It was his father that set him off on his golfing journey, when Andrew Curlewis was just five years old, and it was for his father that he gave up his professional status in 2024.

Curlewis was a three-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, one of the large group of what people would regard as 'journeyman' professionals, but one who had touched the level that could have given him success on an international circuit.

'The old man got ill,' recalls Curlewis, 'and obviously finances were needed to see him through the treatment and everything. It was a case of selling up and finding work. And yeah, look, I can't complain. I would do it again. But we are here.'

Golf Manager for Silver Lakes Golf and Wildlife Estate is the 'here' for Curlewis, and it was the scene of his first act as an amateur again: He won the 2024 South African Mid-Amateur Championship just six weeks after regaining his amateur status, pulling a final-round six-under-par 66 out of the hat for a victory from nine strokes off the lead after 36 holes.

'The 18 years of doing it as a job, the experience did help a lot,' he says. 'I didn't really know what the tournament actually meant in the mid-am circles. I mean, it was my first event back. And only afterwards, a guy said: "Well, that's the biggest event for mid-am, and you've just won it." And I'm like, "I didn't know."

'You still want to play well, but you know what? If you play badly, you've got a job to go to on Monday. You're playing for fun again. It's fun, but it's still competitive. So it's nice to play competitive golf, but it still means something.'

Although he played for KwaZulu-Natal in both cricket and hockey during his high school years, Curlewis always had his heart set on a career in golf. He had his golfing provincial colours throughout his junior years, and represented the province at under-18, under-23 and senior inter-provincials as a youngster. He was well and truly ready for a career in golf when he turned pro in 2004.

An important year for the man from Margate was 2006, as he achieved his first top 10 finish at the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Arabella. And the following year, at the very same event, Andrew announced himself to the world of professional golf with his maiden tour victory courtesy of a memorable play-off in the Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Arabella.

'But looking back on my time as a pro, it's easy to sit back and say "if this" and "if that". It's like anything. When you're playing well, life is great. When you're going through a bad run and you're travelling, you're alone, things get tough. But I wouldn't change anything. I mean, I had good times, I had bad times. Made some silly decisions, made some good decisions. But I was lucky enough to do it for 18 years.'

Now, he's settled in nicely at Silver Lakes. 'Obviously, I'm still a Shark and I'll always stay a Shark,' he says of his rugby loyalties. 'Pretoria East is a lot more English than I initially thought. It's a nice bunch of people up here. It's a great golf course. We're lucky to have the support that we do here at Silver Lakes from the membership base and the residents.'

And, in a nice full-circle moment, he finishes up by noting he is about to take his first child, a six-week-old daughter, to see his father and his mother down on the KwaZulu-Natal coast.

'Fatherhood is special, I must say,' he says. 'Everyone says you'll only know how much your parents love you when you have your first child. And it's like, yeah, I understand that.'

ERNEST BLIGNAULT | Carl Fourie | Tyrone Winfield | Petri Oeschger | Luke Walker | Sunshine Tour | GOLF RSA