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When Mornay Stoop took up the position of Kingswood Golf Estate’s new operations manager on Spring Day last year, we introduced him to BUZZard readers with bytes of personal background and a brief summary of his job expectations.
Now in the seat for seven busy months, Mornay is properly ensconced in this hard-grafting section of KGE managers and their staff members. His operations team works in close association with Kingswood’s greenkeepers and landscapers, and he oversees dozens of contractors tasked with maintenance and related assignments.
The BUZZard landed at their HQ, located at the maintenance building, at 7am on a midweek morning.
Even at this early hour, it’s a hive of activity as the various teams prepare to set off on their day’s duties. For the maintenance team, this may be anything from the upkeep of stormwater systems, roads and buildings to swinging past smaller nooks and crannies in need of tender loving care.
The 20-strong Turfworx team, in charge of landscaping, forms part of the ops manager’s responsibilities. But when it comes to general maintenance, there are two men directly under Mornay’s wing, and ready to dash whenever the need arises, anywhere on the vast estate.
No more marshalling for Mario
Mario Abrahams’s mischievous smile is a familiar site to KGE staffers and golfers, since he has been working with the Kingswood Golf Operations crew since early 2020. Mario made his career move to maintenance at the same time as Mornay’s appointment on 1 September 2022
A George native through and through, Mario has loved living and working in the town of his birth. And when he fell in love with a lady from Paarl, he lured her to the southern Cape and they started a family. Sherine and Mario have a trio of children that keep them on their toes: 16-year-old Kyle attends Eden
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Technical High School down the road from Kingswood Estate, with Keaghan, 12, and baby Layla, 9, enrolled at Kretzenshoop Primary in the Abrahams family’s home ’hood of Blanco.
Both boys prefer the hands-on approach of technical and trade skills to spending hours poring over the Three Rs – these apples not falling far from the tree. And Mario is truly chuffed to now use his skills where they can make the biggest impact.
‘Being a golf marshal before taught me lots of people skills. Some players stick by the rules and are considerate on the course, but I learnt a lot from those who weren’t so happy when being told to move a little faster when they stopped the flow of play. Sometimes, hard words were spoken,’ he says with a knowing grin.
‘Under Mornay’s supervision we do jobs big and small, from touching up peeling paint and unblocking water courses to removing spiderwebs.’ This is where Mario’s quiet colleague Kallie pipes up: ‘I don’t mind catching spiders, but I draw the line at dealing with snakes.’
Kallie loves his girls, but works best with the boys
If you want a happy life, make sure you’ve got a happy wife … and three darling daughters … and two terrific granddaughters! That means Karel ‘Kallie’ Phillips has his work cut out for him. But as the latest addition to Mornay Stoop’s maintenance duo, he says he’s glad for the opportunity to be of service in a bigger capacity than cutting lawns and keeping the course pristine.
‘I used to work with DJ Obermeyer Landscaping, and learnt a lot about all aspects of that business during the nine years of my service with them,’ he says – adding that he also became familiar with Kingswood golf course in the line of landscaping duty.
Kallie says he is enjoying getting used to the many different aspects of his new appointment, and it’s clear from the jocular tone between him and colleague Mario that they enjoy working together, adding to their intent of making for a highly efficient maintenance team.
Born in the tourism hub of Hermanus – known as the jewel of the Overberg, and capital of the Cape Whale Coast Route – Kallie moved with his family to George at the tender age of nine. When looking back at his decades of being a local in the beautiful Garden Route capital, he says he has never regretted that long-ago relocation.
Fast-forward to Kallie as young adult, encountering the love of his life in neighbouring Mossel Bay: he met and wed Valencia, and together the couple welcomed their first girl into the world. And then the second. And then the third. Eldest daughter Zhané, 30, is employed by Go George, with 15-year-old Kaitlin the youngest and attending Pacaltsdorp High School in the same- named George suburb.
Middle-born Kaylin has worked alongside her mom at Tuiniqua Old Age Home. So at least this friendly father of three, not to mention proud ‘oupa’ of two, can be quite sure he’ll be looked after when one day, many moons away, he decides to retire.
Until such time, Kallie is enjoying his work days of labouring alongside Mario and the ‘manne’.
