15 Things You Didn't Know About Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Get to know the South African star a little better...

15 Things You Didn't Know About Christiaan Bezuidenhout

1. Bezuidenhout was born in Delmas, Mpumalanga, which is a small town to the east of Johannesburg. He started playing golf when he was four years old as he grew up next to Delmas Golf Course.

2. His father was a scratch golfer

3. When his talent started to become more obvious, he joined The Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation and learned from the Big Easy for six years. He [Els] has played a massive part in my golf over the years,” Bezuidenhout told Golf Monthly. “He helped me a lot financially. He was always someone who I looked up to growing up and playing the game.”

4. Bezuidenhout was poisoned at the age of two when he picked up a Coke can in the street and drank from it. The can actually had rat poison in it. Speaking of the incident the golfer said; "The hospital had to pump my whole stomach to get rid of all the poison, but the poison affected the whole nervous system in my body, and one of the long term effects of this led to me having a stutter. That stutter would eventually lead me to develop a severe case of anxiety."

5. To help deal with his stutter and anxiety he took beta blockers which lead to him testing positive in a dugs test back in 2014 at the Amateur Championship. Despite admitting to the medication before the test, Bezuidenhout was banned for two years but the suspension was reduced to nine months.

6. “I just practised and played non-stop for nine months,” he told Golf Monthly on his ban. He then went on to win in his first start back.

7. Christiaan turned pro in 2015 and won the Big Easy Tour Order of Merit in that year after winning his first two professional titles

8. He won the 2017 Sunshine Tour Rookie of the Year award, known as the Bobby Locke Trophy

9. In 2017 he placed 25th at the season-ending European Tour Q-School to earn his card for the 2018 season. He made 20 of 26 cuts in that subsequent season to guarantee his 2019 card.

10. In 2019 he had his first European Tour victory at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters which he won by six strokes from Jon Rahm.

11. He won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in 2020/21 after winning back-to-back Sunshine/European Tour co-sanctioned events at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and South African Open

12. He finished a career-best 7th in the 2020 Race to Dubai thanks to those victories in South Africa as well as a 2nd at the Dubai Desert Classic, where he lost in a playoff to Australia's Lucas Herbert

13. He is signed to Callaway and plays a full bag of their clubs.

Related: Christiaan Bezuidenhout What's in the bag?

14. According to his European Tour bio, his favourite actor is Sylvester Stallone and when he was younger he had the nickname Rambo.

15. He is a Chelsea fan and regularly stays up to date with how the South African rugby team are getting on as well.