GOLF: Jon Swift
THERE is nothing like the words World Cup to boost the expectations of this nation. South Africa’s success at Ellis Park last year elevated the rugby side to the status of national heroes. The lacklustre 1-0 victory over a jetlagged Zaire in the qualifier for soccer`s premier competition evoked countrywide anger fuelled by the fear that perhaps we would not make it as one of the African nations.
And so it is with the 42nd World Cup of Golf scheduled to start at the lush new Gary Player-designed Erinvale layout outside Somerset West where the languid Ernie Els – already a national hero – teams up with the enigmatic Wayne Westner, a massively talented player who often seems more like a fugitive from success than the winner his game should long ago have made him.
Perhaps the title does not carry quite the cachet of a USMasters or a British Open in the greater scheme of things, but there can be little doubt that victory is what every South African is looking for – especially as this country has already had two wins thanks to Player and Harold Henning and the pairing of Bobby Cole and Dale Hayes.
Ranged against this country’s pairing over four days’ play from next Thursday are the golfers from 31 other nations – with Trevor Dodds and Schalk van der Merwe representing Namibia, one of the 10 who came through a qualifying round in Jamaica.
These are not the only familiar faces. Tom Lehman, the superstar of this year’s USPGA tour, will be flying the Stars and Stripes with Steve Jones, who served an appprenticeship on the South African tour which eventually led to greater things.
The German twosome also has a familiar ring: Bernhard Langer has been a regular and enthusiastic visitor and his partner Alexander Cejka made his breakthrough as a winner on the European Tour with a victory in the rain-soaked PGA at Houghton last year.
There is also the Zimbabwean pairing of Mark McNulty and Tony Johnstone, both regualrs – and consistent winners – on the local tour and both no strangers to the conditions they can expect even if the course they are to attack over the four days is comparatively new to them.
But for all the players there is something even more novel: the chance to wear national colours, salute the flag and sing the anthem in a sport which is largely played as a lone effort with the national appelation of the individual tacked on as an afterthought.
More important though is the ability of the two-man team to both gel with each other and produce four consistent rounds better than the opposition can manage. It is this consistency which has escaped both Els and Westner for the better part of the golfing year. Both have produced superb rounds, but mixed in there have been the 18 holes which have blown them out of the running.
The ability to stay steady and keep scoring has thrown up more than one surprise in the past. On paper, this looks doubtful in the running of the event. But stranger things have been known to happen in a game ruled by factors from such diverse ends of the spectrum as the elements and the distance between the players’ ears.
It will be concentration and consistency more than anything that South Africa will be looking for in the tilt at a version of a sporting title we have become almost complacent about.