Opinion: No sign of a black African major winner on the horizon

As Japan celebrates its first men’s major winner, there’s still no sign of a black African major winner on the horizon.

JOHANNESBURG, April 14 (ANA) – As Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese golfer to win a men’s major with his victory at The Masters at Augusta on Sunday, it could still be decades until there is a black African winner.

South Africa is the likeliest country on the continent to produce a top black African golfer, but is yet to make that important step in the development of the game. In fact, South Africa has one of the best junior golf development programmes in the world, with GolfRSA (the amateur SA golf body) churning out a conveyor belt of fresh young talent every year.

The South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) also does its best to unearth new talent, but will always struggle to boast the kind of numbers in the game like the top three sports – soccer, rugby, cricket – the country attracts. There are also the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation and the Louis 57 junior golf academy which focus on development, but still the journey from talented amateur to successful professional remains fraught with hurdles.

The main problem in Africa and South Africa is that golf remains a white elitist sport. Beside the cost of equipment, not just anyone can go to a club and play a round of golf. Beginner golfers always need to either have some form of instruction or spend many hours practising before they can even think of taking their game to the course.

Club golfers are not renowned for their patience, and seeing a beginner struggling and holding up play will quickly lead to heated arguments and complaints. And that’s without mentioning the colour of someone’s skin. There would be even less patience if a young black child was struggling to learn the game slowly on the golf course.

Looking at the numbers, there are 9.3 million golfers in Japan. It’s difficult to pinpoint how many active golfers there are in South Africa, but a cautious estimate is around 200,000 registered players at clubs across the country. It means the average person in South Africa is very unlikely to take up golf, and as much of the country is poverty-stricken, it means far fewer black children will consider the sport.

It may even sound like Japan is a more successful golf nation than South Africa, but it’s quite the opposite.

The Rainbow Nation has produced nine major winners, including two women (Maud Gibb and Sally Little). In total, golfers from South Africa have won 25 major titles. The most successful of these gifted few is Gary Player with his nine majors, which included victories in all four of the big four events. The last major won by a South African was the 2012 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes, where Ernie Els won his last of four titles.

South Africa also boasts 87 professionals in the top 1000 and 15 in the top 200 of the men’s official world golf rankings.

Being an immensely successful golf nation, it would become even more impressive on the global fairways if a black player from Africa simply qualified for one of the men’s majors, but realistically that could still take years.

On the women’s side, Nobuhle Dlamini from eSwatini has won eight tournaments in southern Africa since 2018 and is a past Sunshine Ladies Tour Order of Merit winner, but she still needs to make her mark overseas.

Zethu Myeki might also be one to watch for the future. Her interest in golf was prompted by chance when she saw a group of young people hitting golf shots at a school. This interest was then nurtured and sustained by the SAGDB’s programme and by the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation.

Myeki subsequently had a very successful amateur career, was capped as a Protea and attained a career-high position of No. 2 in SA’s women’s amateur golfer rankings.

She has now turned pro and will face all the issues and challenges that this transition brings to most golfers.

So, there is plenty of promise, but what does it take for the ladies to make the crossover from being a top amateur to making it in the pro ranks, moving on to the bigger leagues of the US and European LPGA Tours and on to winning a major?

For many, only time will tell. And predicting exactly when that may be will remain somewhat difficult.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Michael Sherman