Blast from the past: Gary Player rolls back the clock to win US Masters

1957 — Boxer Ewart Potgieter, the giant farmer who stood 2.18m tall (7ft 2in), is easily outpointed over 10 rounds by John Holman in Portland, US. Potgieter outweighed the American by 55kg and was taller by 27cm, but he hardly landed a punch. Holman stuck close to Potgieter, attacking the body with such ferocity that by the eighth round the visitor’s stomach and sides were covered in red welts. Potgieter was suspended by American boxing on medical grounds after that fight and never fought again, retiring with a record of 11 wins, all inside the distance, two losses and a draw. Chicago-based Holman was a useful fighter, boasting a win over former world heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles.

1978 — Gary Player, at the age of 42, stages a spectacular comeback to win his third US Masters crown. Seven shots behind third-round leader Hubert Green, Player fired an eight-under-par 64 to clinch a one-stroke victory. He is on fire on the back nine, carding 30 as he nails a series of tricky putts, including one of more than four metres on the 18th for a birdie. Player, with an 11-under-par 278, had to wait for the groups behind him to finish, but in the end he was one shot better than US Open champion Green, defending champion Tom Watson and Rod Funseth. Player pocketed $45,000 for this triumph, the last of his nine major titles.

2000 — Stand-in skipper Shaun Bartlett and Jabu Pule score as a second-string Bafana Bafana beat Lesotho 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Maseru.

2002 — Spinner Nicky Boje takes 5/21 as the Proteas finally defeat the high-riding Australians in the seventh and final ODI at Newlands by 65 runs on Duckworth-Lewis. In a rain-shortened match, Graeme Smith made 73 from 78 balls as South Africa reached 249/7 in 39 overs, with the target calculated at 251. The visitors won the series 5-1.

2005 — Makhaya Ntini finishes with six wickets as South Africa bowl out the West Indies for 347 on the second day of the second Test in Port of Spain.

2005 — Lonell de Beer takes 3/10 and Alicia Smith 3/22 as the South African women bowl out the West Indies for 90 on their way to winning the third and final ODI in Pretoria by 10 wickets, though they lost the series 1-2. Cri-Zelda Brits made an unbeaten 62.

2006 — Ryk Neethling departs Shanghai as one of the stars of the world short-course championships, having won three gold medals in the 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 100m individual medley. Suzaan Van Biljon won the country’s only other medal, the 100m breaststroke silver.

2009 — The Proteas take a 2-1 lead in the five-ODI series as they beat Australia by 25 runs at Newlands. AB de Villiers (80) and Jacques Kallis (70) were the backbone of the South African knock of 289/6. Roelof van der Merwe took 3/37 in his 10 overs as the South Africa bowlers restricted the Australians to 264/7.

2024 — African champions Banyana Banyana are held to a 0-0 draw by Nigeria in the second leg of their final 2024 Olympic qualifier at Loftus Versfeld, going down 0-1 on aggregate. Banyana had played at the 2019 and 2023 World Cup tournaments as well as the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

2024 — Tazmin Brits scores 116 in the opening ODI against Sri Lanka in East London, but the match is rained out with the visitors on 23/0 chasing 271 for victory.