AMERICAN sensation Bryson DeChambeau may have collected a cool US$4 million when the inaugural LIV Golf South Africa ended at the rain soaked yet packed to the rafters two Sundays ago, but he was not the only winner.
The long-hitting DeChambeau, with his wire-to-wire lead, will be surprised to learn that on the sidelines, an unknown South Africans won hearts and minds with an act of kindness.
On that final day of LIV South Africa, 30-year-old Phumlani Maluka, a volunteer marshall on Hole 12, was doing what he had been doing all day and in the three days before, raising his hands to instruct spectators to stand still and be quiet as the players filed through the tee box.
In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing to write home about. Maluka was doing what hundreds of other marshalls were doing all over the golf course – from tee to fairway, and fairway to green.
That is until a fairly unknown Belgian Thomas Pieters hit a beautiful drive into the middle of the fairway. In the grand scheme of things, that should not be a story. Professional golfers do that everyday. These guys are good after all.
Except Pieters could not find his ball from the middle of the fairway, thanks to the soggy conditions from the rains throughout the day and the whole weekend. After a brief search for the ball, Pieters came back to the tee box to replay his tee shot.
The second ball was safe. But not the driver. Pieters angrily putt his driver between his hands and knee and snapped it into two pieces and subsequently chucked it into the nearby bushes.
The pattern is not unfamiliar. Pieters did not do what has not been done before. Emotions get the better of golfers all the time. It is only that we don’t get a chance to witness it everyday. Many a club has been chucked into lakes. The lucky ones sometimes get retrieved and live to play another day.
Except Maluka would not have that. The force of his personality, the consistency of his coolness and his integrity as a player himself, elevated Maluka above us, mere mortals. He immediately went to retrieve the unloved driver from the bushes and raced towards the miffed Belgian to give it back.
“I don’t give a sh*t,” Pieters responded when Maluka assured him that the club could be repaired and used it again. Pieters walked away. Maluka walked back.
Maluka took the pieces and saved them in his locker. That was supposed to be the end of this chapter. But it was just the beginning.
Gradually the picture started to change. Two hours later, after the players had finished that hole, Maluka saw the team manager of the 4Aces the LIV Golf team to which Pieters belongs, in the bushes clearly searching. Maluka knew what he was looking for.
The said manager was very frustrated because this was a very rare and expensive shaft and wanted to retrieve it and do exactly what Maluka had suggested to Pieters – fix it, even if that was not going to fix the player’s score and finish on the leaderboard.
Soon the club was in the hands of the manager, who was over himself with joy and excitement, not to mention surprise. Once the prize-giving was done and the frenzy had died down, Pieter’s manager, invited Malunga to the players’ lounge so that they can thank him officially.
And what started as innocuous act on the part of a volunteer, ended in the room with the likes of Dustin Johnson and Anthony Kim – the most prominent members of the 4Aces – showering our Maluka with all sorts of gifts from autographed golf shirts and gloves to golf balls and towels. Pieters gave Maluka the very shirt he was wearing during the infamous incident and autographed it.
Maluka could have kept quiet and kept the broken club. But that would have been out of character. Integrity comes first to him. And that should not come as a surprise. Maluka is a one-time tour-card holder on the Sunshine Tour. As a former professional golfer, he knows the value of honesty and integrity.
What would a professional golfer be doing working as a marshall at LIV Golf you ask?
Like many black golfers on tour, things were tough. Sponsorship was hard to come by, and without funds in this very expensive sport, wins were even harder to come. It was frustrating for Maluka and his parents who exhausted their measly earnings to support their son.
Maluka decided to go another route. In March last year he packed his bags for the United States of America and decided to pursue a career in the back end of golf. He had tried to go since 2003 without success.
But he did not give up. He kept on applying and last year, his number came up. Ever since, he has qualified as a greenkeeper – learning about chemicals, climate etc – and he is currently finishing training in golf course design.
He is back home to get a new passport and renew visa and he will be shipping out back to the USA to finish his education. He plans to come home and impart the skills here.
What about golf though? “I am not done. I have also improved my game while in the USA and I am going to come back and reclaim my tour card.”
