 So just when you thought that being declined at the airport for your first flight out to South Africa was the worst that could happen... And now here I am 6 weeks later, sat in a hospital bed with invalid travel insurance, a severe case of the sh*ts, and I can’t even make it to the toilet in time before having to throw out another pair of fake Calvin Kleins I bought off eBay...  It's been a while since I've last been able to post due to a few technical difficulties in Africa but I just wanted to a give a big shout out to Andy Herridge at 'GolfVIP' for his donation and all other 27 guys who have also kindly contributed towards my #100Club brigade. The last 9 weeks would not have been possible without all your support. These guys have all been a part of my private admin only WhatsApp group and are enjoying regular scores + updates from me out in 'the bush' and behind the scenes access of tour life. So if you would like to follow my journey more closely and be apart of the 100 Club, you are more than welcome to join at any time. More Details in the Video ABOVE. JOIN HERE  Before I start with the 'sh*tty' ending I thought I'd follow up from where I finished my previous blog; I'd just made my first cut on the Sunshine Tour, which was almost 7 weeks ago now so obviously I have lots of things to update you on, but don't worry I'll be spreading it out (like butter) over the next few weeks. 2nd Event - At the prestigious Ebotse links Golf club for the Gauteng Championship, the only links golf club in Joburg, which was a real treat but also an extremely tough test for anyone. Fairways were forgiving but your approaches in the greens required a lot of precision. Slightly offline and you were dropping another one. One word - SNAKES. (See slideshow of the course below). Strangely enough I actually went into the event playing great and full of confidence, but unfortunately a slow start of level for the first 8 holes and then dropping a few around the turn, forced me to take on the 12th par 5. A hole that was a 3 shot hole every day of the week with water all the way down the right. A very aggressive minded caddy wanting to see us make birdies did influence the 'smash a 2 iron to the front edge' tactic but from 265 metres it was definitely a bit of a brain fart on my side. If you're going to set a game plan for the week, don't change your mind even if things aren't quite going your way!  3rd Event - Serengeti Golf Invitational at former European Tour Venue and usually the tour final for the Sunshine Tour. Jack Nicklaus Design, so lots of big bunkers placed everywhere, ridiculously firm, undulating and super rapido greens, which meant your course management had to be spot on.  Thankfully I had learnt my lesson from the previous week, and I was ready to shake things up. Round 1 demonstrated this, it was an absolute ball striking exhibition, I hit every shot exactly where I intended too, which was either right next to the flag or placed on the correct sides of the greens. Maybe if it wasn't for a bad draw of a late tee time that was extended by 2 hours (fog delay) and having to finish in darkness, i'd have probably holed a few more really close putts and turned my level par round into a 5-6 under without much difficulty. Hey ho, no dramas, I knew I was heading into the morning absolutely striping it with the best greens of the day so with a bit of luck, I had absolutely no doubt that I could shoot a low round. And boy did it start well, 2 birdies through 4 holes with a couple of lip outs suddenly ended with an errant drive on 5, a 3 wack (putt) on 6 and drop balls on 7+8 made it very hard to make up a score up knowing the back 9 was a lot tougher. It was a real shame in the end to miss the cut by 3. Thankfully one thing i've definitely learnt, is that no matter how frustrating missing cuts can be, it definitely highlights areas you need to work on for next time... ... it clearly looks like I need to work out how not to lick my golf ball when there is any mud on it, especially when theres sewage water on the greens...I have a great idea Ben, you’ve just had 3 weeks off, worked really hard on your game, so why don’t you start getting ready for the 1st challenge tour qualifier coming up by driving up a week early for an extra practice round? And of course its based in a safari park so how could you resist... Famous last words.
