Van Zyl leads SA's Q-school army

In December 2006, Jaco van Zyl shot a 64 in the final round of the US PGA Tour School to gain his card. This year, he finds himself in Europe as he seeks to redirect a career that took a distinct upward turn on the 2009 Sunshine Tour.

Van Zyl is one of ten South Africans who tee off today in European Tour Qualifying School Second Stage tournaments in Spain.

He will be joined at Sherry Golf in Jerez by Alan McLean, who flew out to Europe on Monday after the MTC Namibia PGA Championship.

Down the road in Jerez at Arcos Gardens, Oliver Bekker, Tyrone Ferreira, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Michiel Bothma will all be trying their luck.

Elsewhere in Jerez, at Costa Ballena Club de Golf, Louis Moolman and Louis de Jager will be in action, and at Hacienda Del Alamo in nearby Murcia, George Coetzee and James Kamte, who both spent a lot of time in Asia this year, will be teeing it up.

Van Zyl got his year off to a great start with top 15 finishes in the Joburg Open, the Africa Open and the Dimension Data Pro-Am.

His tie for third in the Nashua Masters presaged his big win in the Telkom PGA Championship, and he took two more titles -- the Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open and the Telkom PGA Pro-Am in Centurion -- as he raked in eight more top ten finishes.

Comfortably ensconced at second in the 2009 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit behind leader Anders Hansen of Denmark, Van Zyl will be hoping to get his European Tour card and return to South Africa to mount a late quixotic challenge on Hansen’s lead in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the SA Open, the final two tournaments of the year.

He chased so valiantly when Peter Karmis shot that incredible 59 in Swaziland to win the Lombard Insurance Classic: His six-under 66 was in vain as he finished four shots adrift.

At 30, Van Zyl might not be in the grizzled veteran category, and he’s nine years younger than McLean and six than Bothma.

But the rest of the players are youngsters looking to make their way in the game: Only Fisher is 30, Ferreira and De Jager are the babies at 22, Moolman and Coetzee are 23, Bekker is 24 and Kamte is 27.

Fisher and De Lager have wins on the Sunshine Tour to their credit this year, while Kamte won a title on his first attempt on the Asian Tour.

Whatever happens, it will take Jaco van Zyl-like fortitude for the ten South Africans to chase down a European Tour card. Maybe not a final-round 64, but possibly something like that...