Open Championship: The 10 South Africans teeing it up at Royal Liverpool

It is the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England this week, the year’s final Major.

The last time the Open was held at Royal Liverpool, in 2014, Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who won the Scottish Open on Sunday, triumphed.

Here is a brief look at the 10 South African golfers who’ll tee it up on Thursday when the year’s final Major is contested.

Kyle Barker

The 25-year-old from Serengeti won the Stella Artois Players Championship in April to earn his biggest pay cheque to date and maiden Sunshine Tour title. He qualified for the Open by carding a 10-under-par score for 36 holes at West Lancashire golf club in England two weeks ago in final qualifying.

It will be the world ranked 700-plus Barker’s first Major tournament.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout

The SA Open winner from 2020 qualified to play this week after finishing inside the reserved places during the Joburg Open earlier this year. The 29-year-old finished in a tie for third and banked the final spot in the tournament which served as an Open Qualifying Series event.

Bezuidenhout is one of SA’s highest ranked golfers in the world at 87.

Ernie Els

The four-time Major winner, including two Open titles in 2002 (Muirfield) and 2012 (Royal Lytham and St Annes) is exempted by being a former champion. Els also won two US Opens in 1994 and 1997 and is regarded one of this country’s very best golfers.

He currently plays on the senior PGA Tour in America.

Branden Grace

The man who shot the lowest round in Open Championship history (62 in 2017) tied for third at two-under-par in a qualifying event at Royal Cinque Ports in south-eastern England a few weeks ago.

It will be 35-year-old Grace’s first Major this year after not being allowed to play in the year’s first three due to his LIV status.

Christo Lamprecht

The young South African who studies at Georgia Tech in the USA qualified for the Open by winning one of the biggest amateur events in the game, the 128th Amateur Championship at Hillside Golf Club in Southport, England a few weeks ago.

The 22-year-old is ranked sixth in world amateur ranking and this will be his first Open Championship.

Thriston Lawrence

The big-hitting former back-to-back SA Amateur champion (2013 and 2014) and now four-time DP World Tour winner, Lawrence qualified for the Open by being in the top 30 on the DP World Tour rankings in 2022.

The 26-year-old has made a big step up in the professional ranks recently and also played in the US Open and PGA Championship.

Louis Oosthuizen

The champion golfer of the year from 2010 at St Andrews, Oosthuizen qualifies in the category of being a former winner. He was also runner-up at the same venue in 2015, and has also been a runner-up at the Masters.

The now 40-year-old player currently competes on the LIV Golf Tour and hasn’t featured much in Major golf in 2023.

Martin Rohwer

Just as Grace did, the Sunshine Tour regular qualified at Royal Cinque Ports by finishing at the top of the leaderboard at three-under-par after 36 holes. He went into the event ranked 765 in the world and having won three times on the Sunshine Tour.

Earlier in his career he went on a golf scholarship to the University of Alabama.

Charl Schwartzel

The former Masters champion also qualified in the tournament at Royal Cinque Ports, by finishing in a tie for third, alongside Grace. The 38-year-old Schwartzel also played in the Masters this year as a former winner. But he missed out on the two other Majors, the US Open and PGA Championship.

He is the inaugural event winner on the LIV Golf Tour.

Ockie Strydom

The long-time Sunshine Tour pro made his Major debut in May at the PGA Championship and he’ll now also tee it up at the Open, having won the Sunshine Tour’s order of merit in 2022.

The 38-year-old has two DP World Tour wins, namely the Alfred Dunhill Championship (with a course record 63 in the third round) and Singapore Classic, both this year.