Hugo is Mooi Nooi’s man from Havana

As unlikely golfing destinations go you would to go some to better the Varadero Golf Club in Havana, Cuba, and the Mooi Nooi Golf Club in north-west Gauteng.

That, however, is exactly the link drawn in the last few days by professional golfer Jean Hugo.

Hugo recently took an important step in building the foundations of a successful career by finishing in the top 15 on the order of merit of Europe ’s secondary tour, the Challenge Tour, and earning a card to play on the European Tour proper.

But to do so he had to travel to Cuba to play in the season-ending Challenge Tour Grand Final to ensure he remained in the top 15.

So along with his fellow Tour campaigner Trevor Immelman - who also secured a full European Tour card - he embarked on a journey that started in Cape Town, took in Johannesburg, a 15-hour delay at Charles de Gaul in Paris, a long flight to Havana and finally a three-hour bus ride to what is probably the island country’s only golf course.

The trip lasted 48 hours. He made it there without his clubs. Immelman made it without his clothes. They had to mix and match for a day or so and when the clubs, as well as those of a more than a third of the field, finally did arrive it meant having to play 27 holes a day for the first two to complete the tournament.

Both Cape youngsters prevailed, however, and came home in possession of the all-important card that entitles them entry in tournaments.

Hugo, in the midst of a programme during which he has shed nearly seven kilograms as he focuses in on his life as a professional golfer, decided that the best way to keep sharp was to enter the Platinum Classic which this week is being played at the delightful little nine-hole Mooi Nooi course in the heart of the minefields strewn along the road to Rustenburg.

“For me tournament play is the best practice,” explained Hugo, “and this was a good chance to compete at home and keep my game going for the forthcoming summer tour events.”

His arrival co-incided with an announcement by the tournament sponsors that prize-money would be upped to a winter tour record of R400,000.

Blessed with a temperament and demeanour that has been compared to Ernie Els, although they are completely different in build, 24-year-old Hugo is not unaccustomed to accomplishing the unusual.

A good enough rugby player to play flyhalf for the Victorians, Stellenbosch’ s second string, at a time when both Gaffie du Toit and Louis Boje were Maties, Hugo once turned up at the SA amateur in Bloemfontein with just 11 clubs, no practice balls and fully prepared to carry his own bag.

He ended up losing to Warren Abery in the 1995 final but at that point a career as a professional golfer did not feature in his plans. “I was taking a sports management degree and always thought I would end up with rugby as my game,” says a young man steeped in rugby tradition.

He went to Paul Roos Gym in Stellenbosch and his father, Victor, is president of the local Van der Stel rugby club.

Golf remained pretty much an enjoyable sideline until in 1998 he beat Ryan Reid 4 and 3 to win the SA Amateur and then in 1999 he also claimed the amateur strokeplay title and, more importantly, the Freddie Tait Cup as the leading amateur in the SA Open over his difficult home course in Stellenbosch.

Hugo finished 9th in a full European Tour field and it convinced him, his father and the benefactor who had always supported him that he had the game to make it as a professional.

“Seeing the names on the trophy (the Freddie Tait Cup) convinced that I had to give it a go. I felt that if I didn’t try to make a go of it (professional golf) I would always wonder about what might have been,” he explains.

He turned pro in time for the 1999 British Open in July - not the ideal time in mid-year -but he felt that if he was going to take the plunge it had to be then.

By the end of the year he registered his breakthrough win in the Zimbabwean Open, went on to score a maiden win on the Challenge Tour as well as taking the Western Cape Sunshine Tour title at Rondebosch recently in a rare chance to play at home.

In last year’s Royal Swazi Spa championship, played over the Wild Coast Sun course, he played in the last group on the last day - further proof of his ability to play himself into a winning position in good company.

Having won the right to play on the European Tour Hugo has sent himself the target of retaining his card with room to spare.

He will play in the Sunshine Tour’s two co-sanctioned events, the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mercedes Benz SA Open in January, and will then head off to Australia and Malaysia to make as many starts, and hopefully cuts, as possible to not only improve the status of his card but also to secure its retention as soon as possible