South Africans continue to soar on the fairways and greens of the golfing world, but it was another barren year for the country when it came to the Majors.
Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen remain this country’s brightest stars and they again made their marks in the Majors and in tournaments across the globe, but there was no “biggie” this year.
Schwartzel was probably the most consistent performer this year, bagging three big tournaments, dating back to December last year when he won the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, the first tournament of the 2016 European Tour.
He followed up in the new year by winning the Tshwane Open and then bagged his first PGA Tour title, the Valspar Championship, since winning the Masters in 2011.
Oosthuizen was also in sublime form at the start of the year, winning the Perth International in February and then being runner-up to Jason Day at the Dell World Matchplay tournament.
South Africa’s other bright prospect, Grace, also showed good form in the first part of the year; first he defended his Qatar Masters title and then he bagged his first PGA Tour title with the RBC Heritage title.
It was, however, the young guns - or as Brandon Stone referred to himself, the whippersnappers - that caught the attention in January when Stone first bagged the SA Open title at Glendower and a week later it was the turn of Haydn Porteous, who won big for the first time when he triumphed at the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington.
The wins gave both men exemption to the European Tour.
Let’s also not forget the efforts of Shaun Norris, who won the Myanmar Open on the Asian Tour in February; the player going on to be crowned Rookie of the Year on the Japan Golf Tour.
It was a year when the international schedule was tightened up as golf returned to the Olympics for the first time in over 100 years.
Fears of the Zika virus though resulted in many top golfers withdrawing from the event, among them Oosthuizen, Grace and Schwartzel, so South Africa ended up being represented by Jaco van Zyl and Stone.
They, however, were never in contention to pick up a medal; England’s Justin Rose ending up as the gold medal winner.
The ladies event saw Paula Reto and Ashleigh Simon represent the country as South Africa’s undisputed No 1, Lee-ann Pace, also withdrew.
At the World Cup of golf just last month South Africa were represented by Van Zyl and George Coetzee, but again, they finished well down the leaderboard.
South Africa’s biggest tournament was again the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which saw some of the world’s leading players contend in the Pilansberg. It was the first time the tournament formed part of the European Tour’s Finals Series in the Race to Dubai and subsequently moved forward by a month to the beginning of November.
Sweden’s Alex Noren - already a three-time winner on tour this year - bagged the title after producing four splendid rounds of golf.
The big highlight in the new year will be the SA Open at Glendower. Rory McIlroy will tee it up alongside his big friend Ernie Els, while Retief Goosen, Schwartzel and Grace are also likely to be back seeking world golf’s second oldest open title. Defending champion Stone though will want to make it back-to-back title wins.
South African golfing highlights in 2016
1. With a final round 66 Branden Grace held off the challenges of former multiple winners Luke Donald and Russel Knox to win the Heritage title, his first on the PGA Tour. It was just reward for coming so close in two of the majors last year. Grace would go on to challenge again in the majors, and it is surely just a matter of time before he bags a really big one.
2. Brandon Stone’s victory at the SA Open in January was special for a number of reasons, none more so than because close family friend and former champion Ernie Els was on hand to celebrate with the young rookie and his family. Stone wobbled a bit in the final round but finished strongly to win by two strokes from fellow youngster Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
3. In what was a stellar first half of the year for the South Africans in Europe and the United States, Charl Schwartzel picked up his only other PGA Tour title other than the Masters he won in 2011 when he held on to claim the Valspar Championship in early March. He beat Bill Haas in a playoff and ended top of a classy field that included Louis Oosthuizen (T-seventh), Patrick Reed (T-seventh), Matt Kuchar (T-11th) and Jordan Spieth (T-18th).