20 Year-old Caylum Boon was born in Johannesburg. He enjoys staying active, working out and living a healthy lifestyle.He does however keep a good balance and is not opposed to satisfying his sweet-tooth by whipping up a scrumptious cake every now and again. He has a lighthearted attitude and doesn’t take life too seriously. Caylum inherited his father’s love for sport and golf – his Dad founded KeNako Golf & Sports Academy in 2009. He enrolled at KeNako as a 14 year old in Grade 9 and 2018 is his 7th year as part of the academy programme. After finishing school and his Cambridge Education at Rundle College the end of 2015, Caylum has been enrolled as a School Leaver student. He has diligently followed the golf programme, working hard to attain his goals, whilst setting a great example to his peers and fellow KeNako students. His ultimate goal is to become a professional golfer; he sees himself winning tournaments and majors and playing so successfully that he can make a good living as a touring professional.
His father, Ron Boon, introduced him to sport at a very young age and golf is one of the games that he learnt how to play. With the fast-paced city lifestyle in Johannesburg he did not have time to pursue his passion, but moving to the beautiful Garden Route region allowed him and his twin brother Aidan Boon to pursue the game. In his last year in Johannesburg he had, when time permitted, enjoyed playing Little Kids golf. If his memory serves him correctly he was 9 when he competed in the Oubaai Club Champs for the first time. Fast forward a few years to 2018 – the second consecutive year that Caylum has been awarded Oubaai Player of the Year – his hard work is paying off!
His goals are to improve his game, get his green blazer (if he remains amateur) and win an international tournament. Caylum is wanting to travel to Europe to compete in European Qualifying School with the hopes of becoming a European Tour player by the end of the year. Amongst his many victories, Caylum has won 2 National tournaments, winning the Eastern Province Stroke Play at Humewood in 2016 and successfully defending the title in 2017 when he shot a final round 65. Other accomplishments include finishing 2nd in the SA Amateur Championship in 2017, representing the SAGA Junior Team at Challenge IPT (2015) and winning both the U19 IPT (2015) and the Men’s IPT (2016) with the Southern Cape team. He represented Southern Cape at all age group levels from U12 through U19 and at a senior level.
He enjoys attending the academy and believes he follows a great programme with excellent coaching, really good facilities and friendly people. He enjoys the fact that everyone is happy, which creates a positive environment to stay and train in. He values the personalised coaching and being able to enjoy great relationships with his coaches, allowing him to enjoy a bit of banter and fun on the range and putting green. Caylum is on the range at 7am every morning, followed by chipping, working up a sweat in the gym before enjoying his lunch, practicing his short game and playing 9-holes.
The courses on his bucket list are the famous Augusta National Golf Course and the prestigious “Home of Golf“ St. Andrews in Scotland. Locally, he enjoys playing George Golf Club because of the layout, the abundance of trees, beautiful scenery and calming element the course lends itself to – the course just takes him to his happy place.
He is inspired by professional golfer Patrick Reed, who obtained his tour card through Monday Qualifiers, Tiger Woods because he is a legend and dominated the game for several years and Justin Thomas whom he believes has a good attitude and appreciates his fans.
Caylum believes his strength lies in his calm demeanour. Even when under pressure, he doesn’t get distracted by competitors, he knows how to stay focused on his own game and he does not allow outside factors to distract him. He is a consistent driver and good with his iron play.
What Caylum failed to mention as a highlight is the amazing 11 under par 61 that he shot in round one when winning the Simola Open late last year! There aren’t too many golfers around the world who have scored 11 under par in tournament golf!
More recently, Caylum has been playing tournaments on the IGT Challenge Tour and the Big Easy Tour, where he has been competing with professional golfers. He has had some excellent results, including four ‘top 10’s’, with his best result to date being a 4th place finish on the Big Easy Tour just a couple of weeks ago (August 2018). In that tournament his final round 66 saw Caylum finishing his round with 5 consecutive birdies! Needless to say he was leading amateur.
With your determination, drive and great attitude your dreams will surely become reality in the not too distant future Caylum! Wishing you all the best for your future golfing career.
