Jaco

Ahlers

Unable to collect a victory on the Sunshine Tour in 2021, Ahlers has one last chance at Gary Player Country Club. Finishing runner-up at the Serengeti Pro-Am Invitational, SunBet Challenge, and the Vodacom Origins of Golf – De Zalze, the 34-year-old has been awfully close on a number of occasions this year. Coming off a top-5 effort at the Sunshine Tour PGA Championship and a T-43 result in a shortened Joburg Open, Ahlers game appears ready to capture his 10th career victory on the Sunshine Tour.

The 37-year-old’s front nine was a disappointment as he swapped just the one birdie (at the sixth) with two dropped shots (on the par-5 fourth and par-3 eighth). But he found heart at the turn and managed to tick the tenth, 11th and 12th to reinvigorate his day. He then parred his way home. This was his 73rd start on the European Tour and just his fourth top ten. It betters his T6 at the 2016 Tshwane Open which is also the last time he made an ET top ten. He can also celebrate a return to the Open. He tied Jack Senior for the third berth but his better world ranking tipped the balance.

The 37-year-old South African ended the day in a strong position, just one blow behind second placed Marcus Armitage and two adrift of the leader Louis Oosthuizen. He achieved it thanks to a pair of distinct scoring spells which overcame three mistakes on the card. His first move was forward, when ticking the fourth, sixth and seventh. But errors crept in as he squared the eighth and tenth. Again he went low, circling the 12th, 13th and 14th only for another bogey to crop up at the 16th. In 72 European Tour starts he has managed just the three top tens and the last of those was when T6 in the 2015 Tshwane Open. However, twice late last year he hinted that his winning form on the Sunshine Tour might reap some sort of reward at this level, when T6 after 18 holes in the Dunhill Links and Mauritius Open. It never happened but might this week.

The Sunshine Tour veteran went 17 holes without error on the Firethorn Course and will be cursing his 18th hole mistake. Nonetheless, this was a fine lap and leaves him in a great position heading into the weekend. On the front nine he parred seven holes and ticked the fifth and seventh. On the way home he birdied the 11th before threatening to repeat a trick he pulled on the Bushwillow Course on Thursday. Then he had ticked the final four holes. This time he did the same at the 15th, 16th and 17th, but made bogey at the 18th. He was a two-time winner on the Sunshine Tour in 2019, but he remains yet to fulfil his potential at this higher level – indeed, he has just three top tens in 72 starts. Late in the day only Tapio Pulkkanen was clear of the pack tied for second – and only by one stroke.

Ahlers made the cut in three of his first four tries at his home Open and that included tied ninth at Serengeti in 2011. But after T33 at the same venue in 2012, he’s missed the cut in each of his last six. The first five of those were all at Glendower so perhaps we can give him a pass and say that’s a course he simply doesn’t get on with. The latest came at this week’s venue but he’d finished T19 at Randpark when it staged the co-sanctioned Joburg Open in 2017 while he also posted T13 in a Sunshine Tour event there back in 2010. Talking of his local tour, Ahlers has posted recent wins in September and October so carries plenty of current form. He’s finished T24 (Alfred Dunhill Championship) and T33 (Mauritius Open) in two European Tour starts this season so could be a useful cheap option.

The South African missed his first five cuts at the picturesque venue located on the edge of Kruger National Park but has cashed in his latest four. And to prove it’s a puzzle he’s now started to solve, the local man closed with 66 for T11 there last time, a clear improvement on his previous best of T43. Ahlers is a seven-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, his latest win coming earlier this year at one of its better-known events, the Dimension Data Pro-Am (Nick Price, Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, Branden Grace and Paul Lawrie are former winners). He missed the cut after a pair of 71s in the South African Open last week but was T47 in Mauritius before that and had back-to-back top fives on the Sunshine Tour in September.

The parkland layout has also played host to the Sunshine Tour’s BMG Classic and Ahlers placed T7 in the 2014 edition and was also fifth in 2010. He also returns to the course this year holding a shiny, new European Tour card in his hand. Ahlers made the big leap after coming through Q School at PGA Catalunya Resort in Spain last November. He made an immediate impact by posting T11 in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and prior to that had won two of his previous seven Sunshine Tour events so the 34-year-old has blossomed late and is now playing the best golf of his career.

Ahlers has some useful form on his home continent this year having posted T11 in the season-opening Alfred Dunhill Championship, T23 in the Joburg Open and T29 at the Tshwane Open. He also lined up in the Challenge Tour’s Kenya Open at the end of March and cracked the top 10 (T9) thanks mainly to an opening 64. He’ll hope to keep that form going on the Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam and he likes what he sees. “All I can say is wow!! Stunning course and great design. Gonna be a fun week!!,” he said on Twitter.

It’s been a tough season for the South African who earned a card at Q School last November after many years on the Sunshine Tour, including many outings in co-sanctioned events. In pure numbers it seems solid enough: he’s 5-for-6 including T11 in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, T23 in the Joburg Open and T29 in the Tshwane Open. But the brutal fact is that the South African events have small purses and his card is insufficient to get him entry into the bigger tournament; he has to make the most of what he has and that means high finishes. He’s ranked 162nd on the Race to Dubai.

The South African’s halfway total of 1-under 143 became better as the day worse on, with the wind impacting on many of the late starters. Ahlers was out early and initially struggled to capitalize on his first round 71 as he wasted shots on 4, 6 and 9 to turn in 3-over 39. But the back nine was a different story and gives him plenty to chase on the weekend. He started as he meant to go on with red numbers at 10 and 11, and he finished in style with a final birdie on 18. At lunch he was four behind the leader in the clubhouse - Jeunghun Wang on 5-under.