LALI STANDER: Nice guys win last, and at last, Ockie has won

After reading the tyrannous wave of objections to having the pros play in shorts at the Alfred Dunhill Championship — given the plus 40°C weather and 100% humidity — I planned this week’s column around some of the archaic rules of golf etiquette that needed a serious dusting off.

Then Ockie Strydom equalled the course record with a nine-under-par 63 on moving day.

Tied for the lead at the start of the final round, I barely breathed every time Ockie was on-screen and I’m certain I turned blue in the final moments after he walked onto the famous island green at Leopard Creek’s par-five 18th.

I’m not ashamed to say the tears were flowing when he dropped the putter and cupped his face as the magnitude of winning on the DP World Tour began to sink in.

I met a fresh-faced Ockie when he pitched up at the 2008 Qualifying School at Gardner Ross (now The Els Club at Copperleaf), brimming with all that signature confidence that comes from dominating the local amateur circuit.

He got his card, but it didn’t take him long to figure out that it’s a lot tougher to run with the big dogs than most amateurs think.

Ockie became the very definition of a journeyman; a player who spent 13 years on the tour with only one win to show for it — a six-stroke victory in the 2019 Vodacom Origins of Golf at Sishen Golf Club, where he beat a young and upcoming Thriston Lawrence.

Fast forward to the Investec SA Open Championship, and a course record nine-under 63 in the second round at Blair Atholl left him two shots adrift of eventual champion Lawrence.

We were sitting in the shade of a big old zebra statue in front of the clubhouse, and the conversation inevitably circled to his career and the bridesmaid tag he wore an incredible 19 times — quite probably the record on the local circuit.

“I just don’t know why I can’t get through the door,” he lamented through a wide smile. “It’s just the way it’s gone. But at least when my time comes, I’ll be ready for it.”

It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. For 13 years he comfortably retained his card, consistently finished near the top of the Order of Merit, accumulated 46 top-10 finishes and earned just more than R7m in prize money.

“I got into my own head when I was younger, got ahead of myself, but I have so much experience now and I know I can handle the situation,” he said to me. “You can’t control what anyone else does and that’s a hard lesson I’ve had to learn. When someone runs hot, you can’t go chasing after them. That’s when you torpedo yourself.”

He knew, going into the final round at Leopard Creek, he’d have to play his own game and stick to it, no matter what was happening around him.

“It’s fantastic to shoot two course records in two weeks, but course records don’t feed the family,” Ockie said during a radio interview with me after the third round. “I’ve never cracked the top 50 in the Alfred Dunhill in seven starts. Now, here I am, tied for the lead. It’s surreal. It’s like something you dream about forever, and then when it happens, it seems like a fantasy.

“I am going to have to keep my head down and play my own game on Sunday, but Jaris [Kruger, his caddie and brother-in-law] is great in keeping me in the moment. This is not the kind of course where you panic if you drop a shot. We have to keep things simple, limit the mistakes and let the chips fall where they may.”

When Ockie dunked his approach in the water at the par-four ninth and wrote a six on his card, he walked off the green with the quiet confidence of a veteran that knew he still had nine holes to play. It was a new look for Ockie — certainly one that wasn’t there a week before when he slid down the leader board at Blair Atholl with closing rounds of 75 and 72.

The 37-year-old started the back nine with a brace of birdies, and my heart sang. I’d sent him a message the night before and I believed it: “This one is yours.” And watching him play the homeward loop, I could see he believed it, too.

A bunch of players were making a late charge on Sunday afternoon, but when Ockie saved two crucial pars on 16 and 17, I knew it was finally going to happen.

Thirteen years and 19 agonising runner-up finishes had prepared him for this moment. The drive went straight down the middle, and the usually aggressive player dialled it back and laid up safely short of the green. He ignored the flag with his third, aimed for the middle of the green and, two putts later, he was the champion.

American baseball hero Leo Durocher famously said: “Nice guys finish last.” In fact, he inked it in a book by the same name. But once in a while, Leo, the nice guy takes the trophy.

This year’s championship was a parade of nice-guy winners challenging for the win.

Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, MJ Daffue, Oliver Bekker, and England’s Laurie Canter, who I watched win the elusive double in the SA Amateur at East London Golf Club. All players I have a great affinity for, but on Sunday, the underdogs and journeyman had a champion in the race, and he delivered.

What Ockie did at Leopard Creek will undoubtedly change his life in ways he can’t yet fathom. For starters, he will be an absent dad for the better part of two years. “It’s going to be tough on them, because they are just as unprepared for this as I was,” he said. “But I’m so happy. So very, very happy. I’m the happiest man in the world right now.”

On Sunday after his win at Blair Atholl, Triston Lawrence recorded this message for our amateurs:

“You don’t lose. You either don’t win, or you learn.”

And for me, Ockie’s breakthrough at Leopard Creek sent a far-reaching message to the greater golfing community. A message of determination and survival; of never stopping believing in yourself. Of not getting hung up on the losses, but rather learning from every knock and using it to bring you closer to the finish line.

As in life, there are no easy losses; only tough lessons and it’s up to you how you handle it.