course all week – after the second round where he shot a course-record 61 he said, “I felt like I was Tiger Woods, there were so many people, so much energy” – but his win was symbolic, and historic, in that he became the first South African golfer of colour to win the national Open.
ROYAL PORTRUSH BOUND
Naidoo’s compatriot Darren Fichardt and Englishman Marco Penge also qualified for the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush after their final placing at the 54-hole Investec SA Open.
Naidoo secured his spot at the County Antrim event in July by winning the weather-hit national Open at Durban CC in a sudden-death playoff.
Englishman Laurie Canter was already exempt for the season’s final Major, meaning the other two spots up for grabs went to Penge and Fichardt.
After qualifying for his eighth Open, Fichardt said that although he was disappointed they couldn’t play on the final day, he was “very excited and stoked to be going to Portrush”.
ACE ALERT
Englishman Dale Whitnell became just the second player in DP World Tour history to make two holes-in-one in a single round. In the second round of the Investec South African Open, the world No 545 holed out from 185 yards with a 7-iron on the par-three 2nd hole before repeating the feat with a wedge shot on the 128-yard 12th.
TOP ROLE MODEL
The GolfRSA National Squad Class of 2016 graduate chats about where it all started for him.
“I don’t know what to say, it just feels like a dream. Am I going to wake up at some point? This is a special moment for me, for everybody here in Durban. Jeepers!” he said.
The breakthrough to the big stage has been coming. A month before he had told The Golf Mag that he felt he was ready to win on the DP World Tour, although he wasn’t going to put a date on it. Hopefully, it would come in 2025, but his approach was to keep working, knowing his ball striking was good enough to give him a regular chance.
It didn’t take long.
The win earned him the equivalent of R4.7-million but, more importantly, a spot at the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush, for which Darren Fichardt also booked his ticket. It also earned Naidoo enough ranking points to lift him 220 places in the Official World Golf Ranking, from No 466 to No 246.
SEALING THE DEAL
Catch the highlights of the dramatic playoff between Naidoo and Canter at Durban CC.
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In terms of the difference of leading a DP World Tour event heading into the final round, from Mauritius to Durban, he said: “I felt like I had nothing to lose in the playoff. I just wanted to go out there and have fun and do it. To have my name on the Investec SA Open trophy is unbelievable. It’s like a fairytale.”
Except, it's not. It’s a dizzying, joyous reality.
MAKING THE TRANSITION
Seven Freddie Tait Cup winners have subsequently won the South African Open as professionals. Maas will get his chance to join this list: Dale Hayes (1969 and 1976), Tony Johnstone (1978 and 1984), Ernie Els (1989 and 1992), Hennie Otto (1997 and 2011), Trevor Immelman (1998 and 2003), Branden Grace (2007 and 2020) and Brandon Stone (2012 and 2016).
TAKING THE SPOILS
Christiaan Maas had the Freddie Tait Cup in safe keeping the moment he signed for a second-round 64 in the Durban CC tent at the Investec South African Open. The 21-year-old was then able to turn his attention to an even bigger prize – the national Open itself, last won by an amateur, Denis Huchinson, in 1959. And, two shots off the lead with 18 holes to go, he had every chance of doing exactly that, until rain had the final say.
Maas, who joins an exclusive list of amateurs who have won the Freddie Tait Cup more than once – Neville Clarke, Clarence Oleander, Jimmy Boyd and Barry Franklin all won it three times – has now won it twice in the last four stagings.
Considering we have to go back to Clarke who was the last multiple winner 34 years ago, we have further evidence that the Texas-based student is going places. He has a long pedigree and came through the GolfRSA system where his self-confessed finest moment was winning the 2022 Brabazon Trophy.
His experience in the US was put to good use at Durban Country Club. “One thing I have learned in America is to be patient and you’ve got the world’s time. Just stick to what you’re doing and be in your own game, own zone,” he said after being the only amateur of the six who teed up to make the cut. All of Astin Arthur, Bryan Newman, Jordan Burnand, Charl Barnard and Sean Paxton fell by the wayside.
Ultimately, Maas found himself tie-fourth, two shots behind Dylan Naidoo and Laurie Canter after 54 holes. A R1.2-million payout would have awaited him, if he had been a professional of course. With the final round washed out, he could have been forgiven if he was silently spending the money he missed out on, but there will be no regrets.
In time to come, those earnings will be a drop in the ocean compared to what awaits Maas when he finally turns pro and starts banking the prize money.
ERNEST BLIGNAULT/GOLFRSA/CARL FOURIE/TYRONE WINFIELD/SUNSHINE TOUR/PERFECT EXPOSURE
