Archive – Women

When you talk about women’s golf, the list of names that pop up might include Nancy Lopez, Karrie Webb, Lorena Ochoa, Imbee Park and Ai Miyazato. However, one name is never left off the list….former world number one, Annika Sorenstam, whose achievements still rank her as one of the most successful female golfers in history.

Womens Golf SA president Cynthia Rayner had the opportunity to observe Sorenstam when she accompanied top SA juniors Bianca Theron and Magda Kruger to the Annika Invitational Europe this August.

Former SA number one Bertine Strauss proved she is still a force to be reckoned with when she came from behind to steal victory in the Ekurhuleni 54-Hole Stroke Play Championship on Monday.

The 21-year-old from Koster in the North West Province dominated the local amateur scene for many years until she took up a golf scholarship at the University of Texas in August 2011. The psychology student just couldn’t resist the temptation to test herself against South Africa’s top ranked amateurs during her summer break home.

Nicole Garcia may have barely made the cut at the Mannings Heath Golf Club, but following the reprieve, the South African knuckled down to claim a top 25 finish in her English Womens Amateur Stroke Play debut in Sussex, England.

Disappointed after an opening 81, Garcia improved by six shots with a second round 75 to make the cut to 36 and ties on the number on 12-over-par 156. A third round 76 still left her hovering around the lower echelons of the leaderboard, but the 22-year-old Ekurhuleni golfer put everything she learned into producing a final round 73 that lifted her to joint 21^st on 17-over-par 305.

South Africa’s Magda Kruger and Bianca Theron completed the final round of the Annika Invitational Europe in Sweden on Friday and will be off to the United Kingdom this weekend to prepare for the Girls British Open Amateur Championship at the Fairhaven Golf Club in Lytham St. Annes from 12-16 August.

– KwaZulu-Natal’s Michaela Fletcher claimed a share of third at the RB German Junior in Germany while compatriot Lara Weinstein shot to sixth in the final round at the Heddesheim Golf Club in Gut Neuzenhof on Thursday.

The 17-year-old golfer carded earlier rounds of 72 and 69 to move into the top three and closed with a 74 to finish on one-under-par 215, alongside Sunna Vidisdottir from Iceland in the World Junior Golf Series event.

South Africa’s Magda Kruger stayed within striking distance of the lead in the second round of the Annika Invitational Europe in Sweden on Thursday.

On a day when only 10 players in the field of 71 juniors could break par, the Gauteng North golfer followed an opening 70 with a four-over-par 74 to move to eighth on even-par 144. Kruger lags five shots behind 36-hole leader Celia Barquin from Spain, who carded a two under 70 to take the sole lead on five-under-par 139.

It was touch and go for a while, but South Africa’s Nicole Garcia survived the cut at the English Womens Amateur Stroke Play in England and now the Ekurhuleni golfer will use the reprieve to soak up as much experience as possible over the next two days of play at Mannings Heath Golf Club in Sussex.

The 22-year-old from Ekurhuleni said her patience was tested as she waited to hear where the cut to 36 and ties would fall.

“I carded rounds of 81 and 75, so I was sitting on the bubble at 12-over-par 156,” Garcia said. To her delight, she made the cut-off point on the number.

An untimely shot into the drink at the 18^th hole at Landskrona Golf Club cost Gauteng North’s Magda Kruger the outright lead of the Annika Invitational Europe, but South Africa’s number two ranked junior will start the second round just one shot off the pace and full of determination on Thursday.

The 16-year-old Centurion golfer took her double bogey finish on the chin and signed for an opening two-under-par 70 to finish in a group of four golfers chasing first round pacesetters, Martina Edberg from Sweden and Spain’s Celia Barquin.