A History of South African Golf - Part 1
South Africa has had an illustrious sporting history, and has produced some of the finest sportsmen the world has ever seen. And yet, in the midst of all these legends, South African golfing heroes stand tall. With names like Bobby Locke, Gary Player, Ernie
Els and Retief Goosen, South Africa’s place in the annals of golf is secure for all ages to come.
Golf in South Africa was introduced by the British in 1885, two years before it was first played in the United States, and the first golf club was Cape Golf Club at Cape Town. The first tournament was held soon after in 1892 and the first Open Championship
in 1903.
As early as 1895, representatives from different golfing clubs would meet at the Tournament, (as the first national championship to be held in South Africa was then known) to lay down the rules governing the championship and to decide on the venue for the
following year. By 1903 the informal meeting had turned into an Annual Meeting with representation from Kimberly, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth among others. From these humble beginnings emerged the South African Golfing Union. Founded in 1910,
it had the then Governor-General of South Africa, Lord Gladstone, as its first President. Later on, in 1925 the PGA of South Africa was formed.
Mired by internal problems and a professionals strike at the beginning, South African Golf was eventually propelled to world-wide fame by the legendary Bobby Locke. He won his first South African Open in 1935 at the age of 17 when he was still an amateur.
Before taking a break to serve the South African Air Force during World War 2 he had accumulated 38 wins on the South African circuit.
After the conclusion of World War 2, Locke played a series of exhibition matches against the American golfer Sam Snead and bested him 12 times in 16 matches. Heeding Snead’s advice to join the PGA Tour, he played in America for two and a half years starting
from 1947. He won 11 tournaments and finished in the top 3, 30 times. In his first year on the Tour he finished 2nd on the money list, despite having started late when the tour was well under way.
After he was banned from the PGA Tour, which was probably a result of American hostility against the ‘outsider’ as he won tournament after tournament on their grounds. He continued his career with great success in Europe and South Africa though.
Locke won the Open Championship 4 times and the South African Open 9 times, thus becoming the first of the many South Africans who would win major championships abroad. He was inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame in 1977.
The next legend to emerge from South African was The Black Knight, Gary Player. Regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time, Player dominated golf in the 60s and 70s along with his contemporaries Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Known as the Big
Three, their astounding success and legendary rivalry reinvigorated interest in golf and made it the global phenomena it is today.
Among the three Player had the most wins, 165, and is perhaps the most travelled athlete in history having clocked in more than 17 ½ million kilometers during his career. He has also stayed active for the longest period of time among the three, at the age
of 73 he is still playing (and winning) in the PGA’s Senior Tour in a career now spanning 53 years.
He was inducted in the Golf Hall of Fame in 1974, becoming only the second member not belonging to either the United States or the United Kingdom, after Bobby Locke. In 2000 Player was voted the “Sportsman of the Century” in South Africa.
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