Christiaan Maas’ father says SA Sports Awards nomination is a great honour

The 23-year-old, who is based in the United States, has been nominated for Sportsman of the Year, alongside swimmer Pieter Coetze and boxer Kevin Lerena, in what promises to be a highly competitive category.

The awards ceremony will take place at Sun City in the North West on Sunday night. Christivan will attend on behalf of his son, who is unable to make the ceremony because of his golf commitments in the US. 

The recognition has also come at a special time, with Christiaan set to get married at the end of the year.

"No, it's an honour, very grateful for the opportunity and thankful to be on the stage for such a big thing. It's one thing to be nominated at your school for sportsman but to be nominated for your country, I think it's the best, it feels great,” Maas said. 

“I made a double birdy on the golf course when I heard it, that's what happened, I was so distracted. We were very excited and it was great, we didn't know it was coming."

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One of his biggest achievements came in 2025 when he helped South Africa win the Eisenhower Trophy, widely regarded as the World Cup of amateur golf.

His father believes the victory showed the potential Christiaan has, and he has continued to make his mark after turning professional. 

Despite being only 23, he has already won major titles in a short space of time.

"Well, the big thing was the fact that Golf South Africa won the Eisenhower Trophy in Singapore and it's the most ever that South Africa has done. It's basically the World Cup of golf for amateur golfers,” he added. 

“There's a team event and there's the individual event as well. So, South Africa won the team event and Christian won the individual event by a big margin, so that's probably the biggest achievement and he also had his first college win in the US for University of Texas, that was earlier in the year, so, 2025 was very good for him."