Jbe Kruger says he is playing really bad golf.

Ahead of his defence of the Mercuries Taiwan Masters, this week, he says his game is far from where it should be.

Speaking from Taiwan Golf & Country Club, the famous venue that has been the home of the tournament since 1987, he says: “I think it is the worst golf I have ever played, to be brutally honest.”

However, there is method to the madness. When he won here last year he was in a similar state – as he was before nearly all of his wins in the professional game.

“In my life it has been a funny road,” says the 39-year-old South African.

“All my victories have come when I am not playing well. I think there was one victory when I have actually played well, thinking I can actually win this week. All the other ones have come from hardship.”

In an extraordinary finish 12 months ago, when the tournament was battered by Typhoon Krathon and reduced to 54 holes, he won the tournament by two shots from Korean Jeunghun Wang and Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert.

Jbe Kruger. Picture by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.

He was tied with Wang playing the last but holed a six-foot birdie put while Wang made bogey.  It was a superhuman effort as all 54 holes were played over the weekend, with no play possible on the first two days because of the storm.

“Golf is a funny game in that way. You never know when it is going to come together and when it is not, when there is a going to be a typhoon, and when there is not. Someone said this week is the Typhoon Masters – not the Taiwan Masters. Every year is the same thing,” explained Kruger, whose wife Denise caddied for him last year, and is on the bag this year.

His victory last year was his third on the Asian Tour but first in five years. Remarkably, despite recurring trepidation he has also won five times at home on the Sunshine Tour and is two-time champion in Japan.

“It was quite brutal last year,” he says. “We as juniors grew up playing 36 holes a day but as you get older, and when you turn professional, you only play 18 holes a day. It wasn’t something we were not used to.

“It was actually hardest for Denise having to carry, but then luckily, they said they can use the buggies for the caddies, and it made my life easier not to worry about her. And then it was simply about keeping your energy up. We are not 21 or 22 anymore, and when you get a bit older, it’s difficult to concentrate over the last few holes.”

Jbe Kruger pictured with his wife Denise. Picture by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.

He ranks his win here last year in the top three of his victories.

He adds: “Henrik Buhrmann, my good friend, who played in Asia for many years, says this event is one of the top three hardest events. He would say if you can make the cut here, you can make it anywhere.”

The Mercuries Taiwan Masters starts tomorrow and with Typhoon Ragasa skirting the country, beware of Jbe Kruger – he is not playing well.

That they would face high winds in Taiwan is a gimme for Asian Tour players. But to be battered by Typhoon Krathon was something else. The deadly storm barrelled through Taiwan packing winds in excess of 130kmph and dumping over 65 inches of rain in two days during the Mercuries Taiwan Masters week. Story from the 2024 Yearbook.

However, the fact that the players still managed to play 54 holes and South African Jbe Kruger was crowned the champion, was a testament to the exceptionally hard work put in by the ground staff of Taiwan Golf and Country Club, and the innovation and determination shown by the tournament officials.

With the first two days abandoned and enough lakes forming on the golf course, most players expected no more than 27 holes over the weekend. In the end, three rounds were held with shotgun starts in two days, including two full-field rounds, with the cut falling after 36 holes as per usual.

It became a two-man battle between the 38-year-old Kruger and Korea’s Jeunghun Wang. The South African was looking for his first win on the Asian Tour in over five years, while the 2016 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open champion Wang was looking for his first professional win since returning from National Service two years ago.

Jbe Kruger celebrates with his wife and caddie Denise last year. Picture by Mercuries Taiwan Masters.

Kruger, with his wife Denise on the bag, closed with a three-under-par 69 to finish on eight-under-par aggregate. That included a crucial birdie from six feet on the 18th hole that broke the deadlock against Wang (73), who unfortunately made a bogey after a wayward tee shot to fall back for a tied second place with Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert at six-under-par total.

Kruger had started the third and final round two shots behind Wang and made five birdies, three of them coming in the last five holes. Wang made two birdies in his first eight holes to stay ahead but dropped three shots in his last 10 holes.

India’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, who got into the tournament at the last minute after being the sixth reserve on Monday, made full use of the opportunity to record his first top-five overseas on the Asian Tour. At five-under-par total, he was tied fourth alongside the Thai duo Chonlatit Chuenboonngam (70) and Rattanon Wannasrichan (71).

Three-time Asian Tour winner Kruger, who had come into the tournament placed 69th in the Order of Merit before jumping to 10th place, said: “It means the world. I did not come here with any form. I have not been playing great, so it’s unbelievable. It’s been glory to God, with the typhoon and everything that has been happening.

“I probably made it as hard as I could on myself. I could not get it on the fairway, I could not get it on the green, I was trying to make birdies, and then, on the last hole, I hit it in the fairway finally.”

Mercuries Group Chairman, George Wong with the champion Jbe Kruger.

Sandhu, the 27-year-old from Chandigarh who won on the Asian Development Tour in 2023, summed up the week for the players and paid rich tribute to everyone who made the tournament happen.

“Mercuries Taiwan Masters was an unforgettable week for me, not just because it was my first top-five on the Asian Tour, but also because of what we had to face as players. It really was a scary couple of days as we were locked up in our rooms because of the typhoon, not knowing whether we’d play or not,” said Sandhu.

“In a way, when we got the news that the tournament will start on Saturday, I somehow had a perfect mindset. I told my caddie that we don’t know how many holes we will get to play, so let’s just focus on trying to make as many birdies as possible. I was not thinking about my own golf before the tournament, just how Taiwan had to cope with such a disaster. Golf is a funny game, and when you don’t have expectations, it tends to deliver.

“Honestly, I was not expecting the golf course to be in such good shape. The greens, the drainage, the work put on by the maintenance staff… everything was top-class. The clubhouse staff did a phenomenal job because they accommodated almost the full field at times. And for the Asian Tour staff to manage 54 holes was just incredible.”