Kimberley-born pro golfer Jared du Toit has earned his Asian Tour Card following a 14th-place finish at the final stage of qualifying in Hua Hin, Thailand.
du Toit battled back after a slow start to get that solid finish. He was three-over par through the first two rounds of the gruelling five-round tournament, but made the first of two cuts and got hot in the third round, shooting a 63 and following it up with a 66 the next day. An even par 72 to close tidily put him into the top 35 players who got their Asian Tour cards.
“Yes that was very cool,” du Toit told the Bulletin. “I was playing well when I went over there, but opened with 2 fairly unimpressive rounds. I made a few putts early on round 3 and just tried to keep my foot on the gas for the rest of the event. It was a big relief as that event has 2 cuts. One after 36, and one after 72.
“Looking back, I was actually fairly close to missing the 36 hole cut, so going from there to contention on the back 9 on Sunday, was very cool. Q-Schools in general are exhausting weeks, but when it’s 35 C with humidity over the course of five rounds, it definitely adds to it.”
This is yet another big step forward in the career of the 28-year-old golfer. When last the Bulletin caught up with him, he had just earned a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Q-School final qualifier, which was held at the famous TPC Sawgrass in Florida.
READ MORE: Kimberley’s Jared du Toit earns spot in Korn Ferry Tour Q-School final qualifier
“Very cool experience, but definitely a learning experience,” he said. “I struggled a little bit on the style of course, but definitely learned a lot for the next time I’m there.”
While the 119th finish was not what he was looking for, du Toit has plenty of options open to him for high-calibre golf in 2024, although he is still a bit unclear on what his full status on the Asian Tour gets him. Specifically, he would like to know if it will get him into the tour’s International Series events.
Either way, du Toit figures he will be able to get between 12 to 16 events on the Asian tour. This will entail a lot of travelling, as the Asian Tour has events all over the Middle East, Asia and in New Zealand this year.
“Travel is very much a double edged sword,” du Toit said. “It is great, and I love seeing all these new places. The downside is long flights and a very volatile sleep schedule, that can be tough on your body after a couple weeks on the road. I love it, and am very excited to hit the road this year. I am really excited for New Zealand this year! Hopefully I can sneak into the Morocco event as well.”
Before his globetrotting year began, du Toit made it home to Kimberley to spend the holidays with friends and family.
“I was in Kimberley for a week over Christmas, but unfortunately wasn’t able to get any skiing or skating in,” he said. “We did jump in St. Mary lake, and the flume though which got some blood pumping a bit. I do prefer skiing and skating much more though, for the record.”
du Toit said he is very appreciative of everyone here at home in Kimberley who follows along with his career and supports him along the way.
Next on the schedule is two qualifiers in Florida for Korn Ferry Tour events that take place in Argentina and Chile later this winter.
In terms of goals for this exciting year to come, du Toit had this to say:
“I just want to play the best I can this year. I would love to try and get into a major championship this year. I was close to the US Open a couple years ago, and that’s a itch that I really want to scratch. I would love to get a win this year as well. In this game winning solves a lot of things, so that is a big goal of mine.”