Big hitters drive for cash
The occasion was the fourth leg of the Grid Outlaws long-driving competition, which took place on an unusually warm winter’s day at the Grasslands Driving Range on the outskirts of Benoni.
Hearing nicknames like ‘Eliminator’, ‘Hammer’, ‘The Dominator’, ‘Reaper’ and ‘Slinger’, one would immediately conjure up images of a contact sport such as MMA or boxing.
In this instance, though, the only contact being made was the head of a Four Degree golf driver striking a golf ball on the tee box as some of the country’s longest hitters in the game battled it out for a healthy cash prize pot.
Dubbed the T20 of golf, in simple terms, players are drawn to compete against one another in an initial four sets of three minutes each in which they have to hit eight balls within a 425m-long and 55m-wide grid on the range for a spot in the subsequent rounds.
After playing bridesmaid in the previous leg, the bearded Jason ‘Hammer’ Vickers (395.7m) finally secured his maiden win, defeating the fast-improving Julian Samu (361m) in the final, who had earlier hammered a personal best 400m peach down the middle of the grid to oust favourite Thorne ‘The Eliminator’ van Zyl, who hit a ball just out of bounds at 437m.
Samu’s effort was just 500 millimetres shy of Michael ‘Rookie’ Riley’s (400.5m) longest ball of the day .
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Despite his overdue victory, Vickers still trails van Zyl by 60 points overall on the Grid Outlaws Order of Merit standings.
Van Zyl, who finished fourth behind Gabriel ‘Slinger’ le Roux, had to fight through the pain after injuring his wrist earlier in the day when the shaft of his driver snapped on him.
Vickers and van Zyl have both been invited to the European Long Drive Games in August, with a chance of a shot at the lucrative world title a week later.
Arno Steyn won the second Grid Amateur event, out-driving Riley in the final with a massive effort of 391m. The next event is scheduled for July 27. Entrance for spectators is free. For more details, contact Stephen van Zyl at gridoutlaws@gmail.com or Whatsapp him on 074 101 7501.
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