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Player Profiles: James Kamte

These days, James Kamte is a regular campaigner on the Sunshine, Asian and European Tour, but it took South Africa more than three decades to produce a young black international campaigner. It was 32 years before Kamte followed in the footsteps of 1976 French Open winner Vincent Tshabalala and made it onto the European Tour circuit in 2008.

James Bongani Kamte hails from Queenstown in the Eastern Cape. An outstanding young footballer, who still carries the nickname ‘Cobra’ from his football days, Kamte turned to golf when he was learned that he wouldn’t make the provincial soccer side.  He was taken in by a family in St Francis and received a bursary through several Golf clubs in the St Francis area.

A former member of the Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation, Kamte played for Central Gauteng U23 and Seniors before he earned his Sunshine Tour card with a fourth place finish at the 2003/2004 Vusi Ngobeni Development Strokeplay Qualifier. He recorded his maiden professional victory at the 2007 Seekers Travel Pro-Am and became the first black South African to win on the Sunshine Tour’s lucrative summer swing when he came from behind to beat reigning SA Open champion James Kingston by five shots at the 2008 Dimension Data Pro-Am at Sun City. Later that year he also won the Highveld Classic and finished his season in 22nd spot.

In qualifying for the 2008 European Tour, Kamte also became the first black South African player to earn full playing privileges since Tshabalala. He struggled to adjust in Europe and finished 138th, which meant limited starts in 2009. He made a decision to try and qualify for the Asian Tour instead and won the 2009 Asian Tour Invitational in his very first start. His 2009 season was further sweetened by an invitation from Jack Nicklaus to compete in the Memorial Tournament. He qualified for his maiden major appearance at the US Open at Bethpage Black course through sectional qualifying in Columbus, Ohio and was invited by Tiger Woods to play a practice round during the US Open.

At the start of 2011, Kamte had won three times on the Sunshine Tour and finished inside the top 20 on the final Order of Merit for the last three successive seasons (11, 16, 12). Much was expected from his second try to Europe, but shortly after the start of the season, his campaign suffered a serious setback after a surfing accident left him with injuries to his right knee and wrist.

He currently ranks 53rd on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, which is also his lowest ranking since his rookie season in 2004, but Kamte is back to his winning ways. He won the Kenya Open in August and followed with his fourth Sunshine Tour victory at the BMG Classic at Glendower in October, where he carded a final round 64 to get into a play-off with Dawie van der Walt and took the title at the first extra hole.