It seemed to be quite an ordinary Sunday. Michiel Bothma got out of bed at seven o’clock that morning. He washed the car with his girlfriend, cleaning it inside and out. They watched a movie on M-Net.
He then went out and won one of South African golf’s most prestigious titles — the R198 000 Telkom PGA Championship.
Since he beat Mark Murless on the second hole of a sudden-death play-off to lift the trophy at the Woodhill Country Club last week, Bothma’s life has been anything but ordinary.
”It was easier to win the tournament than handling all the attention that has come after it,” he says.
”I’ve been a bit flabbergasted by all the attention. I never thought it would be this big. That night, I took my girlfriend and family out for dinner. But the next morning I was up early at the television studios, then on to the radio stations. It takes quite a bit out of you.”
It’s been quite an adjustment for a Pretoria boy who has spent most of his career grinding it out on the winter section of the Sunshine Tour, travelling to platteland courses in Polokwane, Mooinooi and Phalaborwa, and sitting in crowded airports in Zambia, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Before his victory speech on the 18th green at Woodhill, Bothma’s biggest concern was to remember to thank all the people who played a part in getting him to that point.
”I must thank my parents. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be where I am now. My dad had to retire because he was unfit to work. But his decision to take a package was largely based on using the money to help me in my career. He wanted to send me overseas to play there. And my mother used to work through the night to help fund my career.”
On the eve of the final round, Bothma enjoyed a braai with few close friends, and the conversation moved to the obvious: ”What will you do if you win?”
”It’s always a dream until it happens. I was never one of those kids who put up posters of sporting heroes on my bedroom wall. But I remember going to the Wanderers as a boy and watching all the greats like Fulton Allem, Ernie Els and David Frost playing in the PGA. It was such a big occasion.
”I wouldn’t say I feel like a celebrity or anything. But it’s funny because now I’ve got to watch what I say. You can’t really be yourself because you’ve got all these eyes on you. But it’s part of the work description.
”In two weeks’ time, people will have forgotten about it. That’s why I’ll enjoy it while it’s here, because it won’t happen again — until the next big victory.”