{"id":17835,"date":"2013-02-06T12:56:02","date_gmt":"2013-02-06T10:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/swedish-golfer-instills-hope-ahead-of-joburg-open\/"},"modified":"2013-02-06T12:56:02","modified_gmt":"2013-02-06T10:56:02","slug":"swedish-golfer-instills-hope-ahead-of-joburg-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/swedish-golfer-instills-hope-ahead-of-joburg-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Swedish golfer instills hope ahead of Joburg Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t \"Swedish<\/a><\/p>\n

Swedish professional Joel Sj\u00f6holm joined several European Tour and Sunshine Tour professionals at a golf development clinic ahead of this week\u2019s Joburg Open. Photo: Sunshine Tour<\/p>\n

JOHANNESBURG \u2013 Swedish professional Joel Sj\u00f6holm has no idea what it\u2019s like to live in a shack, or to feed an entire family on a loaf of bread. But as an adopted child, he does understand the concept of hope.<\/p>\n

At the Alexandra Driving Range in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Sj\u00f6holm joined several other European Tour and Sunshine Tour professionals in a golf development clinic for disadvantaged children from four local schools.<\/p>\n

It was an opportunity for Sj\u00f6holm to live out his passion for children with similar stories to his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose I\u2019m a little different to most professional golfers who do these clinics because I know where I would\u2019ve been in life if I wasn\u2019t adopted. I was born in Chile but adopted by Swedish parents when I was three months old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an honour for me to get parents who have taken me as one of their own. I\u2019ve always felt like I was their son and they have given me so much love.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like being with kids who have a similar background, and for me to be able to give back to these kids is fantastic. I want to open my own golf academy one day and use golf to change the lives of kids around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The children were brought from Alex High School, Realogile High School, East Bank High School and Lyndhurst Primary School to spend time with the pros going through the basics of the swing.<\/p>\n

Rookie professional Jonathan Raphunga, who played in two previous Joburg Opens as an amateur before turning professional this year, certainly appreciated being part of the clinic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something I never experienced when I was learning the game. I didn\u2019t have a professional teach me a few basics, so it\u2019s gratifying knowing I can impart my knowledge on somebody and they can benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boitumelo Motsepe, a 17-year-old learner from Realogile High School, thoroughly enjoyed the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf brings a lot of unity in people. You meet a lot of people and discover things about yourself. Golf teaches you who you are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s no doubt who she will be following in this week\u2019s Joburg Open, which tees off at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favourite South African golfer is Charl Schwartzel. He\u2019s a great golfer and is passionate about what he does. He\u2019s very determined and inspires me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swedish professional Joel Sj\u00f6holm joined several European Tour and Sunshine Tour professionals at a golf development clinic ahead of this week\u2019s Joburg Open. Photo: Sunshine Tour JOHANNESBURG \u2013 Swedish professional Joel Sj\u00f6holm has no idea what it\u2019s like to live in a shack, or to feed an entire family on a loaf of bread. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[3258,830,885],"class_list":{"0":"post-17835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-mysport","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-sport","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}