In this week’s Player Blog presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Daniel van Tonder reflects on 10 years as a professional, breaking through for his first European Tour win, and his relationship with his wife and caddie, Abi.
It doesn’t feel like 10 years since I turned professional, time has really flown, but I feel I’ve learnt so much in that time before making it onto the European Tour. I turned pro in 2011 and back then Q-School was in December so 2012 was my first year on the Sunshine Tour, and I really enjoyed my time. But it also taught me a lot about myself, and helped me find myself, and I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to spend eight of those years my wife Abi on the bag. We’ve won together, earned my European Tour card and recently played in our first Major. And most of the credit has to go to my wife, because I wouldn’t have done any of it without her.
She is such a big part of my game. I actually met her at the co-sanctioned Nelson Mandela Championship in Durban in 2014, and she was working at the driving range. She always wanted to be in golf, and she’s a good player and everything, and once we were together she enjoyed being out on the course with me, so we decided together that she could try it at the end of 2015. And she’s great: She does the yardages, 90% of the time she does club selection – so all the birdies I make are because of her when I listen, and the bogeys are when I don’t.
She even helps with my swing, which I know is quite unique. I’m actually self-taught, have never had a coach and do everything on my own – with a little help from her. She knows my swing well, and I’m not a very technical person, I just like sticking to the basics, so usually when I struggle she helps me quickly.
It’s pretty much always been that way, ever since I started playing golf when I was about 12 years old. My parents were the ones who forced me into it, and then just time went on and I just taught myself. I don't think any child would enjoy practicing from eight in the morning until five in the evening over playing games and chilling, so for a while I didn’t enjoy it, and then after a while you just see it as your way out of a not so good situation. And then you start enjoying it because it’s your away time from certain things, and you keep on working. By the time I finished school early I loved it and from the age of 16 I played golf full time, and then made National Colours Juniors and Senior Colours. In all of that time, I always felt more comfortable coaching myself.
I’ve only ever thought about seriously seeing a coach once. A few years ago I started struggling a bit and I wasn’t really confident in my game, so I went to three different coaches. Each coach said something different to me, and after that I thought if I’m doing so many things wrong then I shouldn’t be able to play golf. So I just thought stuff that, I’m going to do my own thing, and it works for me. My wife records me, and we go over basics, because for me, the golf swing is very simple: Straight back and straight through. If I’m feeling off with a club I just do the same drill, swinging the club but not hitting balls, and it helps me bring back a better rhythm.
And of course there were times when people told me that I shouldn’t turn pro, but you’ll always find someone who will criticise or doubts you, especially when you’re struggling. But at the end of the day it’s all between your ears, and my wife has to take a lot of credit for helping with that.
We’ve been together forever, but the way we make the wife/caddie relationship work is that we’ve actually set a rule that the golf course is business. Yes she’s my wife, but whatever is said on the golf course stays there, and she’s very good with that. I think I irritate her more than she irritates me, and of course sometimes afterwards we might talk about what happened and about the day, but most of the time we are good at managing to switch off.
And we don’t take for granted how much of a special thing it is to be able to experience together, to travel the world together. It’s my first time out here on the European Tour, and hers, and there are times that it feels really special to be able to experience it all together. At the US PGA Championship, it was my first Major, and being on the course and feeling that atmosphere and enjoying the experience of all those people watching. And she got to have that too. It’s different having your wife walking along the course cheering you on than having your wife on the bag, cheering you on and helping you. It’s an amazing thing. The putter went cold for me that week, but other than that it was awesome. Back home in 2020 we didn’t have any crowds or anything because no one could watch, and it’s been like that on the European Tour, so after almost two years of no one watching it was actually quite cool to see again. And being in a Major, with people watching and cheering you on, was awesome.
Winning on the European Tour did a huge amount for my confidence leading up to that, because I feel like I’ve been so close so many times to getting here. I’ve been to Qualifying School twice and missed it by one – and I’ve had similar experiences trying to qualify for the U.S. Open. Golf is a tough school, so to now have a European Tour card and have played in a Major, has been a huge achievement for me.
And it feels like the hard work has finally paid off, because last year was a great year for me, but in a way it was also disappointing. During the lock down I’d worked incredibly hard: I lost 25 kilograms of weight, was a lot stronger when we started playing again, and I really felt like that was the year I could finally win the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit. In 2019 I came so close and finished second, and I was quite bummed. I did the same in 2014, and last year I won several times and had so many top 10s in a row – all for my game to go sideways and ending up second again. That was really hard, so to have had all these things happen this year has been awesome.
It’s funny because the week before I won we’d been on the same golf course and I missed the cut. But the strange thing was that for the first 32 holes it felt like there was something blocking the ball going in and then the final four I finished eagle-birdie-par-birdie and missed it by one. For me, that was enough to make me feel back to normal, and I just practiced hard on the range and by the time the next tournament came around I just felt like my old self again.
That final putt on 18 that got me into the play-off was amazing. The up and down for par on 17 was huge after being in the trees because I’d just had two bogeys, and on the final hole me and my wife were talking, saying ‘just hit this on the fairway, and then anywhere on the green, and I’m going to make the putt’ – because I’d actually missed that green seven times in a row. Standing there, I actually saw six different slopes and turns but I felt like I could really see the line, and I just told her, ‘I just need to hit this hard enough and it’s in’.
I’d lost the previous play-off I’d been in back home on the fourth play-off hole, so when we got to that I just said to her ‘we’re not going to lose this too’. And I’m a very aggressive player, and will always go for pins, and that’s why we took that final shot on. It’s funny, my wife is actually a bit more aggressive than me. There will be times I want to lay up and she’ll tell me no, and most of the time it’s the perfect call. On that day we agreed, it paid off, and it was amazing.
The only disappointing thing since is that we haven’t been able to play all of the European Tour events we wanted to because of the change in Visa’s after Covid rules changed for South Africa. We’ve missed about seven events I wanted to play in, like in Spain, but we’ve now got both the Shenghen Visa and the UK Visa, and hope we are able to get the Irish one so I can play in the Irish Open. But the next step for me is that we’re really trying to get to the U.S. Open, although I know that means we would have to either win or finish second this week to make that happen. But I also know that I can do it, because I’ve already proven to myself that I can make it to Majors now.
I also know that none of my recent success would have been possible without my wife over the last ten years, but also without the Sunshine Tour. And that’s why I’d like to end this blog by saying thank you to them for their help over the last ten years, because it’s helped us get ready for this Tour. We’ve been knocking on the door for so long, and it’s awesome to finally be here.
