The 2023 AGC Mid-Am Player of the Year: Altin Van Der Merwe
12/26/2023 | by AmateurGolf.com Staff
If you don't live in South Africa, you may not know the name, but check out this resume (starting with 30+ rounds in the 60s!)
After a year that saw him post an eye-popping string of low scores both in his native South Africa and beyond, Altin Van Der Merwe is the AmateurGolf.com Mid-Amateur Player of the Year.
The AmateurGolf.com Mid-Amateur Player of the Year is awarded based on a point system earned through performance in major amateur events throughout the course of the year. Though some may debate who is the best mid-amateur playing today -- Stewart Hagestad and Matthew McClean (not coincidentally the last two winners of the award) are usually most mentioned -- the POY is all about who had the best year. And this year Van Der Merwe ran up the score.
Check out these numbers: Van Der Merwe earned points in 17 rankings points events, posting a tour-like stroke average of 69.6 in 57 rounds of golf(!). Over half of his rounds (30) were in the 60s. He won five times in South Africa (though only 3 counted toward the AGC player-of-the-year points race), and finished the season as the No. 1 player in South Africa per GolfRSA.
Unlike his challengers in the points race, Van Der Merwe did not tee it up in a single mid-amateur event. In ten South African events that count toward the points race, Van Der Merwe had three wins, two runner-ups, two other top 10s, and two other top 20s. His worst finish was a T27.
In his first year representing South Africa's national team abroad, Van Der Merwe impressed in four of Europe's biggest events, with a runner-up finish in the Scottish Open Amateur, a T10 finish in the Brabazon Trophy, a T12 in the St Andrews Links Trophy, and a Final 32 finish in the British Amateur.
He also represented South Africa alongside top-10 world-ranked Christo Lamprecht and Christiaan Maas in the World Amateur Team Championship in Abu Dhabi in October, helping the team to its best finish since 1982.
Van Der Merwe also got his first taste of professional golf, finishing 30th in the Sunshine Tour's Fortress Invitational before being the only amateur to make the cut in the South African Open in November, besting his national teammates Lamprecht and Maas and others, and taking home the Freddie Tait Cup. In so doing, he joined a legendary group of South Africans including Bobby Locke, Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman.
"What an incredible honor it is to join some of the greats of the game," Van Der Merwe told the media after the round. And even after a consistently great year, the experience taught him that there is still another level to strive for.
"I'd love to know what other courses are like on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, because I have never played anything this tough or this long," he said. "I've learned that I need to be more precise. On every putt, every drive – everything I do. It doesn’t matter what shape you hit or whether you’re coming out of the fairway or the rough, you must be precise because there is very little margin for error. It’s a lot tougher out here."
The natural next move for the former Nelson Mandela University student would be to turn professional, and he hinted at such a move in a 2021 TV interview when he was a much lower-ranked amateur than he is now. On the other hand, it is less common to see a mid-amateur turn pro and so many doors are now open for him in the amateur game.
Either way, you'll want to remember the name.
Last year's Mid-Amateur Player of the Year Matthew McClean had another great year, finishing as the runner-up in the points race and once again registering high finishes all over the world. He too played in the World Amateur Team, for Ireland, and finished 8th in Abu Dhabi. In America, he made a run all the way to the semifinals in the Western Amateur and made match play in the U.S. Amateur. In the run-up to his first Masters appearance, McClean had nice finishes in the Jones Cup and Azalea Invitational. And, he earned points in England, South Africa, Spain, and Ireland.
Related: Amateur Golf Podcast: The first Irishman to win a USGA amateur event, Matt McClean
Gregor Tait of Scotland finished No. 3 in the standings, followed by three-time Mid-Am POY Stewart Hagestad.
Hagestad had the single best month of any mid-am in 2023, whose September included helping Team USA retain the Walker Cup at St. Andrews, winning his third U.S. Mid-Amateur to earn return trips to the Masters and U.S. Open, and winning the Crump Cup at Pine Valley for the first time. If he played more, he might have gotten his fourth POY, but it may just be a matter of time.
Evan Beck, who finished runner-up in the U.S. Mid-Amateur and the Coleman at Seminole, rounded out the top five in the standings.
The AmateurGolf.com Mid-Amateur Player of the Year is awarded based on a point system earned through performance in major amateur events throughout the course of the year. Though some may debate who is the best mid-amateur playing today -- Stewart Hagestad and Matthew McClean (not coincidentally the last two winners of the award) are usually most mentioned -- the POY is all about who had the best year. And this year Van Der Merwe ran up the score.
In his first year representing South Africa's national team abroad, Van Der Merwe impressed in four of Europe's biggest events, with a runner-up finish in the Scottish Open Amateur, a T10 finish in the Brabazon Trophy, a T12 in the St Andrews Links Trophy, and a Final 32 finish in the British Amateur.
He also represented South Africa alongside top-10 world-ranked Christo Lamprecht and Christiaan Maas in the World Amateur Team Championship in Abu Dhabi in October, helping the team to its best finish since 1982.
Van Der Merwe also got his first taste of professional golf, finishing 30th in the Sunshine Tour's Fortress Invitational before being the only amateur to make the cut in the South African Open in November, besting his national teammates Lamprecht and Maas and others, and taking home the Freddie Tait Cup. In so doing, he joined a legendary group of South Africans including Bobby Locke, Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman.
"What an incredible honor it is to join some of the greats of the game," Van Der Merwe told the media after the round. And even after a consistently great year, the experience taught him that there is still another level to strive for.
"I'd love to know what other courses are like on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, because I have never played anything this tough or this long," he said. "I've learned that I need to be more precise. On every putt, every drive – everything I do. It doesn’t matter what shape you hit or whether you’re coming out of the fairway or the rough, you must be precise because there is very little margin for error. It’s a lot tougher out here."
The natural next move for the former Nelson Mandela University student would be to turn professional, and he hinted at such a move in a 2021 TV interview when he was a much lower-ranked amateur than he is now. On the other hand, it is less common to see a mid-amateur turn pro and so many doors are now open for him in the amateur game.
Either way, you'll want to remember the name.
Final Mid-Amateur Ranking, 2023
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Related: Amateur Golf Podcast: The first Irishman to win a USGA amateur event, Matt McClean
Gregor Tait of Scotland finished No. 3 in the standings, followed by three-time Mid-Am POY Stewart Hagestad.
Hagestad had the single best month of any mid-am in 2023, whose September included helping Team USA retain the Walker Cup at St. Andrews, winning his third U.S. Mid-Amateur to earn return trips to the Masters and U.S. Open, and winning the Crump Cup at Pine Valley for the first time. If he played more, he might have gotten his fourth POY, but it may just be a matter of time.
Evan Beck, who finished runner-up in the U.S. Mid-Amateur and the Coleman at Seminole, rounded out the top five in the standings.
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