The internationals laid down a speedy marker at the South African Stroke Play Championship, with Ireland’s Chris Selfridge leading the early first round action at Benoni Country Club.
Modderfontein’s Marco Steyn set the clubhouse target at four-under-par 68, but the Belfast golfer soon bettered this number with a 66 to stamp his authority on this year’s championship.
While former SA Stroke Play champion Richard Sterne will lead the country’s finest against a strong international challenge in his title defence at the Joburg Open, Ekurhuleni’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout will spearhead the local challenge against a large foreign presence when the South African Stroke Play Championship tees off at Benoni Country Club on Tuesday.
South Africa’s top four ranked juniors rallied to an emphatic five point victory against the French in the final round of a two-day Test at the Serengeti Golf & Wildlife Estate on Saturday.
The South African junior team got off to a dream start in the first round of the two-day Test at the Serengeti Golf & Wildlife Estate to claim a 4 1/2 -1 1/2 lead against a top four-man French side on Friday.
The South African Golf Association (SAGA) has named an Open Amateur team and junior side for two international events this February. South African number two Zander Lombard and sixth ranked Louis Taylor will lead the senior team in the country’s title defence at the annual Leopard Trophy against members of the Scottish Golf Union’s Mens National Squad at Leopard Creek in Mpumalanga from 18-19 February.
South Africa’s top amateurs will throw down the gauntlet against a strong foreign invasion in this year’s South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Benoni Country Club from 4-7 February. South African number one Christiaan Bezuidenhout will spearhead the local challenge alongside Zander Lombard, reigning Sanlam SA Amateur champion Thriston Lawrence and NJ Arnoldi, respectively ranked second, third and fourth on the current South African Golf Association’s (SAGA) rankings.
SA number one junior Kyle McClatchie is primed to lead a quartet of talented juniors in a two-day Test against France at his home course, the Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate, at the end of January. McClatchie will be joined by reigning Sanlam SA Amateur champion Thriston Lawrence from Mpumalanga, Nomads SA Boys U-17 champion Jovan Rebula from Southern Cape and reigning Kenya Open Amateur champion Hennie du Plessis from Polokwane in the two-day event.
The R&A, the joint world governing body announced yesterday that they would permit the use of distance measuring devices (D.M.D.s) at all their AMATEUR EVENTS for 2014.