Still, the poison infected his nervous system, leaving Bezuidenhout with a speech impediment that would have him develop a severe case of anxiety. “When I go to the States I normally go and spend a couple of days at his house in Florida, talk to him about stuff and ask advice. It wasn’t smooth sailing.”, By the age of 15, Bezuidenhout took regular medication. Indeed, Bezuidenhout's ball-striking was the pick of his fourball on Tuesday as he played alongside former world number one Rose plus another South African, Richard Sterne, and Scotland's Russell Knox. I took those nine months and worked really hard then came back stronger.”. But I also liked it so much when I was younger because it is an individual sport and I was on my own most of the time. “It’s unbelievable to stand here with an Open win,” Bezuidenhout said. He lost in a play-off at the Dubai Desert Classic, won on the Sunshine Tour and posted two top-30 finishes in illustrious company on the PGA Tour. South Africa's Christiaan Bezuidenhout plays a shot to the 3rd green during a practice round ahead of the start of the British Open golf championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Tuesday, July 16, 2019. South Africa’s newest winner on the European Tour, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, has a remarkable back story that shows dreams can come true, writes MICHAEL VLISMAS. Bezuidenhout, along with Tyrrell Hatton and Connor Syme, is among three members of the Modest Golf stable fronted by Niall Horan competing on the Dunluce links this week - and the pop star walked the fairways with the South African during Tuesday's practice round. Gert was born on … 1. Bezuidenhout’s nervous system was affected but primarily, and most obviously, so too his speech. Bezuidenhout’s nervous system was affected but primarily, and most obviously, so too his speech. Before undergoing the drugs test, Bezuidenhout detailed on the accompanying paperwork his use of beta blockers to treat the anxiety caused by his shocking childhood episode. Christiaan Bezuidenhout has no recollection of the split-second that changed his life, which is entirely understandable given he was two years old at the time. “The way I’m playing now I can definitely see myself in the top 30 in the world in the next year.”. Bezuidenhout was taking beta blockers prescribed to help him cope with anxiety and an associated speech impediment that had threatened to ruin his life and … Christiaan Bezuidenhout carried the form which won him the Alfred Dunhill Championship last weekend into the South African Open … After playing a practice round with Justin Rose two days before the start of his first Open Championship, Christiaan Bezuidenhout is talking about the stammer that he refuses to let silence him. I was always a loner, practised on my own. Andalucía Masters, the 2020 Alfred Dunhill Championship and … Live updates: Pence thanks armed forces in speech at Central Valley naval station Kaiser apologizes for long phone wait times amid huge vaccine demand Top of the News Bezuidenhout’s speech-impediment was caused by anxiety left over from a accident as a toddler. Therapy during his teenage years eventually helped Bezuidenhout to "put myself out there" amid a successful amateur career in South Africa which included winning the Western Province Stroke Play and Match Play titles in 2013. Christiaan Bezuidenhout wins back-to-back European Tour events in South Africa PGA Tour How much Viktor Hovland and every player won at the Mayakoba Golf Classic I've accepted it. Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa started the year as the world No 92 but had climbed to No 47 at the time of the lockdown in March. Christiaan Bezuidenhout became the first golfer to win back-to-back events on the European Tour in three years on Sunday. I got my trophy and left.”. Bezuidenhout lounges on the bed of his hotel room as we have a casual video chat. There was quite a lot of negativity and people talking about me taking medication to get an advantage or improve my game. “It was only midway through primary school when I started to have more awareness of the stuttering and stuff like that,” he says. Read about our approach to external linking. I was thinking about being in the top 50 by the end of the year [he is currently ranked 48th] to qualify for next year’s Masters.”, Instead, Bezuidenhout is hitting balls into a net in his Pretoria garden, watching Netflix and “making sure as best I can that I don’t lose any form”. https://www.pgatour.com/players/player.45522.christiaan-bezuidenhout.html I'm comfortable with it.". “Somehow I managed to open it and took a sip. In a blog post for the European Tour last year , the 25-year-old explained the depths of the level of anxiety the stammer caused him growing up. "He powers on through and he's becoming more and more confident in everything he does," Horan told BBC Sport Northern Ireland. But that didn't prevent the Delmas-born golfer being handed a two-year ban which "felt like my life was over", although his suspension was subsequently reduced to nine months after an appeal. Rory McIlroy takes swing at Trump: 'It’s not the way a leader should act', British-based players face 28 days of quarantine when golf resumes in US, Christiaan Bezuidenhout: 'There was a bottle of rat poison … I took a sip'. Five years on, the 25-year-old finds himself back at Royal Portrush. It was a matter of minutes.”. Few accomplishments in modern golf would be more endearing. I was determined to show those people that I can play well without that. Stutter definition is - to speak with involuntary disruption or blocking of speech (as by repetition or prolongation of vocal sounds). "When I talked to people, I knew I would struggle and it would take time for me to deliver my words, so I always had a fear of answering the phone, saying my name or being asked a question.". South African almost died at the age of two but after six years with the Ernie Els foundation he has announced himself in a major way, Last modified on Thu 21 May 2020 10.48 BST. At the same stage, he was emerging as a supremely talented golfer. "That stutter would eventually lead me to develop a severe case of anxiety," Bezuidenhout told the European Tour website after clinching the six-shot win at the Andalucia Masters last month which booked his spot this week at Royal Portrush. "He's one of those fellows who doesn't dwell on the past. Yet nothing the South African achieves in golf – and that may well be considerable – can arrive without acknowledgment of extraordinary circumstances. He has earned the right to lofty ambition. I said: ‘This is who I am and if you don’t like it then so be it. "I don't have the best memories from here. 12-15, 2019FinalTop 10 automatically qualifyUnited States . If Bezuidenhout keeps playing as well as he did on Tuesday, don't be surprised to see him on the leaderboard this week. “He is obviously a very successful golfer but he is a great human as well,” Bezuidenhout says of Els. I was two-and-a-half years old and I was playing outside when I picked up a random Coke bottle, I took a drink of it thinking it was indeed Coke, however it actually contained rat poison. “I grew up in a golfing family and when I started to walk I loved golf. Christiaan Bezuidenhout overcame a slow start to secure an “unreal” double on home soil with a commanding victory in the South African Open at Sun City. A superb 127 from debutant Rahmanullah Gurbaz helps Afghanistan to a 16-run win over Ireland in the first of their three one-day internationals. A berth has also been secured at Augusta National for his Masters debut, which will now be in November. He developed a stutter, which still exists though this charming 26-year-old is easily understandable. As children do, he lifted it up and drank. He lost in a play-off at the Dubai Desert Classic, won on the Sunshine Tour and posted two top-30 finishes in illustrious company on the. However, in 2014 he received the devastating news that he had failed a random drugs test undertaken two months earlier at the Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush. If you do that all the time, you will get nowhere. According to Bezuidenhout, it worked in dealing with his speech impediment. "I was basically just living in my own world because I was always scared of having to engage in conversation. A stammer that was caused when, as a two-year-old, the South African took a drink from a Coca-Cola bottle on the street at home not knowing it contained rat poison. Going into this year I was 92nd in the world so the Masters wasn’t really in my mind. 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