It’s been a whirlwind couple days for Dylan Naidoo after he won the SA Open in Durban over the weekend, but the target will be firmly on his back as he tees it up in the Joburg Open, at Houghton Golf Club, on Thursday.
His SA Open triumph, which came at Durban Country Club in a playoff in the rain-shortened event, awarded the 27-year-old automatic playing card privileges on the DP World Tour, and entry into The Open Championship later this year.
Naidoo is also a former Golf RSA member, which together with the Sunshine Tour has made incredible progress for the development of the sport in South Africa.
While the emotional rollercoaster that Naidoo has been on over the last week intensifies as he begins a new tournament, the 27-year-old said he is not feeling any extra pressure.
No one can take that away
“I feel the opposite, I'm the South African Open champion and I can say that whether I miss the cut this week or not, it doesn't really affect that point of view and also the schedule that I get to play after this,” said Naidoo.
“This is still a very, very important tournament to me but it's going to be the stepping block towards the next events that I get to play throughout the year. It's still important, but it used to be the most important event I play in the year. So I'm really excited to play it with a bit of freedom.”
Naidoo also revealed he had focussed specifically on the mental side of his game before he won the SA Open.
New approach
“I hired someone new on my team, a mental performance coach who's just been phenomenal. I think that's just that I felt like my physical tools were there and I feel like now I'm gaining clarity every single day from a mental point of view.
“I can feel the high performance, and how I'm changing as a player and that's really exciting to see. I know I don't have to change overnight, but to see some of the cool stuff overnight is really, it's really exciting.”