Southern Guards and Ripper GC set for next chapter in their rivalry

JOHANNESBURG– The Southern Guards GC versus Ripper GC rivalry is set to heat up as the Southern Guards will host the first-ever LIV Golf event on the continent of Africa. 

The Southern Hemisphere showdown between the all-South African team and all-Australian team has thus far been one-sided, with Ripper having won six times as a team on LIV Golf to the Southern Guards’ three. This season, Ripper began the season by winning back-to-back in Riyadh and on home soil in Adelaide. 

“I think we're all really determined to keep the momentum going,” said Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith. “I think it's obviously a lot of hard work to do that and something that we're trying to do. But at the moment, we're all playing really good golf. We feel confident.” 

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Although they haven’t finished on the podium yet this season, the Southern Guards are getting better each week and rounding into form at just the right time. Branden Grace began his season with back-to-back top 10’s in Riyadh and Adelaide, Louis Oosthuizen finished T8 in Hong Kong, Dean Burmester has finished in the top 10 in three of four starts, and while Charl Schwartzel hasn’t had the high-end finishes like his teammates, he’s finished in the top 30 of all four tournaments this year. 

“We know everybody has played some good golf,” said Grace. “We know that we're trending. So that is good. Obviously, the last couple of weeks Louis has really played well, Charl has been up there, Burmy has had three top 10s, I started off pretty decent this season, and we've been very solid."

The rivalry truly began at LIV Golf Adelaide in 2024, when the teams faced off in the league's first team playoff. On Ripper home turf, it boiled down to a sudden death playoff: Smith and Leishman against Oosthuizen and Burmester. Ripper pulled it out on the second extra hole, snatching the team title in front of the raucous Aussie crowd. If the two clubs find themselves duking it out at Steyn City, the Australians fully expect the partisan crowd to be rooting for the South Africans. 

“I think there's definitely motivation for the Southern Guards. Obviously getting beaten in a playoff, they probably are after revenge,” said Leishman. “What a great place to try and get it, here in their home country ... We're definitely excited to try and take it up to the Southern Guards, and I'm sure they're ready for a big week, as well.” 

That playoff represented a long-standing sporting rivalry between Australia and South Africa and set the stage for future battles between the prideful teams. 

“Being part of that playoff was one of the best things I've ever done in the game of golf, obviously not coming out on top,” reflected Burmester. “I think the first playoff hole – Louis and I say it all the time – we had our chances and didn't take it. But it was an amazing stadium kind of atmosphere. It was like any other sport you'd play anywhere in the world; I think rugby for us and cricket and such the rivalry against the Australians for so long has been something that's come through generations.” 

The rivalry extends beyond the golf course. While they have mutual respect, each nation wants to prove they have the best golf fan base in the world. 

“I'm not going to say much about Australia except you know we're going to have more people than Australia there” said Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie after the announcement of the event last summer. “To Australia's minister, my counterpart, the fight is on. The challenge is on.”

The challenge will be a steep one for South Africa. LIV Golf Adelaide has become the headliner of the LIV Golf season, and this season saw 115,000 fans attend the tournament across the week at The Grange Golf Club, making it the highest-attended golf event in Australian history. 

“We love the fact that we've got the best LIV tournament in the world, certainly in terms of crowd numbers,” said South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas after the historic event earlier this season. “But I can't tell you how excited I am that we've got some competition coming our way. South Africa is not too dissimilar to Australia. Here is a market that has produced some of the world's best golfers, and here is a market that's been underserved.” 

South Africa has responded by selling over 90,000 tickets so far for the week, which doesn’t include children under the age of 12, who’ll get in free.

While the teams are eager to beat each other, they are also connected by representing a distinctive region of golf fans that are some of the most knowledgeable and passionate fan bases in the world.  

“I'd expect [the fans] to get behind the Southern Guards the way that the Adelaide crowds have got behind the Ripper team the last couple of years,” said Lucas Herbert. “A really good, loyal, vocal fan base out here in South Africa. You see that across all the sports they excel in, whether it's rugby, cricket, they get right behind their national teams, and the Southern Guards really represent South Africa well at this point in the golfing scene, so I would imagine they would be pretty vocally behind them.” 

Both teams are extremely close off the golf course, with their relationships defined by their national pride as well as their drive to get better on the golf course.  

“I think we're all pretty cruisy, all pretty laid back,” said Smith. “But all extremely motivated to do better. We have a laugh in the team room, in dining, but once we get out on the golf course, even in practice rounds, we're all competitive, trying to make each other better. It's a really good team dynamic that we have and something that we're super proud of. But we're always trying to get better.”  

The Ripper boys have had the edge this season, but with a home course advantage and plenty of experience on South Africa’s unique agronomy, the Southern Guards are confident they’ll earn their first big blow in the rivalry this week.  

“We grew up with kikuyu grass,” Grace explained. “The rest of the field has probably never even seen it the way that we know it. It's immaculate. It's in awesome condition. Obviously, the weather has not played its part so much, but I think the weather for the week looks good, so the course is just going to get firmer, faster, better, but we're all in for a hell of a treat.” 

“Maybe this is all it needs, coming home, being in front of your home fans, being comfortable, and just having all our friends and family here,” Grace added. “Sometimes just being relaxed and having a good time is all it needs. I think everybody is in for a big treat this week.” 

Burmester, who finished runner-up in the 2022 Steyn City Championship, put it more bluntly: "Get the crowd get behind us, and we expect a lot of great things, and pretty sure the Aussies might have a slightly harder time than they do in Adelaide.”