SPOTLIGHT ON...
MAKING HIS
MARK
It’s time to pay attention to Keenan Davidse
By MICHAEL VLISMAS
If you’re a golf fan, Keenan Davidse is the one Sunshine Tour professional you think you know, but you don’t really. And it’s not your fault.
What you’re dealing with is a golfer who has been so supremely consistent without winning for so many years, it’s very easy to see past him.
For the past eight seasons, Davidse has only finished worse than 38th on the final Sunshine Tour Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy once. And even that wasn’t bad as he ended that season in 54th place.
In 17 years as a professional, Davidse has 14 top-four finishes. He’s had a great start to 2025 and by the end of February was sitting inside the top 10 on the HotelPlanner Tour Road to Mallorca rankings and the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.
He’s the kind of golfer who will shoot 67 in a tough final round of the Cell Cape Town Open in association with Honor this year and finish second. Or he’ll shot 68 in the final round of the 2024 Alfred Dunhill Championship to finish tie-seventh. He has only one financial sponsorship, with Betway. “They’ve changed my life and I have tremendous respect for them,” he says.
But he’s always in the conversation. He’s also a golfer who just gets out there and gets on with it. And that, in a space dominated by fist-pumping wins and huge drives that capture a lot of attention, can make him easy to miss. That would be a mistake, because Keenan Davidse is worth paying attention to as a kid from the historic Jamestown outside Stellenbosch who worked hard for his place inside the ropes. Not without making mistakes, which he’ll be the first to admit. But always as a straight shooter.
“In terms of consistency, I do think I’m one of the best. You don’t always get recognised for consistency. But I’m always going to be there”
“I’ve been around for 17 years and haven’t won, so that’s a bit irritating,” he says sipping a cappuccino. “But in terms of consistency, I do think I’m one of the best. You don’t always get recognised for consistency. But I’m always going to be there.”
It’s hard to get Davidse to speak in detail about his golf. That’s not who he is. He’s not one to talk publicly about the swing or technical aspects thereof.
“Look, you can flush it and shoot 75, and you can hit it badly and shoot 65. You can be a great ball striker, but you still need to get that ball in the hole. I always feel like if I putt well, I’m hard to beat. But I’m trying not to treat golf like a job any more because that takes the enjoyment out of it. I feel like when I’m trying too hard, I miss the cut.”
One thing he will reveal is his desire to play a full season on the HotelPlanner Tour this year. “It works out better for me this year. Two years ago I was in between three Tours, the Sunshine Tour, DP World Tour and what was then the Challenge Tour. That’s expensive.”
QUICK Q&A
Favourite course on the Sunshine Tour?
Leopard Creek. Without a doubt. I love it.
Most memorable round of golf you’ve had?
The final round of the 2024 Alfred Dunhill Championship, where I shot 68 to finish tie-seventh. But the best feeling I had was my second place at the Cell C Cape Town Open in association with Honor this year. That final round was do or die for me. I shot five under, and it was nice because my kids watched it on TV and went nuts.
Is there a South African sportsman you admire?
Vernon Philander. He’s a good friend and I look up to him. I tend, though, to look at not just the sportsman but someone who is also a good father and husband. Somebody like Sean Somang, the owner of SWAGG. He just understands people so well. He’s had a big influence on me.
Anything sentimental in your golf bag?
A golden marker David Frost gave to me. He represents the old-school values I like.
“Life is hard, so I don’t like extra noise around me. I’m just a small kid from Jamestown trying to make a difference”
But never mistake what Davidse doesn’t say or tell you as him not knowing.
“I know what I want in life. In life, and in golf, I try to put the bad stuff behind me and move on as quickly as I can. I do my best to block out the noise. Life is hard, so I don’t like extra noise around me. I’m just a small kid from Jamestown trying to make a difference.”
So it’s time to stop just noticing Keenan Davidse, and time to actually pay attention to Keenan Davidse.
Because Keenan Davidse is a bit like the 1-iron of old. It’s a club not everybody truly understood and was maybe a little intimidated by. But when you gave it your full attention, you saw the real beauty of something difficult mastered, and the feeling that comes from a shot hit so sweet from that most unforgiving of clubfaces.
TYRONE WINFIELD/CARL FOURIE/SUNSHINE TOUR
