By Daniel Nhakaniso
Golfing stars Dean Burmester and Sean Crocker have quite a unique connection.
The most common trait they share is that they are both very talented professional golfers.
Dean currently plays on the star-studded LIV Golf League while Sean plies his trade on the highly competitive DP World Tour.
What many people don’t know about Dean and Sean is that they were both born in Zimbabwe before moving to other countries at a young age.
The Crockers moved to the United States when Sean was young. Dean Burmester represents South Africa, where his family relocated to after leaving Zimbabwe.
“Even though we both don’t play under the Zim flag,” Crocker said recently, “we have our roots and heritage there, so secretly we’re Zimbabweans.”
Perhaps their biggest connection however comes from their dads.
The fathers of Dean Burmester and Sean Crocker were teammates on Zimbabwe’s first cricket Test team — cricket’s premier format — in 1992.
Mark Burmester and Gary Crocker played on the team that faced India in Zimbabwe’s first test match in Harare.
Over three decades after they made history by featuring in Zimbabwe’s inaugural Test match, they were recently reunited by their son’s exploits on the golf course.
Last month they were both in attendance at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland to watch their sons compete at the British Open Championship played from July 18-21, the oldest golf tournament in the world, and certainly one of the most prestigious.
The Zimbabwe-born stars put on a decent show in front of their adoring fathers with Dean settling for a tie for 19th on the leaderboard while Sean also made the halfway cut before finishing tied for 50th.
In an interview with ZimSportLive, Gary Crocker said it was a special moment for both him and his former teammate Mark to watch their sons competing at the highest level of the sport in Scotland.
“What’s so cool was meeting Mark, Dean’s dad… we both played in the first test match against India in 1992 and there we were, both of us old boys walking the fairways of Troon, watching our two youngsters playing in the Open was absolutely special,” said Gary, who had to drive through the night from Bulawayo to Harare inorder to play in the innagural Test match against India after one of the original team was injured.
“We go way back, me and Mark, we first played a lot against each other in domestic cricket where I played for OMs (Old Miltonians) and him for OGs (Old Georgians) in the Rothmans League.
“We also played against each other in Matabeleland vs OGs matches in the local Cup league back in the day, culminating in playing together for Zimbabwe in the early 90s.”
Crocker expressed his pride at how both Dean and his son Sean, have progressed well both in their careers and off the golf course.
Sean already has a victory and several runner up finishes on the DP World Tour and he recently made a big step in his life after he got engaged to his girlfriend Isabella Deilert, a Swedish professional golfer playing on the Ladies European Tour
Although Gary Crocker is now well established in the US, he plans to return to Zimbabwe in the next few years.
“I’m hoping to go back to live in Zim within the next 3-5 years… I miss my home and my people… I sure as hell don’t want to die here in the USA.. my body must be buried in Bulawayo, otherwise my spirit will never rest.”