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It is not surprising that in the most difficult year, Christiaan Bezuidenhout found the deepest meaning that expressed itself in the most dominant way.
It’s not surprising when you consider where Bezuidenhout has come from, and how it inadvertently prepared him for 2020.
This year, Bezuidenhout came full circle from the 2-year-old boy who almost died after ingesting rat poison by mistake and has suffered with a speech impediment ever since, to a golfer who has unlocked his full potential with a realisation he sums up in three words: “I belong here.”
There was no doubt about that during two weeks of this South African summer, when Bezuidenhout won the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek and then the South African Open at Sun City to become the first golfer since Justin Rose in 2017 to win back-to-back tournaments on the European Tour.
There was no doubt about it earlier this year when the 26-year-old South African won on home soil in the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt, and then travelled to the PGA Tour where he impressed with seven cuts made in 10 events and finishing in the top 25 in four of them. And there was certainly no doubt when he was two shots off the first-round lead in the Players Championship before it was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The belief was reaffirmed when he came out of lockdown and played in his first Masters, making the cut and finishing tied 38th. He began play at last week’s DP World Tour Championship positioned at No. 35 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and wound up T14 in Dubai.
There was never any doubt about the talent of Bezuidenhout. From the rest of us. But within himself, Bezuidenhout first had to overcome his own self-doubt brought on by his speech impediment, and a few cruel blows early in his career.
“When I was younger with the stutter, I never really believed in myself fully. I was always holding myself back from my full potential. I always knew that I could play the game and go far in it. It was just getting that self-belief.”
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Surviving the rat poison he drank by mistake, thinking it was “a random bottle of Coke” which he found while playing in the street near his home in the small town of Delmas, was one challenge. Dealing with his speech impediment would be a far longer and harder journey. A journey of anxiety and doubt.
“The main thing for me was accepting the fact that this is who I am and it’s not going to change,” Bezuidenhout says.
“When I was younger that’s what I struggled with. I always wanted to be perfect or to do public speaking. Even when I won junior tournaments I was always scared to go up and give a speech. It was just like a mind switch of accepting who I am and dealing with it if anyone had something to say about it. I accepted it, my family accepted it, and so did my friends. That was the main thing for me in moving forward.
But the speech impediment would come to hurt his golf career in a way not even he could have imagined.
As he was identified by the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation and went on to become one of South African golf’s top amateurs, he was playing in the 2014 Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush when his life changed again. At age 2 it was brought on by a random bottle of Coke. At Royal Portrush, it was a random dope test.
The medication he was on for his stutter was a prohibited substance. Initially, Bezuidenhout was given a two-year ban. It later was reduced to nine months. A flourishing career was now on hold.
“I could’ve viewed that nine-month ban as a negative or positive,” he says. “I just decided, ‘It’s happened, so deal with it.’ I could work hard for nine months and then go and show the world that it wasn’t the medication that helped me play better.
“And that’s what I did. I wanted to come back stronger and show the people who had negative things to say.”
Following his ban, he turned professional and won on the Sunshine Tour’s development circuit. Then came his breakthrough on the main Sunshine Tour in the 2016 Sun Fish River Challenge. Then he secured his European Tour card, and in 2019 broke through there with his victory in the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters hosted by the Sergio García Foundation, beating Jon Rahm down the stretch on the demanding course of Valderrama.
He had big plans for 2020, as did so many others. But when lockdown hit just as he was starting to realise those plans on the PGA Tour, Bezuidenhout knew he had been here before. That random act of life that puts a stop to your plans.
“I had put a lot of effort into getting off to a good start to the year prior to the Players, and I liked the course at TPC Sawgrass,” he said. “It’s a pity that event was cancelled because I ended up just missing my PGA Tour card by not that many points.
“A decent finish at the Players would’ve given me my PGA Tour card. But that happened and you can’t change it. I saw it as a time to rebuild and give myself another shot at it.”
He put in particular work with his coach Grant Veenstra in building a swing he felt could take him to his next goal of a place inside the top 30 in the world. But Veenstra, who works with several of South Africa’s top young golfers, believes a place inside the top 10 in the world is an even more realistic showing of Bezuidenhout’s potential.
“I think if we can get a few yards on his driver, he can get into the top 10 in the world,” Veenstra said. “One of the biggest consistencies in Christiaan’s career is his diligence in practice.
“His work ethic is amazing. Technically, when we started working together we changed a few things in his swing to help build consistency. He also has an amazing short game, which is crucial on the big stage.”
Els is another big believer in Bezuidenhout’s potential. The four-time major championship winner has become a mentor for Bezuidenhout and was instrumental in convincing him to make the arduous journey from the Masters back to South Africa that next week to play the three-tournament South African Swing on the European Tour.
“I spent a lot of time with Ernie while in the United States,” Bezuidenhout said. “I’m very fortunate to have somebody like him who can give me great advice. We had a lot of chats about all the golf courses he’s played and performed well on.
“He actually gave me quite a bit of insight into the courses I was going to play, and telling me which suited my game. Ernie has worked really hard in his life to get where he is, and he still plays at a very high level. He’s still competing. I have a lot of respect for him and what he’s achieved.”
Similarly, the respect for Bezuidenhout is growing, as is the realisation that there is so much more to come from this young talent.
We’ve always known it.
Now he knows it too.
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