Exclusive: Dylan Naidoo reflects on his surreal SA Open win

Now that the weight of his historic achievement has finally sunk in, newly crowned SA Open champion Dylan Naidoo got to relive his “surreal” golfing triumph at the rain-battered Durban Country Club at the weekend.

The 27-year-old golfer, who grew up in Lenasia, in the south of Johannesburg, became the first golfer of colour to win SA’s national open. He beat England’s Laurie Canter on the first play-off hole on Sunday.

It was at the same venue where legendary golfer Sewsunker “Papwa” Sewgolum had to endure the humiliation almost 62 years ago of receiving his prize for winning the Natal Open outside in the rain after he wasn’t allowed in the clubhouse.

“I’m very aware of the story of Papwa and what has happened at Durban Country Club. It’s something that has really always spurred me on. It’s something that I’ve held inside of me and has helped burn the passion for why I play the game,” Dylan reflected.

“And while you’re playing golf, it’s not the first thing on your mind but I know it’s one of the reasons why I practice as hard as I do and why I play the way I do.”

This time the rains speeded up the rising star’s march to victory, with the final day’s play called off because of the water-logged course. It led to the play-off between the two golfers who were tied for the lead on 14-under-par.

“The first day I was kind of feeling my way around a little bit. I had a little bit of extra work to put in kind of get my swing in the groove and the first day was a little bit of a proving ground for that. I felt pretty good about the swing,” the former SA junior No 1 said.

“Then in round two I really committed and trusted that and I finished that first four holes two-under-par. After that I really got it going. It was a very special second round where I shot 61, which was my personal best ever, so it was a very, very cool round."

Dylan said during Saturday’s play they had no idea of the havok the weather gods would unleash on Sunday.

“We weren’t expecting to have hectic rain like we did end up having, so Saturday was a crazy round. We had so many people from the Durban area come to watch.

“Obviously, as a South African Indian person, Durban is kind of a hub for us and it was special. We had five rows deep of people coming to watch golf. It was incredible!” he said.

He likened the tough day’s play to Test-match cricket.

“It was kind of windy and the one guy who was ahead of fell back pretty early on in the round and I didn’t really know what was going on in the leaderboard but I just hung tough. It was a bit like Test-match cricket, we were just kind of hanging in there.

“And coming up the last few holes I made a little bit of a silly mistake on the 15th hole. I think I had the lead by myself at that stage, and made a bogey there. And coming up the 18th hole I’m pretty sure I was tied for the lead. Again, we were expecting to play a full round on Sunday so it wasn’t life-or-death weather I made birdie on the last hole the day before the final day.

"I had a really good chip shot then missed a short putt, which would have won me the title outright with how the weather played out on Sunday. But it was kind of sweeter to come back and play the play-off on Sunday and get it done when I knew the putt was for the win.”

Dylan was thrilled that his father, Neil, who had introduced him to the sport when was five or six, was there to share the moment with him.

“I’ve secured a place in the Open Championship – the British Open. I’m also a full DP World Tour member, so I will be playing in tournaments for the rest of the European Tour. It’s going to be unbelievable, playing in all the major events on the European Tour,” he concluded.