Gauteng North’s Magda Kruger took advantage of the sunny conditions and fast fairways at Port Elizabeth Golf Club to deny the local challengers and claim victory in the Eastern Province Championship on Sunday.
All Jason Smith hoped for a decent result, but the Gauteng North golfer left Benoni Country Club with a lot more after holing a gusty three-footer for birdie at the 18th for a one stroke victory at the South African Stroke Play Championship on Friday.
Former top SA amateur Nobuhle Dlamini was the undisputed queen of the Eastern Province Championship, winning back-to-back doubles at Port Elizabeth Golf Club in 2012 and Humewood last year.
The Swazi golfer’s departure to the paid ranks this year has cleared the way for the next wave of talent to stake their claim in this prestigious tournament.
Moving day at the South African Stroke Play Championship turned into a slight traffic jam with a sizable pack of international rivals chasing third round leader Bradley Neil from Scotland.
The 18-year-old Blairgowrie amateur reeled in five birdies and 13 pars in a clinical performance at the Benoni Country Club for a 67 and assumed control at 13-under-par 203. But overnight leader Dermot McElroy is just one off the pace, while South Africans Jason Smith and Stefan Cronje are only two shots back heading into Friday’s title chase.
Womens Golf South Africa’s Olivia le Roux departed for Texas in the United States in January, armed with a high school leaving certificate boasting eight distinctions, heaps of enthusiasm and a lot of goals for the future. We caught up with Olivia as she was settling in at Lamar and chatted to her about how she wound up at Lamar, her goals and dreams and a few of her favourite things.
It was not the luck of Irish, as some would have it, but the expertise of regular Sunshine Tour caddie Njabulo Myende that helped Ulsterman Dermot McElroy convert a perfectly-timed hot streak of form into a two shot lead at the South African Stroke Play Championship on Tuesday.
The hot amateur prospect from Ballymena showed his liking for the 6,703 meter layout at Benoni Country Club as he reeled in eight birdies – including two sets of three – and dropped just a single shot to produce a sizzling 65 and take the lead at 10-under-par 134.
Centurion’s Jason Smith, Fezekile Kana from the Eastern Province and France’s Paul Elissalde took Route 66 to move into contention in the second round of the South African Stroke Play Championship on Tuesday.
South Africa’s number one amateur Christiaan Bezuidenhout racked up eight birdies in a superb eight-under-par 64 to lead the first round of the South African Stroke Play Championship at Benoni Country Club on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old Nigel golfer, called Rambo by his amateur peers, was at his ball-striking best as he produced the round of the day for a two stroke lead over Chris Selfridge from Ireland.