Teen sensation Casey ready for the pros

● Casey Jarvis displayed his talents and a glimpse of his potential at the Joburg Open last weekend, but the 19-year-old is still a work in progress, says dad Kevin.

Jarvis is a naturally aggressive player who can score birdies and eagles as easily as he can drop shots.

For sheer entertainment value he resembles one-time world middleweight boxing champion Rocky Graziano, who invariably knocked ‘em out or got knocked out.

Jarvis played the third round at Houghton like a rollercoaster ride during which he briefly led amid a fist-pumping opening run of birdie, birdie and eagle.

Then came a speed wobble with bogeys on the fourth and seventh and a double drop on the ninth after hitting his tee shot into the water; the golfer punctuated his disappointment by slapping the head of his club into the ground.

He wears his emotions like clothes. “I used to throw clubs,” Casey admitted. “I was young, very young. I calmed down a lot. But I’m still going to be upset if I hit a bad shot. It’s just the way I play the game … I used to think the more upset I got with myself the quicker I can forget about it and just move and go make some birdies.”

His challenge now is trying to curtail aggression without losing too many scoring opportunities.

“They [the professionals] hit it 15 feet left or right of the flag and they trust their putting to score, whereas Casey is trying to hit to five foot every time so in a sense he is still playing amateur golf,” said Kevin, a former caddie who is the club manager at State Mines in Brakpan.

“But he’s learning. We had a chat on Sunday night to curb his aggression, but will he still make all these birdies and eagles? It’ sa Catch 22 right now.”

Jarvis missed the cut at the SA Open on the beast that is Blair Atholl, but from Thursday he tackles Leopard Creek, the scene of his most memorable amateur triumph early this year, the African amateur championships.

It was a course on which he’d struggled previously until reining in his desire to attack every green.

“My normal game plan is aggressive,” said Casey, who was given a sponsor’s invitation into the Alfred Dunhill Championship by Johann Rupert. “I changed it a bit that week. A lot of the par fives I didn’t go for in two, laid up in most of them …

“You have to come up with a game plan and stick with it for the week. I went with a game plan and I stuck with it the whole week, no matter what situation I was in. It worked out perfectly.”

Jarvis, a member of the SA team that won the Junior World Cup in 2018, was also talented at soccer as a kid.

“He started hitting balls about three, but he was more into his soccer [then]. I started coaching their under-six team.

He played up until 11,” said Kevin, who named his son after Kasey Keller, the American goalkeeper of his favourite EPL team, Tottenham Hotspurs.

Casey earned age-group provincial colin ours and even attracted the attention of a PSL scout. But Kevin remembers the day Casey chucked in the soccer, soon after they’d returned from Scotland where he’d won a golf tournament.

“We’d lost 4-2 to Alberton, which was a strong club. The defence let us down. He went ‘that’s it’, he wants to be on his own and he only wants to play golf.”

Casey was a natural at golf, finishing third his first tournament around five years old, shooting 48 over nine holes.

In 2010 Kevin took Casey to a junior tournament in San Diego. “I was so shocked. They had full sets of clubs, but we arrived there with five clubs in our bag. I thought Casey only needed a sand wedge, pitching wedge, nine iron and a driver [and putter]. He came 13th.”

Casey, whose longest drive was 420 metres at ERPM in winter and downwind, although at the coast he averages 260m, likes to watch YouTube videos of Tiger Woods playing before tournaments and rounds, something he’s made a ritual of this year.

“I’ve always been a big Tiger fan. I want to get more mature on the golf course … not to be exactly like Tiger, but see what aspects of his game I can possibly take into mine.”

He’s still learning, but he’s not making his maiden professional win a distant target. “I’m not playing tournaments to finish second. Even now, I’m playing to win.”

I’m not playing tournaments to finish second. Even now, I’m playing to win