Amateur Mokoena chasing Big Easy Tour glory

By Michael Vlismas

South African Golf Development Board graduate Karabo Mokoena is looking to become the fifth amateur to win on the Sunshine Big Easy Tour in this week’s The Roar Tournament at Waterkloof Golf Club.

Mokoena, a product of both the South African Golf Development Board (SAGDB) and the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation (EEFF) and a former member of GolfRSA’s national squad, kept up the trend of strong amateur performances on the Sunshine Tour’s feeder circuit with an opening four-under-par 68 at Waterkloof Golf Club on Tuesday.

That put him only three strokes off the first-round lead of JJ Senekal, Daniel Hammond and Stefan Engell Andersen.

Some of the top amateurs from the SAGDB, EEFF and GolfRSA squads have triumphed against the professionals on the Sunshine Big Easy Tour over the past few months, including amateurs Kyle McClatchie, Marco Steyn, Aubrey Beckley and Dylan Naidoo.

Last week, former SAGDB graduate and now professional Jacquin Hess also finished third in the Big Easy Joburg City Masters to further endorse the development efforts of South African golf.

Hess is currently a member of the Gary Player Class of 2017-18, which is the Sunshine Tour’s main development squad for previously disadvantaged professional golfers and benefits from the support of the SAGDB, founded in 1999 as the official body for golf development in South Africa, as well as the EEFF in the collective effort to use golf to improve the lives of disadvantaged South Africans.