Sad farewell to Pretoria north resident, SA’s oldest golf player (99)

South Africa’s oldest golf player (99) from the north of Pretoria has died, Rekord North reports.

Pastor Willie Roos still played a game of golf twelve days before his death at the Akasia golf club.

His daughter Erika Roodt said it was with great sadness the family said goodbye to the golf legend and family man.

“My dad died on 6 November in the Eugene Marais hospital. He suffered a brain haemorrhage and had to undergo an emergency operation,” she said.

“It was very sudden. He played his last game of golf on 25 October.”

In an interview with Roos last year, he shared his passion with the media.

“Whether you play well or poorly, golf is always fun,” Roos said that morning in June.

He played a game of golf with Joey Hartman (91), the club’s second eldest player.

Both had a handicap of 36 each.

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Roos said his lowest handicap was 16 when he was younger.

He grew up on a farm called Arnoldiestad in Rustenburg.

In 1943 he moved to Pretoria and lived in Berg Avenue in the north of Pretoria ever since 1955.

According to the Nederduitsche Reformed Church of Africa, he was the oldest pastor of the Reformed Church at 95.

He served in the northwestern parts of Pretoria, Johannesburg, Ermelo and Pretoria North.

After he retired as a pastor, he was seen on the golf course more often and played a game of his favourite sport at the Akasia golf club every Tuesday and Thursday.

“I was always active and I love sport. I played tennis for a while until I had a knee injury,” Roos told the media.

Francois du Toit of the Akasia golf club said Roos joined the club even before the official opening of the 18-hole golf course in 1992.

“Some of our senior players use flag sticks to pick up the balls, but Willie bends down to retrieve his ball from the hole,” said Du Toit.

In addition to his love of golf, Roos loved his family.

He proudly said he was a part of four generations with four children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

He was married to his first wife, Kitty, for 64 years when she died in 2008.

In 2010, he remarried at 91.

With his second marriage he boasted that he gained another four children and many grandchildren.

His funeral will be held on Tuesday 13 November at the Nederduitsche Reformed Church, Pretoria East.

Afterwards he will be buried at the Heatherdale cemetry in Pretoria North.