Player Profile

“Winning my national Open was a life-changing moment for me. As a young South African
golfer, you grow up dreaming of winning your national Open, and then playing in and
hopefully one day winning the Nedbank Golf Challenge. I can’t wait to experience a
tournament that has been such a big part of South African golf history.”

Naidoo will make his debut in the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the end of a year that began with a life-changing moment for him.

On a magical Sunday at Durban Country Club in March, the 27-year-old broke through with his maiden DP World Tour victory in his national Open.

It was a moment of immense historical significance for South African golf as Naidoo became the first South African player of colour to win the national Open.

It was also a powerful statement of what the future holds for a young golfer who as an amateur had already been hailed as a future star of the game.

Introduced to the game by his father, Naidoo soon made progress at an amateur level as he played his way through the ranks, and won.

In his first season on the Sunshine Tour, Naidoo finished third on the Tour’s Fortress Rookie of the Year standings. He was beaten to this title by no less than Wilco Nienaber in second place and future DP World Tour and PGA TOUR winner Garrick Higgo in first place on the standings.

He made his Sunshine Tour breakthrough in 2022 when he won the Sunbet Challenge Sun Sibaya.

Naidoo then came close to a DP World Tour victory in 2024 when he finished runner-up in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open. And it was the confidence of that performance that carried him to victory in the Investec South African Open in March 2025, where he beat Laurie Canter in a playoff and secured an exemption into his first Major – The 153 rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

Naidoo is a keen student of modern art and tries, whenever he is on tour, to visit the local museums and galleries.