MAJOR DROUGHT File. How long will it be before we see a South African winner at a men’s major again? Seen here: Ernie Els in his winner's press conference at the 2012 Open championship at Royal Lytham & St Anne's in 2012. Picture credit: Michael Sherman
Image: Michael Sherman
It’s been 13 years since a South African won a men’s golf major, and the wait for a new winner from the Rainbow Nation seems set to continue.
When Ernie Els won the 2012 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s, it completed an exceptional run of regular major wins for South Africans.
In 2011, Charl Schwartzel won The Masters at Augusta in an incredibly dramatic finish with four birdies in a row to don the Green Jacket.
Schwartzel’s good mate Louis Oosthuizen, romped to victory at the home of golf at St Andrews in 2010.
Back in 2008, Trevor Immelman produced a stunning win at The Masters as he out-duelled the much-fancied Tiger Woods.
Before that, it was Retief Goosen who won the US Open in 2004 and 2001, while Els won his first Open Championship in 2002.
Of course, in the ‘90s Els also won two US Opens in 1994 and 1997 as ‘The Big Easy’ rose to world number one.
Since 2012 though, it’s been slim pickings, or no pickings to be precise. It’s probably not helped with players like Oosthuizen and Dean Burmester signing with LIV Golf which effectively limits their chances of playing in the majors.
However, in players like Thriston Lawrence, Aldrich Potgieter and Christiaan Bezuidenhout there is still hope.
In Potgieter, there is perhaps the most potential. At just 20-years-old he is coming up to two years as a professional in June.
Potgieter finished second in the Nedbank Challenge in December, after holding a three-shot lead with eight holes to play in the final round. However, close misses like that will teach him plenty.
Potgieter’s been successful at every level of golf he’s played, and that was best demonstrated in early October as he became the second youngest player to earn a US PGA Tour card, via the Korn Ferry Tour (KFT) moneylist.
Still, it’s always difficult to predict which players will win majors before they do. South African golf fans will just have to wait and see whether 2025 is finally the year the major drought is broken.
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