All in all it was quite a week at TPC River Highlands for this year’s Travelers Championship, with me making my 10th career hole-in-one and Jim Furyk shooting the PGA TOUR’s first ever 58.
That was some round of golf by Jim. Huge congrats to him and, of course, to Russell Knox on his second PGA TOUR win of the season.
For me…well, making an ace is always a thrill and I have to say a big thanks to Lux Bond & Green for the prize of a beautiful Rolex watch. Whether you’re an amateur or a tour pro, making a hole-in-one is a lovely feeling. And as any golfer knows, at times like that it’s customary that you get the drinks in, so I said to all the caddies, “I’ll keep the tab open for six hours. After that, you’re on your own guys”. We also sent an ice-chest of beers to the media tent; I trust they saved them until after they’d filed their reports!
I was pleased with a lot of my play last week. In particular, the pair of 67s on Friday and Sunday showed me more of the consistency that I’ve been working so hard to achieve, with lots of quality shots and fewer mistakes. We just need to keep building on that, stay patient, and trust that the results will come. I believe they will. And next week’s Wyndham Championship, which is my last chance to make it into the FedEx Cup playoffs, would obviously be a good time. It’s going to require a win or a runner-up spot to guarantee me a spot inside the top-125 on the points list, or maybe a third place but that would be cutting it very tight. Still, I can’t allow my mind to be distracted. I have to stay focused on just playing golf. As I said, my game is in good enough shape to take care of business there in North Carolina.
For now, I want to send my best wishes to every member of South Africa’s Olympic team in Rio. We’ve already had our first medal, with Cameron Van Der Burgh winning silver in the men’s 100m breaststroke, and no doubt there are many more to come in the next 10 days or so. Go Team SA!
Of course, later this week Brandon Stone and Jaco Van Zyl will fly the flag for South Africa in the first Olympic golf competition in over 100 years. Good luck to them. The course, which I hear was inspired by some of the great sand belt courses around Melbourne, is getting good reviews from the players. And although a few of the world’s top players didn’t make the trip, there is still a very strong international field assembled. I think the women’s event the following week will also be great for fans to watch, played over the same course and with an equally stellar field. You can discover more about golf in the Olympics, including player pairings and tee times, at the official website: http://www.igfgolf.org.
No doubt all of the kids who took part in last week’s Ernie Els South Africa Primary Schools Championship, the sixth playing of this event, will be inspired by what they see in Rio. I want to send my thanks to the South African Golf Association for its support and to Port Shepstone Country Club and my good friend Nico Van Rensburg for hosting this year’s tournament, which is going from strength to strength. Congrats to Krugerpark Primary who won by eight shots from Curro Serengeti. Well done also to Divan Mostert and Percy Hawken who shared the individual honours, with Divan shooting a 3-under par 69 in the second round – a superb effort.
Finally, hard luck to the Golden Lions who lost their Super Rugby final in New Zealand at the weekend. It was still a great season for them, though. Well done to the Hurricanes; a world-class team and they deserved the win.
Okay that’s it for now. Follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.