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 Surviving Africa Ep 2 - my first week back in Africa So there I was, standing in the freezing cold at home in my back garden duffing & blading chips, hitting the odd shot into my nett, waiting to see how many people fancied joining my prestigious #100Club. As it turns out, 39 people really enjoyed watching me shank it out of a ditch. If you haven’t seen it yet check out my #100Club Promo video here: I’m half way there so far !  There have been a lot of things happening in the world to try & push me away from my much anticipated return to South Africa for the Sunshine Tour restart. November - I’d just lost my part time job, then next thing you know Matt Hancock announces that South Africa has the most apocalyptic variant of this virus currently known in the world. And by February he announces that anyone going there has to Quarentine on return & pay £1750 if you’d ever like to come back. And I’m not going to lie, it seemed absolutely impossible to get out the country. In my dads words, ‘Ben you’ve got absolutely no chance of going back this year, write it off and play europro/2020 tours’. Unfortunately I have a habit of never giving in too easily, so here I am, sat in an apartment almost 2 weeks into a 10 week spell out here in sunny Johannesburg. Happy days... With half the budget of what I needed, I booked a last minute flight, drove all the way down to Heathrow, got all the way to check in. Which was when Turkish Airlines decided to decline my NHS PCR covid result. I had to rebook another flight two days later paid for private PCR test. Did two nights in a 5 star Ibis hotel with room service and eventually got there 1 1/2 days before the first qualifier. £700 down the pan and I hadn’t even arrived yet. The targets now become 72! Royal Johannesburg & Kensington was the venue for the first event. Limited field to 72 with it being a Pro Am. And as you’d expect, 9 weeks of a lockdown with golf courses closed back home. Harold Hookspin and Sammy Sideways returned with a reasonable effort of +6. DNQ  As I’d finished my round not only had I not qualified I also found out that my name was not on the entry list for the next week. ‘The Players Championship’, to which I was told that I never even entered and the only way I could get in was by a top 10 in the week I couldn’t even play.  Thankfully after pestering the commissioner of the Sunshine Tour Thomas Abt, explaining the difficulties and investment I’d made getting over they granted me a very late invite into the event. I WAS BUZZING.  Even though I was guaranteed to play, I had absolutely no game the previous week but I decided the only way I could get my game fast tracked in time was by getting up to play 18 at sunrise (5am) and practice all the way till it got dark around 6.30pm. I hadn’t managed to shoot anything under par at all until the event but I knew that I was starting to get a sense of direction back. I worked tirelessly to try and adjust my short game to the grass with the different grains on and around the greens. And thankfully my hard work paid off.  I turned up on the Tuesday of the event in complete shock of how well run the tour was. There was a players lounge, current and ex European tour players on the putting green with their coaches, super sport live tv coverage with a tented village and camera towers on every hole. Brand spanking new Titleist Pro V1s to hit on the range. I was given 4 dozen tour use balls with 6 gloves. There was a stand behind the range with a guy offering to change your grips and check the loft and lies of my clubs. I honestly felt like I was about to play in my first ever EuropeanTour event. I cannot speak highly enough of how well run the event was. Or how well prepared the golf course was either. I don’t know why I had such low expectations but this definitely proved how big a deal it was getting my card just over a year ago.   Brand New caddy for the week too. Tour Caddy named Swenky. Caddied for a lot of big players over the years including Ernie Els, Beef and numerous others.  Now I had no expectations for the upcoming event (Dainfern Country Estate GC) but I knew that making the top 40 cut from a 156 field was going to be an extremely difficult task. I decided my game plan for the week was to not go at any of the flags and try and score well on the par 5s.  This plan seemed to work as I chipped in 3 times in the first two rounds and was 8 under par total on the 12th hole of my 2nd round. To which I saw a leaderboard say that 38 players were tied at -6 under, which meant that -7 was going to be the cut mark. I was bricking myself. I missed a 1ft par return putt on 13 and duffed a chip on 15 after a fluffed wedge approach shot. Back to -6 total I managed to find the green on the tough 16th but left my 1st putt 15ft short. I had never wanted to make a cut so much in my life, and all the competitive rust was definitely showing. Thankfully I grew a pair and railed my 2nd putt straight into the middle of the cup. Boom baby 💥. My caddy Swenks said ‘THAT was BIG PUTT’. I managed to then hit the fairway down the last (par 5) and put my 5 iron approach onto the green in 2 to about 12ft. Shot of the week. I finished with a round of 67 to make the cut by one.  My team of 100 clubbers obviously all went bezerk and my socials all exploded which all added to the adrenal come down of what I’d managed to achieve and overcome in a week. I was obviously delighted with my scores. But unfortunately I was still 9 behind the leaders on a tough golf course that was very similar to playing Moor Allerton GC in the UK. Very grainy and slopey fast greens but lots of doglegs and positional tee shots.  I was so pumped up from the day that Saturdays round afterwards was a struggle and I didn’t have the same mental capacity I had in the days previous. I did get to play with ex tour player Keith Horne though which was great fun. After the round I went straight to bed for 2 hours. Rested up. And went out again on the Sunday for the final round. I played very similar again but didn’t really hole anything all the way round until hitting the 17th green (Par 4) in one and smashing a 317 metre drive to a back right pin to 15ft. EAGLE . I had lots of anger with me from 3 putting the 16th hole. But it was slightly downwind and had 287 metres to fly it all the way onto the front edge and roll it towards the pin. I walked up to the 18th thinking how funny it would be to go Double eagles after the week I’d had. But unfortunately I left my 20ft eagle attempt on the front lip of the hole. Hey Ho, a round of 4 under 67 to take me to 10 under total for 4 rounds in my first competition back and first one ever on the main sunshine tour was for me an incredible achievement.  News Update: #100club members now have access to my private admin only ‘Ben Firth Tracker’ WhatsApp group where they can get VIP updates from me personally sent to them with all my latest results and what I’m up too behind the scenes. If you’d like to join please contact me on WhatsApp +447769115461  Exciting News! I'm Going Back to South Africa in March!Hi guys, hope you're all keeping fit and well. I'd like to present to you my Brand New #100Club. Please check out this short Youtube Video that I've made with the help of my friend Sam Stokes and his Dad Mark from TrueNorthTV.
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RECENT RESULTS-3, Joburg Open Q, missed by 2 Archives
March 2022
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