Primrose golfer to play in World Blind Golf Championships
In 1998, he joined the SA blind cricket team and played blind cricket until 2005.
Ernest Conradie from Primrose will participate in the World Blind Golf Championships at the Milnerton Golf Club in Cape Town.
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The two-day competition will start on March 30 and will be the first tournament of its kind in South Africa and Africa.
Conradie is partially blind, but he has never let that stop him from pursuing his aspirations.
He has done swimming, blind cricket, and now golf.
The 49-year-old comes from a sporting family.
In 1998, he joined the SA blind cricket team and played blind cricket until 2005.
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“Blind cricket was a new sport in the country in 1996, so I thought I should give it a try. We took home the first world cup the country ever hosted in 1998. We finished second in 2002.
“In 1997, I won my Gauteng colours, and in 1998, I won my SA colours. I spent two years swimming after giving up cricket,” said Conradie.
He said in 2013, he participated in the SA Disabled Golf Open and did quite well, adding that he began playing social golf in 2012.
“I then started playing more competitive golf. I now rank number four in SA after playing the SA Blind Golf Open.
“I also competed in the British Blind Golf Open (2015), the Japanese and the World Golf Championships (2016), the Italian Blind Golf Open and the American Blind Golf Open.
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Conradie hopes to perform better than his previous record in Italy and, hopefully, finish in the top five.
“The top five players in the country make up the SA team’s five players. This competition will expand the tourism industry and make us more well-known,” he said.
“We engage with young people to also partake in the sport.
“Charlene Piennar and I are the only representatives from Ekurhuleni, and we enjoy strong support from the Ekurhuleni Golf Union.”
Conradie enjoys walking in nature and watching sports on TV when not playing. He has two children, a daughter and a son.
