SPOTLIGHT ON...
in the
groove
For the first time in his career, this Sunshine Tour pro is playing for the right reasons – and getting the results
BY MICHAEL VLISMAS
When Michael Hollick says 'It's about peace of mind at the end of the day', he is speaking in the same intentional and analytical way that he has always played his golf. In the last three seasons, Hollick has found peace of mind and a balance to his career that is seeing him play some of the best golf of his life.
Since May 2024, Hollick has won three times on the Sunshine Tour and collected a practice bag full of top-10s. Before this, however, you need to go back to 2015 for Hollick’s previous victory on the Sunshine Tour.
'The last four years have been the most consistent that I've had,' he says, and as this game so often does, it all started at one of the lowest points of his career.
'In the 2022/23 season, I was just outside the top 100 who retain their cards on the Sunshine Tour. I needed a good week in my final tournament, and I missed the cut. My wife and I were going on honeymoon, and I remember discussing whether we cancel the honeymoon for me to go to Qualifying School again.'
Hollick did manage to retain his playing rights and he finished in 100th spot that season – by half a point on the final The Courier Guy Order of Merit.
Gallery below
SUNSHINE TOUR BEST PERFORMANCES
2013 Cape Town Open (2nd)
2014 Vodacom Origins - St Francis (T3rd), Vodacom Origins Final (T4th)
2015 Sun Sibaya Challenge (1st), Vodacom Origins - Vaal de Grace (4th)
2018 Royal Swazi Spa Challenge (T3rd)
2023 Fortress Invitational (T4th)
2024 Stella Artois Players Championship (T2nd), Zim Open (1st), SunBet Challenge Times Square (T4th)
2025 Tour Champs (1st), eSwatini Challenge (1st), SunBet Challenge Wild Coast (2nd)
Then in March 2024 it started to turn. He finished second in the Stella Artois Players Championship. He wasn't ranked high enough to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship, but did qualify for the pro-am team event which he won with Rupert Kaminski.
Then, in May 2024 he won the FBC Zim Open. He followed this with a victory in the DNi Tour Championship in March 2025, and in August 2025 he added the FNB eSwatini Challenge.
Apart from now being ranked within the top 10 on The Courier Guy Order of Merit, he'll also be playing a few DP World Tour events this season.
'It's been a ride,' he says. 'If someone had said to me three years ago that I was going to win another handful of tournaments on the Sunshine Tour and then play on the DP World Tour, I would've said there is no chance of that happening.
'Professional golf becomes quite consuming. Your whole life is based around your performance and practice. That year I finished 100th, I don't know what the universe was saying, but I managed to keep my playing rights. I continued with my coaching but I wasn't playing every event because I wasn't ranked in the top 40. So the coaching stayed my priority, and then I played tournaments at courses that I enjoyed. Even the year I went to Zimbabwe, my coach Neil Cheetham said there's something good around the corner. I hadn't been to Zim for four years before that, but he felt like I needed to go. And I won.'
Perhaps the biggest shift for Hollick has been a mindset where he's realised what works for him: From choosing the right tournaments on courses that suit him, to working with the swing he's got and not constantly searching for the swing he believes he needs to have.
'The coaching gave me some good perspective. It's not easy coaching. To be on your feet all day from Monday to Saturday and standing in the sun. So going away for a week every month to play a tournament was a nice escape. It was kind of like a free hit for me, because financially it wasn't a massive burden to go and play. I was playing less and less, but every time I was playing, I was playing quite well. It became a joke with all the boys – they started saying you can't just pitch up here every now and then and take our money.'
It also brought with it a sense of confidence about his own ability.
'I'd played so badly for so long that you doubt yourself and you don't have much confidence. That tournament I won in Zimbabwe, I played with Darren Fichardt on the last day. The fact that I could beat a guy like that down the stretch, I felt like I was as good as anybody out here. Then when I played the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship this year, I felt completely comfortable alongside the other pros who are doing well on the DP World Tour week in and week out. I never felt out of my league.
BY THE NUMBERS
4 Tournaments that he's won on the Sunshine Tour
9 Most consecutiuve cuts he has made on the tour
17 Top 10 finishes in his Sunshine Tour career
63 Lowest round he's shot on the Sunshine Tour
72.7 Stroke average per round on the Sunshine Tour
R4.9m The amount he's earned in his Sunshine Tour career
'I genuinely believe you should play the tournaments you believe you can do well in because you like the golf course, or your game is right at the time'
'I genuinely believe you should play the tournaments you believe you can do well in because you like the golf course, or your game is right at the time. You see it with the best players in the world. They don't play every single tournament. They play maybe 25 out of 45 tournaments in the year. I don't think playing every single week is good for you.
'Maybe because I'm older now and I've got a good coach and mentor in Neil, I am in pursuit of what works for me. I'm not in pursuit of the perfect golf swing.'
There's a sense that Hollick is not just reaching the potential he always believed he was capable of, but for the first time in his career he's not playing because he feels he has to and he's not playing for the perfect swing.
He's playing for himself.
Gallery below
CARL FOURIE / TYRONE WINFIELD / SUNSHINE TOUR
