This year saw the emergence of a number of South African winners but no one had a better season than Dylan Frittelli, WADE PRETORIUS explains.
Honourable mentions:
Erik van Rooyen (Challenge Tour graduate, Eye of Africa PGA Championship winner and second at the Joburg Open), Haydn Porteous (Czech Masters winner) and Dean Burmester (Tshwane Open winner and top five at the DP World Tour Championship).
Top challengers:
Shaun Norris may not exactly be on many’s radar but his year in Japan has proven to be an excellent career move. Norris ended seventh on the Japan Tour’s Order of Merit with one win but did rake in over R10-million. The 35-year-old also made waves at The Open with a 65 in the third round and will tee it up at Carnoustie after finishing T3 at the Joburg Open at Randpark.
Another player who had a great year was long-time Sunshine Tour Order of Merit leader, Oliver Bekker. Not only did he play in his first Major at the US Open but he ended 2017 with three wins on home soil before a top 10 in Mauritius.
While Louis Oosthuizen may have had a quiet year by his standards, he did earn over $3.1m this year – the most by any South African in 2017 – but a win eluded him as he placed second at the PGA Championship and the unofficial fifth Major, the Players.
Branden Grace ended South Africa’s long wait for a winner at the Nedbank Golf Challenge with a flawless final round display. The win helped move his season into the satisfactory category with his only other top 10 performances coming at The Open, the Valero Texas Open and the BMW PGA Championship.
The winner:
Without a doubt, the top performing South African this year must be Frittelli. The former top-ranked amateur began 2017 in superb fashion, finally taking the step into the elite with a top five finish at the Shenzhen International before losing in a playoff at the Volvo China Open after a final round 74.
He stored the lessons learnt and delivered his first win six weeks later at the Lyoness Open powered by ORGANIC+ in Austria. His year went a bit a quiet with three high-profile missed cuts (Irish Open, Scottish Open and his first Major – The Open) before playing on a weekend in a Major at the PGA Championship.
Frittelli then turned on the style at the Turkish Airlines Open where he made a clutch birdie on the last to tie the lead before Justin Rose did the same to win by one. He was in the final group at the DP World Tour Championship but after a solid front nine, he just couldn’t find the gear to get past Jon Rahm, who also pipped him for the Rookie of the Year title. He did, however, manage to secure another top five finish. The 27-year-old finished T16 with a steady display at the Hong Kong Open before bringing home his second win in Mauritius.
Chasing a place in the Masters, he headed off to Indonesia but fell short after a poor first round. His response was three rounds in the 60s, which could well give you an indication of his character. The SA Open at Glendower now looms large for SA’s fourth-ranked player.
Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
