Troon Golf & Travel - July/August 2011

The jack Nicklaus designed Pearl Valley Golf estates course, a 45-minute drive inland from Cape Town, is a renowned Troon Golf-managed facility.

“There are 100 golf courses
with a 70-mile radius of johan-
nesburg,” says Player. “They are
as good as any on the planet.
The standard of golf courses in
South Africa is quite high, as
high as you are likely to find.”
As a matter of history, golf
has had its place in South Africa
as long as its place in the United
States. General Henry Torrens
was sent to command British
troops in the Cape colony of
South Africa in 1885. The old
boy missed his golf, so the lore
goes that he established the
Cape Golf Club at the Wynberg
military encampment, con-
ceived a routing and by 1886
the first course in the country
was in play, with Torrens win-
ning the club’s first tournament.

Photo by Mark Newcombe

louis oosthuizen celebrates his remarkable 2010 open victory at st andrews with his wife and baby.

Now Schwartzel and Oosthu- izen are taking their places at the top. Schwartzel might have been more easily identified as a major championship contender, having had a great visibility on the european Tour. Oosthuizen’s accomplishments had been more modest, though his runaway victory at St. Andrews was mightily impressive.

Oosthuizen owns a farm in the Mossel Bay area of South Africa, where he grew up. earlier this season, he was asked if the spoils of his success at St. Andrews would turn into a Ferrari or a tractor.

“Oh, definitely a tractor,”
he said with a South African’s
typical modesty. “It’s not as
fast as a Ferrari, but it’s a bit
stronger, though.”
At the BMW european PGA
Championship at Wentworth in
May, the european Tour held its
annual awards dinner. Schwartzel
was asked to wear his Augusta
National green jacket to the
event.

“It was a black tie event
and I’m dressed up in a green
jacket,” said Schwartzel. “Most
people thought I was a waiter.”
But as history shows, more
often than not, South Africans
are the guests of honor. n

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