1. In the early years of the SA Open, the championship was mainly
won by Scottish-born professional golfers who had emigrated to South
Africa. The first South African-born winner of the Open was Bobby Locke
in 1935. Bert Elkin, who won in 1924, was born in Rhodesia.
2. Only five foreign players have won the SA Open. They are Tommy
Horton of England (1970), Bob Charles of New Zealand (1973), Americans
Charlie Bolling (1983) and Fred Wadsworth (1989), and Vijay Singh of
Fiji (1997).
3. The winner of the Open still receives a gold medal in addition to the
prizemoney. Up until the mid-1970s the runner-up and third place
finisher received silver and bronze medals respectively, but this was
discontinued.
4. The leading amateur in the SA Open wins the Freddie Tait Trophy, plus
a silver medal, and the second amateur a bronze medal. However, the
amateurs must make the 36-hole cut to qualify for the trophy. The
Freddie Tait Trophy has been contested since 1929, and is named in
memory of former British Amateur champion Freddie Tait, who died during
the South African War in 1900.
5. The last amateur to win the SA Open was Denis Hutchinson at Royal
Johannesburg in 1959. All told, four amateurs won the Open in the 1950s,
the others being Jimmy Boyd (1953), Reg Taylor (1954), and Arthur
Stewart (1958).
6. The number of amateurs competing in the SA Open has decreased
enormously in recent years, because of the tough qualifying procedures.
There were only six amateurs in the field at Durban Country Club in
1998, with three making the cut. Compare that to the 1980 Open at Durban
CC when 39 amateurs were in the field.
7. Gary Player won nine of his 13 Open titles at three courses, Durban
Country Club, Houghton and Royal Johannesburg. He won the trophy three
times at each of these famous courses. His other Opens were won at Royal
Cape (two), Mowbray and East London.
8. Sid Brews, who won eight Opens, had the longest gap, a total of 27
years, between his first SA Open triumph, at Johannesburg Golf Club in
1925, and his last, at Humewood in 1952.
9. Sid Brews won three Opens at Maccauvlei Golf Club, in 1927, 1933 and
1949. He was runner-up to Bobby Locke in the only other Open ever played
at Maccauvlei, in 1938.
10. Bobby Locke won his nine SA Opens at eight different courses. The
only course where he won two Opens was Durban Country Club.
11. Twice in the last 20 years, two SA Opens have been played in the
same year; to suit the changing tournament schedules on the South
African professional circuit. There were two champions in 1976. Dale
Hayes won at Houghton in January, and Gary Player at Durban CC in
November. As a result there was no champion in 1982. There were also two
champions in 1993. Clinton Whitelaw won at Glendower in February, and
Tony Johnstone at Durban CC in December. The Open was not played in
1994.
12. Jock Brews has the unenviable record of finishing second in the Open
more than anyone else. He was the runner-up six times in his career,
twice to his younger brother Sid. But Jock did have the consolation of
winning four Opens.
13. Sandy Guthrie was a runner-up on four occasions, twice losing
playoffs, and never won the title.
14. There have only been seven playoffs in the long history of the Open.
The first four of those, between 1936 and 1957, involved 36-hole
playoffs. The first 18-hole playoff was at Houghton in 1976, when Dale
Hayes beat John Fourie. The only playoff involving more than two players
was in 1981, when Gary Player beat John Bland and Warren Humphreys. In
the mid-1980s the SA Golf Union decided to do away with the 18-hole
playoff, which necessitated an extra day's play, and followed the lead
of the Royal & Ancient. The R & A had introduced a short course playoff
over four holes for the British Open. It came into immediate effect at
the SA Open in 1987 when Mark McNulty and Fulton Allem tied at Mowbray,
McNulty going on to win.
15. The first SA Open to be contested over 72 holes was the one at Port
Elizabeth GC in 1908.
16. The winner of the 1908 SA Open, George Fotheringham, was the first
player to break 300 for 72 holes, returning a score of 294, which stood
as the record for 31 years.
