SPOTLIGHT ON...
In the
DRIVING
seat
After learning to love the game again, Samuel Simpson is reaping the rewards
BY MICHAEL VLISMAS
Before The Open Championship, Scottie Scheffler told a room full of journalists that golf does not define him. Not the wins, nor the defeats. It hit home with young Sunshine Tour professional Samuel Simpson, whose father sent him the clip.
It’s precisely what Simpson has been trying to master since he turned professional in 2022 after a stellar amateur career. And this year, it’s clicked.
The 23-year-old golfer had a good start to the new season that included his maiden victory on the Sunshine Tour at the Mopani Zambia Open. While there is a long way still to go this season, it’s been an important moment in the career of a young golfer who is as honest and open as Scheffler about his journey thus far.
‘When I turned pro, I was in a tough period in my life. I was struggling with my golf and as a person off the course. As an amateur, I’d had this expectation of winning tournaments, and I expected to do the same straight away when I turned pro,’ he says.
‘The first few years of my professional career felt like a blur. I couldn’t figure out how to get back to how I played as an amateur, and I started comparing myself to that’
‘The first few years of my professional career felt like a blur. I couldn’t figure out how to get back to how I played as an amateur, and I started comparing myself to that. In an amateur tournament, there are only a couple of players who can win on the weekend, but in the pro ranks, there are 50, and the cut is under par.
‘I made it a big thing in my head as to how hard it was. I just really wasn’t enjoying being out there. My mentality was all results-based, and I was struggling.’
It's easily the hardest lesson to learn in professional sport – separating performance from self-worth. Perhaps that’s exactly why Scheffler felt he needed to deliver his golf sermon on the topic, and why even Rory McIlroy has admitted to suffering from the same as he spent years of his life chasing the Grand Slam.
CHIP SHOTS
What advice would you give to young golfers before they turn pro?
Be humble enough to know that there are people who know more than you do. As a youngster, you’re playing great golf and you think you know it all. I have focused on seeking advice from those who know more than me. I try to ask the questions when I’m playing with guys who’ve been on Tour a while. My past two years have just been about listening and learning.
Favourite South African courses?
Leopard Creek, because I played it quite a bit as an amateur, and I’m beyond excited to hopefully play the Alfred Dunhill Championship there. I love playing Pearl Valley because I’m from Cape Town. And my home club at Royal Cape. I’m really excited to play the Cape Town Open there on the HotelPlanner Tour.
What’s your tournament routine?
I’m specific regarding my tournament preparation. It sounds superstitious, but I try to park my car in a similar spot each day at the tournament. I’m always there two hours before the round and do my full warm-up and the same stretches. I used to listen to music in my warm-up, but I’ve found it takes away my focus.
How do you unwind away from golf?
I love padel and tennis; I watched the whole of Wimbledon. When I’m home in Cape Town, I surf. That’s probably the biggest detox for me – just being out on the water. I also play a bit of piano and guitar.
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So Simpson decided to reset, with the help of a very good team of people around him.
‘I took a step back and started to find enjoyment in the process. Before, I was so fixated on the result that it affected who I was as a person, and that’s not where I wanted to be. Now, a good or bad round doesn’t define me, and I think that’s why I’m playing better.
‘I’m doing everything I can to play well, and if I don’t, it doesn’t define me. My attitude feels a lot more balanced.’
And he’s starting to enjoy the fact that he is what he always dreamt of being – a winner on the Sunshine Tour.
‘I’m doing everything I can to play well, and if I don’t, it doesn’t define me. My attitude feels a lot more balanced’
DID YOU KNOW?
After being crowned the 2019 Nomads SA Boys U-19 Stroke Play champion in 2019, Simpson went on to win the prestigious Proudfoot Trophy after topping the 36-hole strokeplay qualifier for the matchplay stage of the 2020 SA Amateur Championship.
He went bogey-free on the tough East Course at Royal Johannesburg to hold on to his three-stroke lead over Casey Jarvis, Christiaan Maas and England’s Joseph Long, adding his name to the likes of Trevor Immelman, Brandon Stone and Jovan Rebula on the trophy.
‘Competing out here is indescribable. I live for the pressure. Competition drives me, and having been there now, it motivates me to be in that position again. So my thought process is that I’m good at this, I’ll continue to work hard to get in that position again, and then enjoy it.’
As good as his form is at the moment, he’s determined not to rush the next step in his career.
‘I really am still learning out here. I feel like I need to get through this year first and focus on what I’m doing well. My win opens a few doors for me, so I’m into a few of the DP World Tour co-sanctioned events and HotelPlanner Tour events. I’ve received invites to some of them before, but to know I’ve earned my way into them is exciting. I think I have a bit more time before I want to challenge myself and play more globally.’
MAIDEN WIN
Simpson became the second player to win on the Sunshine Tour for the first time after this season’s opening five events when he lifted the Mopani Zambia Open trophy.
His bogey-free final round at Nkana Golf Club earned him a one-stroke victory over Herman Loubser, who had been at the top of the leaderboard since the first round.
The 23-year-old teed off the final round five shots behind Loubser, but he was able to limit his mistakes and absorb the pressure to emerge victorious.
TYRONE WINFIELD/CARL FOURIE/SUNSHINE TOUR/GOLFRSA
