LIV Golf South Africa: Southern Guards GC excited about playing in front of home fans
The tournament marks the circuit’s debut in Africa, while return of Phil Mickelson adds relegation battle subplot for crowd in Johannesburg
LIV Golf rolls into South Africa this week with the promise of a record crowd to get the home team fired up and the return of Phil Mickelson to add another subplot to a slowly developing relegation battle.
More than 92,000 people are reportedly expected at The Club at Steyn City in Johannesburg for the circuit’s debut on the continent, a LIV crowd only bettered by the 115,000 that was in Adelaide.
For the home Southern Guards GC team of Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Dean Burmester, it represents a first chance to play in front of some of the most passionate fans around.
“We do have a sport-hungry culture,” Burmester said. “We have a saying down here ‘back your boys’, and that’s what we do. Whenever the Springboks are playing we’re 120 per cent behind them, whenever Bafana Bafana [national team] are playing soccer, 120 per cent behind them.
“Everyone’s up watching our athletes all over the world and it’s nice to know that as golfers we can be part of that conversation.”
After flirting with a win in Hong Kong and finishing in a tie for 10th in Singapore, Burmester is in the kind of form that puts him in the conversation for victory at home.
