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In The Mix
Dylan Frittelli is regaining the form which took him to No 44 in the world – and on to the biggest stage
By GARY LEMKE
The last South African to lead The Masters will be watching this year from his home in Austin, Texas, but confident he will be back at Augusta National in the not-too-distant future to pick up where he left off in 2020. That year, he shot an opening round of 65 before adding loops of 74, 67 and 72 to finish tie-fifth with Rory McIlroy.
Not that he could sleep on his lead given the first round had spilled over into Friday. ‘I didn’t have much time to think about leading. I had a bit of lunch, hit some balls and got ready for the second round!’ he says of the experience.
The 34-year-old South African has found form after a couple of seasons where he came off the highs of that 2020 Masters and a tie-fifth at the 2021 Open Championship, by struggling with 20 missed cuts in 31 starts in 2023 and sliding to 436th in the World Ranking.
‘It was hugely frustrating not making cuts, not making money, all that travelling… But I knew I’d come through’
‘Golf is a frustrating game, it’s tricky to figure out,’ Frittelli told The Golf Mag after closing with a 63 to finish fourth at the Joburg Open at Houghton Golf Club. That was his best finish of the year and he headed off to the next event on the DP World Tour, the Porsche Singapore Classic, with renewed confidence. There he strung together rounds of 69, 67 and 72 for an eight-under-par finish to the shortened 54-hole event and he was happy with the return.
SA’S TOP-5 FINISHES AT AUGUSTA
1st: Gary Player (1961, 1974, 1978), Trevor Immelman (2008), Charl Schwartzel (2011)
2nd: Gary Player (1962, 1965), Ernie Els (2000, 2004), Tim Clark (2006), Retief Goosen (2002, 2007), Rory Sabbatini (2007), Louis Oosthuizen (2012)
3rd: Gary Player (1970), Retief Goosen (2005, 2006), Charl Schwartzel (2017)
5th: Gary Player (1963, 1964), David Frost (1995), Ernie Els (2002), Trevor Immelman (5th), Dylan Frittelli (2020)
FRITTELLI’S MASTERS
2017 77 74 – MC
2020 65 73 67 72 – T5th
2021 76 74 – MC
‘The Masters is the Disneyland of golf. Everything is absolutely perfect. The conditioning is perfect, the people are friendly, the food is amazing, the vibe sensational’
‘Those two years were testing. I didn’t think of giving up golf completely but the thought of stopping professionally did cross my mind. It was hugely frustrating not making cuts, not making money, all that travelling… one’s head constantly bashed against the wall. But I knew I’d come through.
‘There are different avenues to get solutions, and winning the Bahrain Masters last year gave me confidence and I’m on a much better track. I’ve got the mental side really sharp again and the down periods make the ups feel even better.’
Frittelli is a three-time winner on the DP World Tour and is hoping that a good 2025 on the circuit will get him back to the PGA Tour.
‘I’ll be going to the States for a bit after Singapore and then return to the DP World Tour in May for the Turkish Open. The aim is to play well enough to get into a couple of Majors, where it’s always great to be able to mix it up with the best players.
WINNING WAYS
Check out Frittelli’s highlights from the 2024 Bahain Championship.
‘I’m looking to be in contention for one of the 10 PGA Tour cards the DP World Tour hands out. I probably put too much pressure on myself last year, but now I have a clear mindset and can enjoy the process.’
The Masters is certainly on Frittelli’s horizon in the future. ‘I’d obviously love to go back there,’ he says when talking about the intoxicating attraction of Augusta, a bucket-list destination for golfers and fans alike.
‘I played Augusta National for the first time when I was 22 and still in college, and I knew all the holes from TV, but experiencing it is something else.
‘Then, when I actually got to play at The Masters... it’s the Disneyland of golf. Everything is absolutely perfect. The conditioning is perfect, the people are friendly, the food is amazing, the vibe sensational. I want to go back with my family and friends and give them the experience.
FAVOURITE SPORTS
‘I enjoy pickleball and I play a bit of padel. I also hike quite a lot and gym regularly, but if I could surf five days a week I would. I’ll be doing a lot of it when I finish top-level golf.
‘If the Olympic gold medal for golf and surfing was being decided on the same day and I had a ticket to both, I’d go to the surfing!’
‘It’s a super tricky course,’ he says of Augusta National, and, like so many who have seen the manicured perfection of the course, gave an insider’s opinion of what the first-timer could expect.
‘It’s the scale of everything that is so different from what you see on TV. The height of the trees, the slopes and depths of the valleys and hills… the TV monitors squash everything into 2D, but when you go there you get to see and feel the sense of how grand everything is.
‘Then there are also all the rules. It’s a traditional place, and you can get into trouble if you fall foul of them!’
Frittelli says that while there are tales of golfers preparing for the fast greens by putting on snooker tables and concrete floors, it’s hard to prepare for reality.
ON TOP OF HIS GAME
Playing at only his second Masters, Frittelli shot a bogey-free third-round 67 in 2020.
‘On Sunday and Monday, the greens are running about 10 on the stimpmeter. They then turn the fans on under the greens and they get progressively quicker. By Thursday they are about 12 or 13 on the stimpmeter.’
There’s a maturity to everything Frittelli says. He’s always been regarded as a deep thinker but he doesn’t want to go back to where he was two years ago.
‘I don’t think anyone outside the golf circle realises the pressure you go through. In a way, it’s the same pressure any amateur sees in their Saturday competition, but we obviously have our livelihoods on the line.’
Now, thanks to an uptick in performance and confidence, highlighted by the way he finished his South African visit at the Joburg Open in March, the ‘old Frittelli’ is back, and you won’t have to veer far from the first page of the leaderboard to find his name again.
FLYING THE SA FLAG AT AUGUSTA IN 2025
Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Thriston Lawrence and Charl Schwartzel.
TYRONE WINFIELD/CARL FOURIE/SUNSHINE TOUR/DP WORLD TOUR/GETTY IMAGES/sergio perez/EPA/RICHARD SELLERS/PA/BACKPAGEPIX/CHARLES LABERGE/SAM GREENWOOD/AUGUSTA NATIONAL/MASTERS.COM
