Starstruck Steve...

FORMER Howley Hall President Steve Bestwick met a golfing legend during a trip to South Africa. Nine-time Major winner Gary Player was at Royal Cape Golf Club ahead of attending one of South Africa’s top horse racing meetings The Sun Met is one of South Africa’s most prestigious turf races and is held in the southern suburb of Kenilworth where the racecourse lies less than two miles from Royal Cape. Player is one of South Africa’s most successful breeders and the Gary Player Stud near Colesberg is home to some of the best stallions and mares in the world. He is the first South African breeder to produce an international Group 1 winner in the USA out of a South African mare – Serena. Bestwick is amateur captain of the Leeds & District Alliance, which kicks off at Leeds Golf Centre on February 25, and spends most winters at Royal Cape, where he is a member. He said: “We met him out on the course and watched him hit a couple of shots, including a drive which he absolutely nailed down the middle of the fairway. “He was very entertaining and most polite when we caught up with him in the bar later. “He was here for a couple of days and also played here just before Christmas and it’s always nice to have an Open Champion visit our club.” Dating back to 1885, it is the oldest golf club in South Africa and in 1910 hosted the South African Open and Amateur Championships for the first time. It was in this same year that the title ‘Royal’ was conferred on the Cape Golf Club by H M King George V in commemoration of the visit of HRH The Duke of Connaught, who represented the King at the opening of the first Union of South Africa parliament.