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.
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.
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.
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.