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Success in golf events can be a life-changing week for a player.
Just take last week’s winner, Dylan Naidoo, at the South African Open. Having only been a Sunshine Tour member prior, victory at Durban Country Club for the South African has now given him a two-year exemption onto the DP World Tour and a cheeky spot in The Open at Royal Portrush this summer.
This is a perfect example of the reason pro golfers keep grinding away—it’s for those special moments that come around and change a players’ life.
One pro who was doing that very chase last week was Michael Hollick at the Joburg Open co-sanctioned between the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour, as Golf Digest Middle East spoke to the 37-year-old while he was driving to the course for his third round.
That’s not the exciting bit—it’s what happened during the 12 hours prior! We’ll let Michael explain…
“I’ve been on a run of six events on the bounce, after four HotelPlanner Tour events down here in South Africa and then the SA Open in Durban last week, back in my home town, and now we’ve got the Joburg Open this week.
“So, yesterday was a very interesting day. I teed off in the morning for Round Two of the Joburg Open and I three-putted the final hole for a bogey finish to move to one under par. The cut had been at two under the whole day.
“So, I went back to where I was living for the week, and I’d moved to 72nd position, so I thought I’d definitely missed the cut.
“I changed my flight from Sunday night, back home to Durban, to Friday night. I’ve got a wife and a 17-month-old girl back at home, and my wife is giving birth again in four weeks’ time! So I thought, right, time to get home, have a week off, and then we have our last two events on the Sunshine Tour, which is our playoffs for the top 70, and then the final event is for the top 50 at the end of March.
“I jumped on a plane at 17:50 on Friday afternoon, and I was still lying in 71st at that point—outside the cut line. As I was boarding, my friend, who plays on tour, Lyle Rowe, sent me a message saying, ‘Oh my word, guys are dropping shots all over the place.’ I didn’t think anything of it—that sometimes happens. I wasn’t going to change my mind.
“I got on the plane, obviously expecting that I was going home to spend time with the family.
“Then I landed in Durban with messages from my wife, my dad, my mum, and Lyle saying he’s trying to book me on the next flight, but he doesn’t have my ID number. What had happened was, Sam Bairstow had finished bogey-bogey, bringing all the guys on one under back inside the cut line—so I basically needed to get back up to Joburg!
“I landed in Durban at 18:50, and the last flight out was at 19:55 from Durban back to Joburg. My wife tried to book it online but couldn’t, as the flight was sold out. I was then thinking I could get back home and drive six hours to Joburg instead! In the meantime, I went upstairs at the airport to the ticket sales guys, and they said, ‘No, sorry, the flight is full. But you can wait and be on standby.’ There were 15 minutes left until check-in would close, so they told me to wait and see if someone didn’t turn up.
“As it was, someone didn’t pitch for their flight. I paid 4,800 South African Rand ($260) for a ticket that is normally only a 1,000 Rand ($50) flight.
“So, I managed to get on at the last second, checked in my bags, walked straight through to the boarding gate, got on the plane, and went back to Joburg.
“I landed just after 9 pm and caught another 30-minute Uber back to where I was staying with Lyle Rowe.
“And here we are now—it’s 6 am on Saturday morning, and I’m driving to the course for the third round of the Joburg Open. Quite the story! An expensive day yesterday—long Uber trips, rebooking of flights—a hell of a day. So I better make the weekend count—let’s see how it pans out.”
As it transpired, it wasn’t the weekend Michael had hoped for, as he finished the tournament in a tie for 74th. But surely, that commitment and dedication to the game has earned him some kind of award!
We love to see it!
Main Image: Sunshine Tour