17. The last winning score of 300 or more in the SA Open was posted at
Royal Cape GC in 1953, by the amateur Jimmy Boyd.
18. Gary Player has the longest streak of victories in the SA Open,
winning in five consecutive years, from 1965 to 1969. He beat Bobby
Locke's run of four victories, between 1937 and 1940.
19. The last player to win back-to-back Opens was Gary Player, in 1976
and 1977. The only other players, apart from Player, to have captured
back-to-back Opens, have been Bobby Locke, Sid Brews and George
Fotheringham.
20. The first prize in the SA Open in 1963 was R600. It was R6 000 in
1976, and R64 000 in 1991. Last year it was R572 000.
21. Gary Player and Sid Brews have won the SA Open in four different
decades. Brews won in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, and Players from the
50s through to the 80s.
22. The youngest Open winner was Bobby Locke at the age of 17 in 1935,
and the oldest was Sid Brews at the age of 53 in 1952.
23. Gary Player was the last person over the age of 40 to win the SA
Open, at the age of 46 in December, 1981.
24. Allan Henning was only 19 when he won the SA Open at Bloemfontein GC
in 1964. He is the youngest champion since Bobby Locke in 1935. The
youngest players in more recent years to have won the SA Open were
Clinton Whitelaw, at the age of 22 years and seven weeks in 1993, and
Ernie Els, at the age of 22 years and three months in 1992.
25. Stellenbosch will become the 19th different club to host the SA
Open.
26. Other than Stellenbosch, four clubs have held just the one Open,
those being Royal Port Alfred, Parkview, Zwartkop and Randpark.
27. Durban Country Club has held the most Opens, a total of 14 over the
last 74 years. It is followed by Royal Cape and Royal Johannesburg with
10 apiece.
28. The first man to shoot 64 in the SA Open was Gary Player, in the
final round at Durban Country Club in 1969. The first 63 was by Bobby
Cole, also at Durban CC, in 1980. Then John Bland shot a record 62 at
Durban CC in 1993.
29. Three players have won both the SA Open and the SA Amateur in the
same year. Jimmy Prentice was the first in 1913, followed by Bobby Locke
in 1935 and 1937, and Clarence Olander in 1936.
30. The Brews brothers, Sid and Jock, dominated the SA Open from 1921 to
1934. Between them they won the SA Open 10 times in those 14 years, and
filled the runners-up spot on six occasions.
31. Gary Player was the first player to break 70 in all four rounds of
the SA Open, achieving the feat in his victory at Royal Cape in 1965.
32. Irishman Eamonn Darcy was disqualified before the final round of the
1988 Open at Durban Country, when lying second behind eventual champion
Wayne Westner. Darcy was unaware of the early starting times on the
final day, and was still at his hotel when he was supposed to tee off.
33. Bobby Locke played his final SA Open at the age of 54 in 1972 at
Royal Johannesburg, and tied for 27th place on a score of 289, earning
R110.
34. Gary Player played his final SA Open at the age of 49 in 1985 at
Royal Durban, and tied for seventh place, earning R2 566.
35. The biggest cheque Gary Player ever won at the SA Open was for R14
035, for winning in 1981.
36. Gary Player is famous for his final round charges in the SA Open. In
the 13 championships that he won, between 1956 and 1981, his stroke
average for the final round was 68,31. His best last round was a 64,
while on three occasions he shot 66, and his worst closing round was a
71.
37. Before he became known as the Black Knight for wearing black
outfits, Gary Player was quite a colourful individual at tournaments. In
the final round of the 1960 SA Open at Mowbray, he was dressed in a
dazzling outfit = violet pants and a yellow shirt.
38. The SA Open was played together with the SA Amateur championship at
the same course for many years. They were separated for the first time
in 1931, but in 1934 the SA Golf Union decided to revert to the original
setup, and maintained that for another 30 years. The last time the
championships were together was in Bloemfontein in 1964.
39. The record number of entries ever received for the SA Open was 372
for the Glendower Open in Johannesburg in 1997.
40. The entry fee for the SA Open is R250.
