James Bongani Kamte (born 20 July 1982), nicknamed "Cobra", is a South African professional golfer. He has played on the Sunshine Tour,

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History T ...

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

, and

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

. He earned his tour card for the 2008 European Tour season by finishing in the top 30 of the

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 ...

Early life

Kamte was a football player in his childhood and his nickname, "Cobra", comes from his football days. He grew up in Kwanomzamo Humansdorp, and received a bursary through several Golf clubs in the St Francis area and Nomads Golf Club, to attend

Woodridge College Woodridge College is a private, co-educational school in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Woodridge is situated near the small town of Thornhill, Kouga, halfway between Jeffrey's Bay and Port Elizabeth. The school is attended by both boarders ...

where he matriculated in 2000.

Career overview

James Kamte turned professional in 2003 after representing Gauteng in the Under-23 division, and subsequently in the Gauteng Seniors side.

Career highlights

2007 was successful for Kamte. On the Sunshine Tour, he started his run on 2 July by finishing second in the Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open, closely followed by another second-place finish at the Vodacom Origins Tournament in Pretoria a week later. On the European Challenge Tour, Kamte's best finish has been second place in the Kenya Open in Nairobi, Kenya. He also had a fourth-place finish at the Vodafone Challenge in Germany. After a good run of form, James went on to win his first Sunshine Tour victory at the Seekers Travel Pro-Am tournament at the Dainfern Country Club, Johannesburg on 8 September 2007. On 8 June 2009, Kamte qualified for the 2009 U.S. Open through sectional qualifying in Columbus, Ohio. He won his fourth Sunshine Tour event at the BMG Classic in 2011.

European Tour – 2008

Kamte came through the European Tour

, finishing tied for 22nd place, right on the cut-off line for the top 30 and ties who earn their playing privileges on the main European Tour for the 2008 season. This made him the first black South African player to earn European Tour playing privileges since Vincent Tshabalala in 1976. He ended the season ranked 138th on the Order of Merit, meaning Kamte would have limited playing opportunities for the 2009 season. Kamte followed up his performance at the European qualifying school by winning the Sunshine Tour's

Dimension Data Pro-Am The Dimension Data Pro-Am is an annual golf tournament on the Southern African Sunshine Tour, founded in 1996. The tournament was co-sanctioned by the European Tour for the first two years. In 2020 it was co-sanctioned with the Challenge Tour ...

in January 2008, becoming the first black South African golfer to win an event on the summer swing of that tour.

Asian Tour – 2009

With limited status on the European Tour, Kamte entered the Asian Tour qualifying school for 2009 and finished fourth. He followed up this success by winning the first event of the 2009 season, the

Asian Tour International The Asian Tour International was a golf tournament on the Asian Tour, played in Thailand from 2008 to 2010. In 2009, following the cancellation of the Indian Masters, Emaar-MGF Indian Masters, the Asian Tour International was rescheduled to be the ...

in Thailand, thus guaranteeing Kamte starts in events co-sanctioned by the Asian and European tours for the remainder of the season.

Amateur highlights

*Ranked 5th in South Africa before turning professional *SA Presidents Team Colours 2003 (Captain) *2nd North Province Open Strokeplay (2003) *T3rd SA Amateur Strokeplay 2002 *2nd Nomads Central Gauteng Under-23 Open 2002 *1st Gauteng North Open 2002 *3rd Freestate/Northern Cape Open 2002 *7th Gauteng North Etonic Strokeplay 2002 *

Ernie Els Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former , he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature (he stands ) along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victor ...

Foundation Member 2000–2003 *2nd Gauteng Strokeplay 2001

Professional wins (5)

Asian Tour wins (1)

Sunshine Tour wins (4)

Sunshine Tour playoff record (1–0)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
''Note: Kamte only played in the U.S. Open.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamte, James South African male golfers European Tour golfers Sunshine Tour golfers Asian Tour golfers Golfers from Johannesburg Sportspeople from the Eastern Cape People from Humansdorp 1982 births Living people