Cape Town - Three second-place finishes in the 2014 Sunshine Tour season were not exactly what Jacques Blaauw had in mind after his breakthrough season of three victories in 2013, but he’s the kind of player who will make his presence felt in this weekend’s BMG Classic.
He finished in a share of third in the 2009 BMG Classic behind the man who has become Canada’s top player, Graham DeLaet, so he’s a fan of the layout at Glendower Golf Club, and, like DeLaet, he’s keen to seek his fame and fortune on the PGA Tour.
And just a week before this week’s R800 000 BMG Classic tournament, he was cruising his way through the first stage of the Web.com Qualifying School as a first step towards realising his dream reports sunshinetour.com.
And he won’t be taking his eye off any of the balls he is juggling: “I’m not finding it difficult to divide my attention,” he said.
“I just look at each event as just another tournament.
"Obviously I want to be out there on the Web.com Tour as well as playing on the Sunshine Tour, so I just need to keep my focus on one tournament at a time.”
While he performed well at Glendower in his rookie year on the Sunshine Tour, the course was not so kind to him when he missed the cut at last year’s South African Open Championship won by Morten Orum Madsen.
“I like this course,” he said, “and the nature of my game is to eliminate mistakes as much as possible. So I’ll just keep the big numbers off the card and make no three-putts and I hope that puts me up there.”
So while his attention will be on the BMG Classic, he will be having moments during the weekend when he is thinking about Kingswood Country Club northeast of Houston Texas, where much of the movie Tin Cup was filmed.
That’s where the second stage of the Web.com Qualifying School will be played from November 11-14. “I’m looking forward to it, but I’m glad to be back here and having a couple of good swings again, and I’m hoping to do well,” he said.