Wayne Brett Westner (28 September 1961 4 January 2017) was a South African golfer. He was twice winner of the South African Open and also won twice on the

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 fift ...

. In partnership with

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 ...

, they won the

1996 World Cup of Golf The 1996 World Cup of Golf took place 21–24 November at the Erinvale Golf Club in Somerset West, Cape Town, South Africa. It was the 42nd World Cup. The tournament was a 72-hole stroke play team event (32 teams) with each team consisting of two ...

, played at the Erinvale Golf Club near

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. Els won the individual event with Westner second and the pair won the team event by 18 shots.

Early life

Westner was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Professional career

In 1981, he turned professional. He won several events in his home country, including two South African Opens. He spent many years on the

where he won two tournaments and had a best Order of Merit finish of twentieth in 1993. In the 1992 Carroll's Irish Open, he lost to

Nick Faldo Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, (born 18 July 1957) is an English retired professional golfer and television commentator. A top player of his era, renowned for his dedication to the game, he was ranked No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking for ...

at the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff. In partnership with

, they won the

for South Africa. Westner finished second, behind Els, in the individual event and the pair won the team event by 18 shots. He won 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 South African Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the Vod ...

Order of Merit in 1995/96. At the 1998

Madeira Island Open The Madeira Islands Open was a men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour played from 1993 to 2015 on Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal. History The tournament had one of the smallest prize funds on the tour (€600,000 in 20 ...

, during the pre-tournament Pro-Am, Westner tore ankle ligaments after falling over six feet when a

railway sleeper A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie (Canadian English) or railway sleeper (Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties transfer ...

crumbled under him. He played only once more that season, and was never able to recover. He later ran his own golf college, The Wayne Westner Golf College.

Personal life

As of 1991, Westner was a born-again Christian. Westner committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

Pennington, KwaZulu-Natal Pennington is a small coastal town on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Apart from a large sugarcane and dairy farming industry, it also hosts scores of holiday makers who flock to the seaside during the December holidays. It is n ...

, on 4 January 2017.

Professional wins (13)

European Tour wins (2)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Southern Africa 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 South African Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the Vod ...

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Southern Africa Tour wins (7)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

Southern Africa Tour playoff record (0–2)

Other South African wins (4)

*1989 Southern Africa Tour Winter Championship *1990 PX Pro-Celebrity Classic, Sun City Classic *1992 Wild Coast Sun Classic

Other wins (1)

Results in major championships

''Note: Westner never played in the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

nor the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Dunhill Cup The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championshi ...

(representing South Africa):

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(representing South Africa):

(winners),

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Alfred Dunhill Challenge The Alfred Dunhill Challenge was a professional team golf tournament played at Houghton Golf Club, Johannesburg, South Africa between teams representing Southern Africa and Australasia. It was played from 24 to 26 February 1995 and involved four-b ...

(representing Southern Africa): 1995 (winners)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Westner, Wayne South African male golfers Sunshine Tour golfers European Tour golfers Suicides by firearm in South Africa Golfers from Johannesburg White South African people 1961 births 2017 suicides 2017 deaths