Overview
"Papwa Sewgolum acquired his first golf: club a roughly hewn wooden stick, when he was just seven years old and spent hours hitting an old golf ball into a tin can buried in his back yard." "From these humble beginnings the impoverished and illiterate Papwa came to dominate South African non-white golf in the 1950s and 1960s. The governments apartheid policies meant he was barred from playing in white tournaments and his remarkable talent was denied recognition. The Graham Wulff, inventor of Oil of Olay personally flew him to Europe where Papwa won the prestigious Dutch Open in 1959 (and again in 1960 and 1964)." For a short period the South African government gave permission for him to compete with whites and despite his non-conforming wrong arm grip he won the Natal Open twice on one occasion dramatically beating the great Gary Player. But Papwa was soon banned from playing in tournaments with whites, forcibly moved from his home under the Group Areas Act, and unable to sustain his career died penniless as an alcoholic.Synopsis
"Papwa Sewgolum acquired his first golf: club a roughly hewn wooden stick, when he was just seven years old and spent hours hitting an old golf ball into a tin can buried in his back yard." "From these humble beginnings the impoverished and illiterate Papwa came to dominate South African non-white golf in the 1950s and 1960s. The governments apartheid policies meant he was barred from playing in white tournaments and his remarkable talent was denied recognition. The Graham Wulff, inventor of Oil of Olay personally flew him to Europe where Papwa won the prestigious Dutch Open in 1959 (and again in 1960 and 1964)." For a short period the South African government gave permission for him to compete with whites and despite his non-conforming wrong arm grip he won the Natal Open twice on one occasion dramatically beating the great Gary Player. But Papwa was soon banned from playing in tournaments with whites, forcibly moved from his home under the Group Areas Act, and unable to sustain his career died penniless as an alcoholic.