Colin Byrne's Column: Christmas has certainly come early for those of us involved in last week's Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa. The limited field of 12 players get treated like royalty there. It is the biggest golf event of the year in southern Africa and golf fans make the most of their annual opportunity to see their stars live.
It's not only the golfers who get the red carpet treatment, their load-luggers are treated equally as well. I was greeted at Jan Smuts International airport by tournament representatives and whisked to the top of any queue that we were in danger of having to join. There were people to collect our bags and bring us to our cars which were waiting to take us on the two and a half hour trip north-west to the exclusive oasis that is Sun City.
As I waited to check in, the manager of the hotel came to welcome me and quicken the check in process and assure me that anything that could be done to make our stay more enjoyable would be done. A big sign in the lobby read 'Welcome players, caddies and officials to the 2004 Nedbank Challenge'. Wow how times have changed and so quickly .
Monday is preparation day for us caddies so I set off to do my yardage book homework that morning. The course is set in the bushveld, so the fairways are naturally surrounded by the bush. Which means that there are plenty of wild animals wandering about, thankfully there is a perimeter fence enclosing the whole complex so the only wild animals that get onto the course are the baboons. They also get in you bedroom window if you happen to leave it open. One of the caddies got back to his room at dusk to find monkey tucking into his fruit bowl. When the caddie insinuated that he might want to leave, he was shown a menacing pair of incisors. He decided it might be better to let his uninvited guest finish his fruit bowl undisturbed. We heard the trumpeting of elephants during the pro-am, another caddie saw a couple of white rhino while he was walking the course. There was no mistaking being in Africa .
As I got to the ninth hole Albert greeted me and told me that he had been assigned as my caddie for the week. With the hospitality I was experiencing till then, this idea was quite fitting, the first tournament where the caddie would not actually have to carry the bag. The system there is that the visiting caddie only carries his player's bag during the actual rounds of tournament play. So Albert brought Retief's bag to the driving range, I followed with a light bag of cool drinks. Once on the range Albert retrieved the balls. The reason for this is that the range is actually the 10th fairway, so the balls had to be collected immediately so as not to interfere with play.
For the practice round and pro-am, Albert carried and I just gave Retief the yardage and any other pertinent advice I had to offer. So my duties until the first round were strictly as adviser. Then during the tournament, Albert would follow around, always close at hand, carrying the umbrella and the rain gear and any other extra things that are normally stored in the bag. As soon as Retief finished out on the 18th green, I handed over the bag to Albert and I strictly became an adviser again. That is a wonderful invention, the caddie's caddie .
There were three formal events to which caddies and their partners were officially invited. The first was a gala dinner in the Royal Ballroom. Next came the beach party at the Valley of the Waves, a man made beach in the bush. The third event was a boma braai which is a traditional barbecue held in an enclosed area in the bush, a bit like a coral. We were greeted at the entrance to the boma by traditional Ndebele dancers on the one side and the untraditional Moet & Chandon champagne on the other side .
The beach party happened to fall on the same day as Jay Haas's 51st birthday, so they had Jay's name illuminated on surrounding rocks all evening. There is no end to how much that the tournament will do to make every participants African experience an unforgettable one .
We got to play with Ernie Els in the second round, the reception for the two home players together as they arrived on the first tee was deafening, there was no doubt about the enthusiasm of the home support.
As luck would have it, my man Retief saved his best for last . Having played very averagely, by his standards, for the first 45 holes he finally found something good in his swing on the back nine on Saturday and gave himself a lot of birdie chances for the next 18 holes.
Having eagled the ninth on Sunday he found himself with a six shot lead. This is a rare and frequently uncomfortable place for a top pro to find himself. The Gary Player course at Sun City is not the easiest place to steer your ball around. With a six shot lead you dont want to be too aggressive either. Retief had not won on home soil since his South African Open victory in 1995. All this was obviously playing on his mind starting the back nine on Sunday. He was visibly not enjoying what should have been the most enjoyable position for him to finally find himself amongst adoring fans .
Retief eventually won by six shots from Ernie and Stuart Appleby rounding off a spectacular year with his fourth victory of the season . The winner and his caddie obviously don't have to endure the hardships of an overland trip back to Jan Smuts airport. We were flown back from a local airfield courtesy of the tournament. As if they hadn't done enough for us already.
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