Justin Adam Harding (born 9 February 1986) is a South African

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

Amateur career

Harding attended

Paul Roos Gymnasium Paul Roos Gymnasium is a leading public dual medium (Afrikaans & English) high school for boys in the town of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape province of South Africa, which opened on 1 March 1866 as Stellenbosch Gymnasium. Described as South A ...

in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and played college golf at

Lamar University Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and represented his country as an amateur golfer.

Professional career

Having graduated, he earned a place on the

Sunshine Tour The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern and East Africa. For much of its early history it was known either as the Southern Africa Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the F ...

at the first attempt, finishing third at the 2009

qualifying school In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

while still an amateur. He won a tournament in each of his first three seasons on the tour, 2010, 2011 and 2012. He won again in 2015 and 2016 and then twice in two weeks in 2018. In July 2018 Harding made a rare appearance outside Africa and won the Bank BRI Indonesia Open on the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf professional golf tours, tour in Asia except for Japan (which has its own Japan Golf Tour). It is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on ...

by a stroke from

Scott Vincent Scott Vincent (December 24, 1922 – May 31, 1979) was an American radio and television announcer and newscaster. Radio Scott Vincent was a staff announcer for nearly 25 years at ABC's flagship owned-and-operated station WABC-TV in New York. ...

. Two weeks later he won the

Royal Cup The Royal's Cup is a golf tournament on the Asian Tour, played in Thailand. It was played for the first time as a "special event" at the end of December 2017 at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club, Pattaya, Thailand. There was a field of 78 and ...

in Thailand by 6 strokes, his fourth win in three months. Alan Burns has caddied full time for Harding since October 2018. In March 2019, Harding got his first

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

victory by winning the

Commercial Bank Qatar Masters The Qatar Masters is a European Tour golf tournament held at Doha Golf Club in Doha, Qatar. When founded in 1998, it was one of two European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but was at one point, one of six. From 2005 to 2007 ...

by two strokes over nine runners-up. He was a joint runner-up in the

Kenya Open The Kenya Open, currently titled as the Magical Kenya Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament in Kenya founded in 1967. History The Kenya Open was an associate event on the Far East Circuit in 1967 and 1968, after which ...

the following week, a result that lifted him into the world top 50 and gave him an entry into the

2019 Masters Tournament The 2019 Masters Tournament was the 83rd edition of the Masters Tournament and the first of golf's four major championships in 2019, held between April 11 and 14 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Tiger Woods won his fifth gre ...

. He finished in a share of 12th place to earn his place at the

2020 Masters Tournament The 2020 Masters Tournament was the 84th edition of the Masters Tournament held at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The golf tournament was originally scheduled for April 9–12, 2020, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pa ...

. In March 2021, Harding shot a final-round 66 to win the

Magical Kenya Open The Kenya Open, currently titled as the Magical Kenya Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament in Kenya founded in 1967. History The Kenya Open was an associate event on the Far East Circuit in 1967 and 1968, after which ...

by two shots ahead of

Kurt Kitayama Kurt Shun Kitayama (born January 14, 1993) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. On the European Tour, he won the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in December 2018 and the Oman Open in March 2019. In March 2023, he won the Arno ...

Amateur wins

*2005 Sanlam Cape Province Open, Western Province Strokeplay Open, Vodacom North West Open *2006 Pilsner Urquell Southern Cape Open Champion

Professional wins (11)

European Tour wins (2)

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Asian Tour wins (2)

Sunshine Tour wins (7)

Sunshine Tour playoff record (2–2)

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Justin South African male golfers Sunshine Tour golfers European Tour golfers LIV Golf players Lamar Cardinals golfers Sportspeople from Somerset West Golfers from the Western Cape Golfers from Cape Town Alumni of Paul Roos Gymnasium White South African people 1986 births Living people 21st-century South African sportsmen