Champion golfers (and Sportsmen) at every turn!
The week kicked off with some of the best surfing seen in years as the Corona J-Bay Pro featured some perfect 10’s along the way! Jordy Smith was knocked out in the quarter finals by eventual champion, Filipe Toledo, but not before giving the crowd a perfect heat with not one, but two 10’s!
http://www.worldsurfleague.com/posts/263319/final-day-highlights-golden-in-jeffreys-bay via @wsl
Oalkey XOVER returned to SFL
The we hosted our fourth addition if the Oakley Xover with 16 sporting leaders and legends here for the golfing leg of the competition. This year, the golf was the last event of the three which included mountain biking and surfing in J-Bay. We love hosting the athletes because they love coming here to The Links. Twitter fans were treated to plenty of tweets coming from our fairways and the prizegiving that followed. New sponsor GRIT added plenty of value by giving the winners of the golf and the shoot-out trips to Mauritius to one of their renowned resorts. They also flew in Mauritius’ top band who rocked the house for the competitors and the members who filled the veranda above. John Smit made his first trip to the podium finishing 3rd overall; Butch James, a former winner, came second with world Mountain Bike champion, Greg Minnaar, claiming the overall title after winning the bike race, coming third in the surfing and and golf.
The group featured Rugby legends, Dakar driver Genial deVilliers, long-distance champion runner, Ryan Sandes, Cricket star bowler, Dale Steyn, Soldier Boy and other crowd-pleasers!
Our mayor, Elza Van Lingen, was present at the Prizegiving to congratulate the winners
The XOVER will be featured in a 30-minute show on SuperSport in the near future. We’ll share the times when we receive them.
Speith gave a “Golfer of the Year” performance
Can you say BMT – Big Match Temperament
You can summarize all you like but Jordan Spieth displayed patience, determination, focus, poise and a champion’s game of golf down the stretch on Sunday’s final round of the Open Championship. he recovered from a drive off the planet then blew past Kooooch long before the consistent player from Georgia knew what hit him. Only the up and coming Chinese player, Li, played the closing holes with such success as Jordan; let’s face it, he with 63 and Rory with 67, were not even in the same moment as Jordan. This young man at 23 played like a man possessed after making bogey from the driving range (and a penalty drop) on 13.
Bogey, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie par…Goodnight, Ladies!
It was a proper player caddie partnership with Michael Greller. Jordan shared the moment with the voluteers.
Gracie Changed the history Books
Branden Grace re-wrote golf history with his 8-under par 62 on Saturday. Only Johnny Miller the NBC commentator cried as his “memorabilia value” for his 63 at Oakmont diminished by some 30% overnight. Many have been close but no one had achieved what Gracie did the the Open Championship. He went on to finish T-6, the best of the South Africans.
That looks like a smile for the history books!
Our 11th Men’s Invitational
The Men’s Member-Guest is growing in numbers and stature with every year played. We are seeing our guests returning year after year and others itching to get in. The Bredenkamp “camp” always required additional members to play with James’ friends from around the country. Francois DeVos and his friends start the weekend with some bling that sets them apart from the rest. Mike Sprott filled his home with old friends. Returning champions were back for more and newbies loved the format and the course – probably the best in the country this time of year (well, all year)! The Open Championship provided the extra motivation needed for stellar golf and the room became divided for a couple of hours as loyal supporters backed their teams in the Super 15 quarter-finals. The weather was perfect for the two days with cool temperatures and and light westerly winds.
When all the dust settled, multiple major champion, Derek Ryan, added his name to the Champion’s Board with his playing partner, Pieter Jerling, father of South Africa’s young Tour Player, Luke. The two shared 2nd place after scoring 45 points on day one. Then, they teamed up for 52 points on Sunday to outscore Norman Pretorius and Flip VD Merwe by one point!
The weather was great, the food was great, the course was great and the vibe (gees) was great!
More to remember!
This was our best year to date in almost every way:
- We finished our 113th home on the estate (57 are permanent residents)
- Families Scheepers and Hart will be our newest full-time residents on the estate
- Four more homes will be underway in the next two weeks
- 12 homes are under construction
- 26 homes are in the planning or application stages
- We are financially sound with great lifestyle choices for the entire family
- Our golf rounds featured golfers from more than 20 different countries – from Wisconsin to New South Wales
- We moved up in the nation ratings to No. 7 in Golf Digest
- The UK rates us No. 6
- The Swedish press rate us No.4
- With our members, No. 1
Don’t stop yet! New Events are listed below!
Will be our sponsors for OPEN Wednesday (2nd Wednesday) with meat and added prizes. Invite your friends to enjoy SA’s best with special rates for golf, snacks after the game and great prizes – Hey, Curry Night follows – stay or take away!
Monday Roll-up! Pitch up and play (9 holes or 18 Par-3 from 2pm) let’s add you to the What’s app group
All day Saturdays-Morning and afternoon fields – the afternoon field will be booked from 12 noon backwards with emphasis on “ready golf” – Prizegiving and Happy Hour at 17h00
July 28 Diemersfontein Wine Pairing Dinner (SOLD OUT)
Aug 6 Sanlam Cancer Finals HERE
Aug 9-25 Club and Course Closed for Springe Programme
ST FRANCIS LINKS “MAJORS” AND “SPECIAL EVENTS” FOR 2017
Jan 2-3 Men’s Member-Member, St Francis Bay wins by .18 of a point! Well done!
Jan 7-8 The Pam Golding Annual, Derek Ryan and Scott Keevy, Champions
Mar 11 Greensomes over 18 holes (NEW) Sandra Marais/Ingvild Stiansen; Mauro Nettl/Yan Coesens
Apr 28-30 Club Championships – Ralph Richardson and Helen Bridges, Champions
May 7 Inter-Estate Challange (St Francis Links)
May 18-19 Woodlands’ Dairy Golf Days for HOSPICE R400 000-00 raised for Hospice
May 20 Stulting School Day R280 000-00 raised on the day
May 27 Foursomes over 18 holes (NEW) Margot McGregor and Dr Lynn Slogrove, Champions
Jun 3 Ladies’ Invitational Dr Lynn Slogrove and Noeline de Ridder, Champions
Jun 10 Sanlam – Links Qualifier
Jul 2-3 National Junior Order of Merit Wilco Nienaber, Champion (ranked No. 3 in SA)
Jul 20-23 Men’s Invitational Derek Ryan and Pieter Jerling, Champions
Jul 23-25 The Annual “Road Trip” Brian Wessels, Individual and Pards Cup Champion
Aug 6 Sanlam Cancer FINALS at St Francis Links
Aug 8-23 Spring Programme – Course and Clubhouse Closed
Sep 30, Oct 1 Links Cup
October 5 Els for Autism at St Francis Links (finals at Highland Gate)
Nov 11-12 Pam Golding Ladies OPEN Weekend
Dec 2 Ladies’ Member-Member
Seasonal packages are now on offer
It’s also the time of year for golf travel. We join others in advertising our course countrywide. The are are a couple of subtle differences between what you pay and what you receive in a golf package. We pride ourselves on over-delivering with personal services, additional opportunities, special events, shoot-outs and so much more. We’ll supply the braai or what you need to do it yourselves; we’ll serve your meals here or recommend the area establishments who will exceed your expectations (and of course, we’ll do the booking for you). Why? Because we can and we want to!
Why not sign up for the special events coming up in the future and expand them into a few days of play! Play in the Inter-Estate Challenge, enter the Ernie Els for Autism in June, start planning for the Invitationals – ladies and men; Invite your friends in for the best golf in SA (and beyond).
Every Great shot starts with a SMILE 