INSIDE THE ROPES

MULTI

tasker

This ever-popular golfer, businessman and family man has returned to Zimbabwe where he still spreads the Sunshine Tour word

BY GARY LEMKE

Anyone who has crossed paths with Ryan Cairns will tell you that he's a man in a million. But they might be wrong, he's better than that. When you consider that around one percent of all talented golfers turn professional, and around one in 50 000 of those (0.02 percent) win a pro tournament, you can see how tough things are.


Cairns' pro-winning moment came in May 2012 when he won the Vodacom Origins Simola. It came after rounds of 71, 68 and 62 and netted him R95 000 back then, but more than anything, it validated the reasons why he's chosen the hardest of professional careers.


A gifted youngster who represented Zimbabwe internationally and shot a 63 to win a Nationwide Tour qualifier in the USA, the 41-year-old Cairns is now a doting husband and father of two, living in Harare where he is building an impressive CV as a businessman.


Cairns hasn't officially retired, but he hasn't been on the full-time tour since 2023.


'I'm not done competing – I've just shifted the arena. These projects are my new tournaments. They just have different leaderboards, and bigger consequences,' he says of his new career outside of a pro golfer. 'If the right opportunity came, I'd tee it up tomorrow, but I'm no longer measuring my career by world ranking. I'm measuring it by what I'm building, which is a totally different type of pressure.'


Cairns is laying the foundations for himself, and his family. 'I feel very anchored professionally, personally and geographically.


'I'm married to Engelize, and we have two beautiful kids, Leah and Jackson. Having kids has been the biggest grounding force in my life as you don't overthink much when you come home to playdough and bedtime stories. It reframes success in a healthy way. Zimbabwe is home and where I'm building things that will outlast me.'


Among the projects for the ever-busy and creative Cairns is The Puttery Barn, a family entertainment venue that merges fun, sport, food, play and atmosphere into one space. I wanted to build a place with energy – not just a restaurant, not just a bar – but somewhere multi-generational and memorable. When I see families, golfers, teens, corporates, kids and grandparents all in the same room having a shared moment, that's the payoff.

CHIP SHOTS

Best round ever:
62 at Simola (followed by a chip-in eagle in the playoff).

Best course ever played:
Leopard Creek CC

Bucket list:
Augusta National

Describe yourself in 10 words:
Curious. Driven. Grateful. Creative. Loyal. Resilient. Daring. Builder. Wide-eyed. Compassionate.

Highest moment in golf:
The Simola win – not for the cheque, but for the validation.

Lowest moment:
Lonely hotel rooms after missed cuts and crying in the shower. That only happened once though, but worth noting.

Most famous non-golfer you've met:
Derek Watts. I always loved everything about my rounds of golf with Derek, and he would laugh at this reference of him being called a non-golfer. What an incredible human-being!

'I'm not done competing – I've just shifted the arena. These projects are my new tournaments'

'I am also a co-owner of The Pro Shop Franchise in Zimbabwe, which keeps me connected to the club community from the ground level and our Leadbetter Golf Academy is producing a lot of great young talent.

'And I'm heavily involved at The Hills Golf Club by Peter Matkovich, which I believe will become one of Africa's signature golf experiences. Peter is an artist more than a designer. Working closely with him has changed the way I see golf.


'I now look at land the way he does: lines, movement, story and soul before shovel and turf. Casual golfers don't realise how much feeling goes into making a hole look like it's "always been there." The art is that you don't notice the art.


'Then there's At The Deck at Queen, and our new concept Privé – Zimbabwe's first private cinema and rooftop lounge pairing. I'm building elevated lifestyle and hosting experiences. Hospitality is becoming my second sport – different stage, but the same pressure to deliver.'


And as if that wasn't enough on his plate, he regards launching the Recovery Pen by Skinflow – a Korean-engineered pain and recovery technology – as the most challenging business battle of all.


There aren't enough hours in the day for the energetic Zimbabwean who made a circle of friends and colleagues on the Sunshine Tour, which he joined in 2007. He was the man with the guitar and the stories. It's how he met his wife.


When reminded of the 20th Century's generation of music that came on vinyl records with an 'A' and 'B' side he laughs. 'My A side would be storytelling acoustic and the B-side live crowd sing-along rock.'


Cairns neglects to mention that he is a talented writer and was a columnist for Compleat Golfer for several years. Then again, he loves nothing more than pushing back the boundaries and testing himself.

HOW I MET MY WIFE

'I was at a place in Bedfordview, on a blind date with this beautiful Afrikaans girl in 2015. After a while she asked me if I could get my guitar out of the car and play a song for her in the restaurant. I asked the manager if that would be OK, adding that I'm no Ed Sheeran, but I can hold my own. Three songs into my "impromptu set", Engelize responded by saying, "If you can play a Snow Patrol song that's not Chasing Cars, I will marry you tomorrow." With only one other Snow Patrol song in my repertoire, I started strumming.' They got married six months later.

However, as a golfer, that VOG win at Simola remains his business card. 'Some wins feel like a fight, but Simola felt like flow,' he says of the occasion where he beat Vaughan Groenewald in a playoff.


'There was freedom. No clutter in my head, no tension in the hands. Just the game, and my close mate Jannie on the bag – high fiving me every step of the way. I think it was one of the only times in more than 300 pro tournaments I ever felt like that.'


Making the cut is a reality of the tour for most Sunshine Tour professionals and Cairns says that making the cut is more stressful than winning. 'Friday is survival. Saturday is expression. Missing a cut questions your identity. Winning confirms it. There's an emotional exhaustion to "just making it to the weekend" that non-players never see.'


Now, the reality is that he's experienced what there is as a professional, but it's the business and creative element that excites him. He's loving the challenges and the personal growth. And he says there's an open invitation for every one of you when you're in Harare. 'Be warned though – you'll enjoy yourself so much you might not go home!'

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