The US Open has always prided itself on identifying the great golfers in the game. But this week at Brookline, it has given us something more. It has given us one of the great stories in the game.
SA’s MJ Daffue went into the weekend just four shots off the lead. It could’ve been better for Daffue through 36 holes of this Major. He was in complete control on Friday and breathing that rarefied air at the top of a US Open leaderboard before a back nine of 40 dragged him down again.
That’s hardly a surprise at a US Open, and those kinds of setbacks are nothing new to Daffue.
After only recently securing his PGA Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour and following a backbreaking few years of Monday qualifying that earned him cult status as the ultimate grinder in the game, Daffue is starting to see the light at the end of what has been a sometimes very dark tunnel.
Very few of the terrors a US Open holds can match the real-life challenges this golfer raised in Pretoria has had to overcome.
He’s been on the brink of financial collapse several times while chasing his dream. He’s suffered personal tragedy with the death of his mother-in-law in a freak accident when she tripped on a street and was struck by a car. And he has suffered deeply from depression.
Yet here he is on the weekend of the US Open, coming through 36 holes well-placed on a leaderboard that was indeed identifying the best in the game.
At a time when world golf is fractured and the professionals are drawing lines in the Saudi sand among themselves, the top three players on the Official World Golf Ranking — Scottie Scheffler, John Rahm and Rory McIlroy — made their own statement as they went into the weekend all within two strokes of the lead.
Collin Morikawa went into the weekend tied for the lead and at the age of 25 is chasing the third Major of the exclusive Grand Slam.
In contrast, the majority of the inaugural LIV Golf field the week before missed the cut. If Greg Norman’s aim to position the LIV Golf events right before the biggest weeks on the traditional golf calendar was to try and undermine these events, it has actually presented two very different sides to the game.
And at a time when self-interest in the game — for whatever reason and whatever defence — is threatening its entire structure, Daffue’s US Open journey has provided a gripping alternative.
Much like the punishing rough that is a feature of all US Open venues, the most demanding Major has always asked the most pressing question of its champions — what lies beneath?
Daffue knows the answer because he’s been down to those personal depths and lived it. And he has come to Brookline with a possible answer not just for himself, but for where the game of golf now finds itself.
When asked by the media to identify a possible turnaround in his life, he replied: “I would say the moment was when I stopped focusing on myself and started focusing on other people, and I’m not just talking about golf. I’m talking about away from golf too. Like serving other people, you know, trying to add value to their lives.
“The world is crazy out there, and I feel like you have to make mistakes to know what it feels like so you know what the great feels like too. I think that’s why I can appreciate things now because I know what it feels like to be at the bottom. I’m not saying I’m at the top, but this is not the bottom, so it’s very good.”
The world is crazy out there.
But for one South African golfer this week, it’s starting to seem a little less crazy with every step he takes away from the bottom where he began.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.