In 1882, the German mathematician Ferdinand Von Lindemann concluded that the number pi is transcendental. With this demonstration, he solved one of the classic problems of Greek geometry. The squaring of the circle does not exist. It is mathematically impossible. Fortunately, sport is not just numbers, and Casey Jarvis (-14) has proven today that in golf, it does exist. His fabulous victory at the South African Open in Stellenbosch is the true squaring of the circle.
Jarvis closed this Sunday the best week of his life. He will hardly be able to match it. Seven days ago, he achieved the first victory of his career in Kenya at the Magical Kenya Open, and today he can already shout from the rooftops that he has two wins. His particular squaring of the circle comes from everything he has achieved today.
To begin with, he has won the South African Open, the most important and exciting tournament, beyond the Majors, that a South African golfer can conquer. A tournament that has the added value of being one of the oldest of all time, as the first edition was held in 1903.
Moreover, with the victory, he has qualified to play the first Masters at Augusta of his career next April. The winner of this national open, as happened with Marco Penge in Spain or Rasmus Neergaard Petersen in Australia, had this extra prize reserved.
The other two Open spots for Laporta and Lacroix
As if that were not enough, he has also secured a ticket to play the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale next July. He was not yet qualified. The South African Open granted spots to the top three in the standings who were not already exempt. Along with Jarvis, Francesco Laporta and Frederic Lacroix have achieved it. Hennie du Plessis missed out on the Open with a bogey on the last hole after inexplicably going into the water, considering he no longer had a chance to win. He finished tied with Lacroix, and the spot goes to the Frenchman due to a better world ranking.
The squaring of the circle is called the PGA Championship. With this victory at the Stellenbosch Golf Club, Jarvis is going to be around the 90th position in the world ranking, which puts him well on his way to qualifying for the Aronimink Golf Club. At 22 years old, he is going to quickly settle his particular Grand Slam of participations in the Majors. To date, the only one he had played was the 2024 US Open, where he missed the cut. With all due respect, Mr. Von Lindemann, is this not a true squaring of the circle?
Jarvis also demonstrated today in South Africa that winning tournaments two by two has become fashionable on the DP World Tour. What used to be a rare occurrence has become an extraordinary habit this season. Jayden Schaper did it, Patrick Reed did it too, and now Jarvis has achieved it. Three different players in just eleven weeks. Moreover, Schaper and Jarvis have done it consecutively, which is already a true rarity.
The truth is that Jarvis dominated the final day from start to finish. Confidence does wonders. He had to put himself in several situations to win the first one, and now he has added the second as if he already had 10 victories in his career.
He started by sinking a putt of about ten metres on the 1st hole to mark his territory. Then he hit a great shot on the 4th to add another birdie and repeated success on the 5th. With this powerful start, similar to that of seven days ago in Kenya, he took command of operations and sent a message to Du Plessis and Laporta, who were closest and had the best chances of challenging him.
The key to his triumph, the coup de grâce, came on holes 11 and 12. He had just made a bogey on the 10th, his only moment of doubt that tightened things up in the standings. Immediately afterwards, he missed the tee shot on the 11th, and his ball ended up deep in the rough. He got it out as best he could onto the fairway and made a few metres, but he still had a long third shot on this par 4. His wedge was spectacular. He left it a metre away and saved par. Then he did the same on the 12th, a par 5, and made the birdie. Game over.
He could still have slightly opened the door on the 16th hole, missing his tee shot again into the trees, leaving his second shot at the front of the green and executing a third that went too far. However, he made the return putt from about four metres with a right-to-left break. What a way to putt. Now, it’s over. Three bogeys in the whole tournament. Victory for Jarvis (-14), with a three-shot lead over Laporta, Lacroix, and Du Plessis (-11). The magnificent final surge of Eddie Pepperell (-10), with 64 strokes, took him to fifth place, out of the Open, although with a very rich haul of points in his goal to save his card in the Race to Dubai.
Two top 10 finishes for Spanish golf
As for the Spaniards, they never really got into the battle for victory. The few chances that Ángel Ayora (-7), Rafa Cabrera Bello (-7), and Alex del Rey (-6) had, starting five and six shots behind the leader, practically vanished on the first hole. Ayora started with a double bogey, and Cabrera Bello and del Rey made bogeys. Even so, the effort of the three to finish playing under par, improving as they went, must be appreciated.
Ayora and Rafa achieved a valuable top 10, the third consecutive for the Andalusian and the first for the Canary Islander since the Irish Open in September last year. Ángel is now 16th in the Race, moving up one position, and takes another step towards the top 100 in the world, although he has not yet achieved it. Rafa and Alex are among the top 50 in the Race to Dubai. Finally, Manu Elvira (-1) finished in 50th place. Today he shot 69.
