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Battle

HARDENED

Richard Sterne turned pro 25 years ago, won the SA Open 16 years ago and is now a winner again on the DP World Tour. MICHAEL VLISMAS catches up with one of South Africa's veterans

yurav premlall

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Looking back is not something that comes naturally to professional golfers. They prefer looking forward – to the next hole, to the next tournament, to the next big goal. But when you reach the kind of milestone in a career that Richard Sterne now has, it's good to pause for a moment.


'It goes pretty quickly,' Sterne says of his 25 years as one of South Africa's leading professionals. It's a career that took another triumphant turn this year when he added a seventh victory on the DP World Tour – his first since 2013.

'There have been a lot of ups and downs with injuries that have held me back. My back got so bad that everyday living was miserable'

'My children have been saying they want to see me win, and that gave me some extra drive. It was special. I also dedicated the win to my brother who passed away in 2020. I wanted to be able to do that for him.'


The win was another milestone in what has been a highly successful career for Sterne.


With multiple victories on the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour, Sterne was once ranked as high as 29th in the world. His consistency has seen him win through three decades. His seven-stroke victory in the 2013 Joburg Open remains the largest margin of victory in this event. And he was also a winner of the Courier Guy Order of Merit on the Sunshine Tour six years into his professional career.

It was the kind of career that was always expected following his stand-out performances from his junior golf days.


But there have also been serious injury setbacks, and it's easy to think 'what could have been' had Sterne not suffered a series of injuries at the peaks of his playing form.


'There have been a lot of ups and downs with injuries that have held me back. I always had back trouble, even when I was young. My back got so bad that everyday living was miserable. I was in pain. I tried everything, from rhizotomies (cauterizing the nerve endings in the spine) to blood spinning, and spent a fortune in Germany at a clinic where Vijay Singh went to, and I still have stem cell treatment. When I had the back surgery, there was talk amongst the doctors that I wouldn't be able to compete at a top level again purely because I don't think a full disc replacement has ever been done where a golfer has won after that.

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'Then I had wrist injuries and a hip operation. I went out to 1000th in the world at one time. I was never really the same after the hip operation – the ball striking ability was never the same because my hip just cannot open up like it used to.


'But if 25 years ago you offered me the career I've had, I would've probably taken it. Do I think I could've performed better? Yes. But the injuries came at times when I was doing well. That's part of it.'


Winning the 2008 South African Open against a world-class field where he finished one shot ahead of Ernie Els, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood, two ahead of Retief Goosen and three ahead of Trevor Immelman stands out as one of Sterne's highlights in a life he says chose him rather than the other way around.


'I never thought of doing anything else. From a young age there was no option for me. I think sport kind of chooses you. When I turned pro, I didn't get through the DP World Tour First Stage of Qualifying School and that was a shock to the system. I received an invite into my first Sunshine Tour event, and I did pretty well. I kept my card on the Sunshine Tour the first year. That gave me confidence.

Then in 2002 I finished second in the Zambia Open behind Marc Cayeux. That got me a category on the Challenge Tour (now the HotelPlanner Tour), and that's how I got to Final Stage of the DP World Tour's Qualifying School. And I got my card.'


His most recent victory in the Soudal Open has confirmed in his own mind that there is still plenty of good golf to come as he turns 45 later in August.


'To get through all of it – I realised I still want to compete. Even now I think I can play my best golf coming up. I'm training harder than ever. I wish I had the dedication and persistence that I have now when I was younger. I tried to put in more effort when I was younger but it just didn't come to me. I'm a lot more disciplined now. I'm enjoying it and I'm being a bit nicer to myself on the golf course. I feel I can now perform better than I ever have. So let's see what the next few years bring.'

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