Thomas Aiken and the Rhino Revolution

I was pleased to meet Thomas Aiken during the 2011 Dubai World Championship, when he kindly signed my flag that I brought back from the 2011 Masters tournament (my review here and photo's here).  We chatted briefly – a nice fellow.  During the recent Volvo Golf Champions at the Links at Fancourt I was pleased to see him wearing a hat warning of the dangers of rhino poaching.  The hat was in support of the ‘Rhino Revolution’ (website here and Facebook page here).

As Thomas noted (here) when asked about his hat – he does not yet have a hat sponsor for 2012 and wanted to bring attention to the cause by wearing a hat that supports his foundation.  Thomas has established the ‘Thomas Aiken Rhino Fund’ to bring attention to the harm caused by rhino hunting.  He mentioned during the interview that he met Trevor Jordan of Jordan Properties, a friend of my mom, from whom he received the hat.

Rhino poaching is a huge problem for the South African game parks, with rhino horns apparently fetching up to USD 1 million.  My mom lives in Hoedspruit, South Africa (her website is here), and I own a vacant piece of land in the Balule Private Nature Reserve on the road between Hoedspruit and Phalaborwa.  We know firsthand the challenges faced to combat this growing problem.  I for one appreciate the efforts of all persons, Thomas Aiken specifically, to bring attention to this matter. 

On another note, in my predictions for 2012 (here) I support Thomas to play well enough in 2012 to make his first appearance at the 2013 Masters.  He is regularly a member of my European Tour Fantasy Team (my 2012 team is here), as he was when he won his first tournament on the European Tour in 2011, the Open de Espana.

BEST WISHES to Thomas for the 2012 European Tour season, and thanks to all persons involved in combating the rhino poaching problem.