As Ockie Strydom eased into 2022, he would have been forgiven for letting out a sigh of frustration when he came second in the Stella Artois Players Championship.
It was his 13th runner-up finish on the Sunshine Tour, and his third since his breakthrough win at Sishen in 2017. As the new season started, he promptly recorded his 14th second-place on the tour, in the Lombard Insurance Classic at Arabella in May. Then came his 15th, in the Vodacom Origins of Golf event at St Francis Links in September.
But then came redemption to cap off a year which had six other top-10 finishes in it (including the 2021-22 season-ending Tour Championship in April). His victory at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December makes a compelling case for him to be the player of 2022 on the Sunshine Tour.
Besides winning over R4.6-million at Leopard Creek, enough to almost double his career winnings on the Sunshine Tour, his horizon instantly expanded to include nearly two full years of exemption to the DP World Tour.
He’s also got himself into pole position on the Sunshine Tour’s Luno Order of Merit, the winner of which will get a spot in the Open Championship. That will be a balancing act for him, as he will want to spread his wings and play as many DP World Tour events as possible. That will leave his position at the top of the Order of Merit vulnerable to raids from players taking part in the busy Challenge Tour South African season. But he will almost certainly try to protect that spot by playing as many events back home as would be prudent in his rookie season in Europe.
Second in one or two of the bigger ones of those wouldn’t hurt – but the taste of winning will have him pushing for an even better year in 2023 than he’s had this year.
