I bumped into the great John Bland down at Fancourt this week. As usual he was drinking coffee and puffing on a cigarette.
He told me his grand kids nag him incessantly about the habit and he might even give it up.
He told me that in the whole of his career he only pulled out of four tournaments because of sickness or injury.
Maybe the smokes were good for his genetic make-up. Or maybe he was just lucky.
We chatted about the day I played with him and had a hole-in-one at Ruimsig.
We chatted about legends like Hobday and McNulty, Price and Johnstone.
We compared notes on family and, like all grandparents, we solved the problems of the world.
He told me that the secret of his success was that he genuinely loved playing golf.
It was never a job.
On his days off from the tour he would play with his mates.
He had stories about priests in Ireland and dogs getting hoisted, by mistake, to the top of railway crossings.
We talked about his beloved Blue Bulls and Joost. We talked of cabbages and kings.
What a career he had.
I then asked him if he was playing in the Dimension Data Pro-Am, the reason for my being in Fancourt. His reply was fabulous. He said he gets asked and would love to play but that his presence would prevent a young professional getting a start. He felt that would be wrong so he politely declines. His turn is over.
What a golfer! What a man!
I drew and played with just such a player in the tournament. He is a young pro from Cape Town, 24 years old, and he is part of the recent Gary Player initiative to speed up transformation in golf.
He told me that as a kid, he had played rugby at school but that a classmate had suffered a serious injury.
Hockey became his passion. He was very good and had ambitions to play at the top level.
We spoke about Sascoc and the lunacy of preventing our hockey teams from playing at the Rio Olympics even though they qualified.
This is a previously disadvantaged kid who loves hockey with a passion undying, who moved into golf because he did not see a future in the team sport.
If SA were going to the Olympics maybe he would have stayed.
Madness, but there you are!
The kid played solid, lipped out on countless birdie putts and finished just above par. He is making his way through the pack in perhaps the most competitive sport in the world.
In the past I played with other promising youngsters in a similar situation.
I played with Els, Immelman, Grace and Stone before they were household names. I recently played with Burmester and Frittelli.
What is it that makes some players rise above the average in a sport where anyone who even makes professional is, by definition, outstanding?
I chatted to the local caddies, the worst paid professionals in the world. As usual they were fun and enthusiastic about the event, despite their never-ending battle with poverty and uncertainty.
At least golf has given them jobs, albeit ones full of uncertainty.
When is somebody going to come up with a model that increases caddie pay without causing golfers to resort to carts? Surely advertising is the answer and clubs at least paying transport costs to caddies who might not get a bag on a particular day.
What a week. What a tournament. What a time to think about people and all sorts of issues in a truly beautiful place.
PS: Remember the name Dwayne Basson.
*Robbie is a former British Lions, Ireland and Transvaal scrumhalf