Return to Grace
Can South Africans make a return to the major stage in 2020?
If so, their hopes now lie with three people.
With the likes of Gary Player, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, there has rarely been a shortage of South African golfers front and centre on the world stage.
Every generation of Springbok juniors, for over half a century, has had a major winning professional to look up to, and aspire to emulate.
It is now, however, nearly 8 years since Els lifted the Claret Jug, and 9 years since Schwartzel donned the green jacket. These victories came during a spell where South Africans had four different major winners over the course of five seasons.
It would have taken a bold man to predict that by the time the calendar hit the year 2020, that South Africa would have suffered nearly a decade of drought in golf’s major championships. After all, blossoming at the beginning of the twenty tens was a whole new crew, ready to take on the world.
Indeed, for much of the last decade, there has been shadows of dominance. A subtle, vague whispering that this new group had the potential to carry the torch.
Viewers watched Branden Grace win 4 times in little over nine months in 2012, and then once every year from 2014 to 2017 on the European Tour, in addition to a stellar win at Hilton Head on the PGA Tour in 2016. George Coetzee won 3 times in 15 months in 2014/15, and Brandon Stone won once in each of the 2016, ‘17 and ‘18 seasons. In addition to those three, Haydn Porteous also won in 2016, and again in 2017.
But the 2018 and 2019 seasons proved tough for the group that were readying themselves to carry the weight of South African golf on their shoulders. In the week leading up to the 2020 South African National Open, none of the four ‘new’ multiple winners sat in the Top 100 of the golfing world rankings. Branden Grace was 129th, George Coetzee 189th, Brandon Stone 195th, and Haydn Porteous 546th.
Wins by South African golfers in 2017, ‘18, and ‘19 are at the lowest levels of the decade on both the European Tour, and the PGA Tour. So what is next for South African golf? Who are they to turn to if they wish to return to victorious ways in the events that matter most - major championships.
Total number of wins by South African golfers on two major tours:
What’s next, South African golf fans, is to not succumb to the doom and gloom of the statistics, by returning to their faith in the old guard, keep an eye on one of 2019’s standouts, and not give up on their mid-decade hero.
Louis Oosthuizen, Erik Van Rooyen, and yes, Branden Grace, are all potential major winners in 2020.
If you tuned into the South African Open, chances are you heard the commentators mention that 2020 could be the year of Louis Oosthuizen. This is not an audacious claim. With one major under his belt already, and two frighteningly unfortunate play-off losses denying him numbers two and three, there seems to have been no reason to ever count him out.
His swing is as easy to the eye as it was in 2010, his name is rarely absent from championship discussions (nor the tops of championship leaderboards), and his ability to win seems as apparent now as it did at the beginning of the last decade. Oosthuizen is without doubt capable of adding a second major trophy to his list of achievements, and an Open Championship at Royal St Georges will perhaps suit his eye most completely.
Also giving rise to hope will be 2019 standout, Erik Van Rooyen. He claimed his first win on the European Tour at the Scandinavian Invitation in August, led the tour in birdies made last season (was fourth overall in birdies per round), was Top-20 in SG Driving, and Top-10 SG putting.
In addition to this stellar season on the European Tour, he has also proven more than capable teeing it up in elite fields, exhibiting strong showings in all of his first four major championships.
Having participated in four majors, Van Rooyen has made the cut in all four of his starts, finished inside the top twenty on three occasions, and amassed a career high major finish of T-8 at the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in 2019.
The Masters is the one major Van Rooyen is yet to tee it up at, but as someone with strong stats both off the tee, and on the greens, he may be a hard name to ignore come April in Augusta.
And lastly, we come to the man many may have expected to have added the elusive title of ‘major champion’ to his already stellar resume - a CV only made more impressive in Johannesburg at the weekend, where he became the first man to complete the “South African treble” since Ernie Els.
Yes, Branden Grace is the third candidate who could quash this South African slump. The man whose sudden collapse in form, perhaps leaving it somewhere near the 16th tee at Chambers Bay in 2016, is by all accounts ready to mingle once more.
With an exceptional last round 62 at Randpark Golf Club, Branded Grace sparked visions of his former, 2016, major challenging self, by winning his first title on the European Tour in over two years. His stunning 22 putts in the final round evoked visions of almost any touring professional that isn’t Branden Grace. Grace was 179th on the PGA Tour in the category of Strokes Gained Putting in 2019, and 151st in 2017.
Putting with renewed confidence with the increasingly popular claw style grip, perhaps 2020 will see a resurrected Branden Grace.
So between Oosthuizen, Van Rooyen and Grace, South African golf is possibly in its best position to end its major drought, that it has been for over three years. A decade without one winning a major in 2012 would have seemed outlandish, but with eight championships left until the unthinkable becomes reality, South African hopes must certainly (and with good reason) stand with these three to break the duck.
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