South Africa’s leading senior amateur Francois le Roux has dominated the national senior scene this season, but lifting the Western Province’s Westlake Senior title on Thursday rated right up there with the 53-year-old’s goals for this year.
The South African Open Championship goes back to the classics with the announcement that 103rd playing of the second oldest Open Championship will be hosted by the prestigious Glendower Golf Club from November 21-24, 2013.
No stranger to top level championship golf, Glendower staged the country’s flagship event in 1989, 1993 and 1997 and the 18-hole championship course has been home to the Sunshine Tour’s annual BMG Classic since 2009.
The course has also provided the backdrop to some of South Africa’s flagship amateur championships, including the 1986 Womens 72-Hole Teams Championship, 1987 SA Amateur and SA Stroke Play Championships, the 1993 SA Mens Inter-Provincial and the SA Womens Amateur and SA Stroke Play Championships in 2003.
When South Africa’s Haydn Porteous fires his opening shot at the Russian Open on Thursday, his number one ranking will pass to Tshwane golfer Zander Lombard.
The number one spot may have fallen to him due to Porteous’ departure from the amateur ranks, but Lombard said he takes nothing for granted and will work hard to hold on the honour. “It’s the natural progression on things,” he said. “The number one spot fell to Haydn when Brandon Stone left South Africa for college golf in the United States. Now that he has joined the paid ranks, the honour has fallen to me. But it has been my goal all season to get to the number one spot and now it’s up to me to keep myself in this position.”
Ekurhuleni’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout underlined his growing stature when he leapfrogged the frontrunners to claim a surprise come-from-behind win at the Limpopo Open, sponsored by The Pro Shop, on Sunday.
The 18-year-old Nigel golfer carded a sublime five-under-par 67 at the par-72, 6,253 meter layout to overtake the leading threesome and lift the title on a winning total of 11-under-par 205.
Norman Phillips wore the bridesmaid tag three times in June, but the 53-year-old East London golfer finally got the monkey off his back when he marched to his first provincial Senior Amateur victory in the Jacobsen’s Eastern Cape Senior Championship on Sunday.
South African golfer Paul Boshoff claimed a top 20 finish in the 2013 Swiss Amateur Championship in Lausanne on Sunday.
The 16-year-old Ekurhuleni golfer fired rounds of 71 and 73 at the Lausanne Golf Club to make the cut, set at four-over 148, by four shots. Boshoff and carded a final round 76 to claim a share of 11th on four-over-par on the final leaderboard.
The University of Pretoria lifted the USSA Championship title on Friday with an unparalleled performance in the A-Division at the Koro Creek Country Estate in Limpopo.
Although their second round match play triumph over The Golf School of Excellence – Johannesburg (TSGE-Jhb) effectively sealed their victory, the 2008, 2009 and 2011 champions kept their undefeated record intact by defeating the University of Stellenbosch A 6.5 – 2.5 in the final round.
Matthew Spacy made three eagles on his way to a second round six-under-par 66 that not only won him the Individual Standings title, but help the University of Pretoria to an emphatic victory in the Stroke Play qualifier of this year’s USSA (University Sport South Africa) Championships in Limpopo.
The University of Pretoria won the prestigious universities championship in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and are firm favourites to win their fourth title at the Koro Creek Country Estate. The Tuks team took a seven shot lead into the second round of the 36-hole qualifier and combined for a second round total of 364 to finish 21 strokes ahead of the Stellenbosch A side, who returned a second round 379.