Keep an eye on this tall golf star
James du Preez is not only one of the best junior golfers in South Africa, he is probably also the tallest.
Standing 2.06m tall, local junior golf star James du Preez will definitely be the tallest player to tee off this week in the Western Province Amateur Golf Tournament, to be played in Rondebosch.
There is a good chance that he might just be the tallest player to be playing golf in the world at the moment, or even in the history of the game.
According to the internet, the tallest player to win on the PGA Tour was Phil Blackmar at just over 2m. The tallest player ever to win a major tournament was George Archer, who won the 1969 Masters, at 1.97m tall. The next tallest major winners were Bob Tway and Stewart Cink, both at 1.93m. South Africa’s Ernie Els is 1.9m.
Du Preez said being tall had its advantages when it came to playing golf. “You are able to hit much longer drives. That is, of course, if you don’t have back problems.”
The last nine weeks have been frustrating for Du Preez, whose recurring back injury has made it near impossible for him to train properly. His latest back problem was diagnosed as the degeneration of two vertebrae. He was lucky to be able to do some serious training the week of the Sanlam Cape Province Open in George, and it paid off, as he won by five shots.
The 19-year old is satisfied with the way his preparation for the Western Province tournament has been going. “Normally I train up to eight hours, nowadays I am lucky to do two to three hours of solid training. I really appreciate the support from the team of experts at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre (hpc). If it was not for their help, I would battle on most days to get out of bed,” he said before this week’s tournament.
As to his passion for golf, Du Preez said it started when he was three years old. “I had my own small club which I used to start honing my skills.”
His first big breakthrough was winning the South African under-12 championships when he was 11.
“While at school, I participated in as many sports as possible. I went to St Albans College on a cricket bursary, but after a year I switched to playing water polo, as I felt I needed a new challenge. I got selected to play for Gauteng-North. I also played hockey and rugby at school.
“Golf has always been my favourite sport, because I consider it to be the most challenging sport there is. There are just so many variables one has to take into consideration to be able to play well. If you play two to three consecutive days on the same course you will face different challenges each time, and you’ve just got to cope with it.”
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