It was no-holds barred on moving day in the GolfRSA International Amateur Championships, as the Proteas Men and Women scooped both Team Competition titles, Charl Barnard fired a career-best nine-under-par 63 at Royal Johannesburg’s East Course to top the men’s leaderboard and Bobbi Brown extended her lead in the women’s tournament.
Team South Africa Men posted a spirited nine-under 207 to put an exclamation mark behind a 19-shot wire-to-wire triumph. Jordan Burnand led the way with a 67, Astin Arthur kicked in a 68 while Ivan Verster and new cap Dian Kruger both contributed 72s.
“We put together a winning total of 27-under and that was all down to a really awesome team effort,” said winning captain Burnand. “The team spirit and the team ethos played a massive role. We had four great guys who got along fantastically and a great manager in Oom Thinus (Labuschagne). From there it was just supporting each other and playing good golf.
“It’s great to defend the title. Kudos to our new cap Dian. It’s never easy to put the blazer on for the first time and he had a fantastic week with the old boys. As a team, our strategy was to go out and establish a firm lead in the first round and build from there and we executed it to perfection.”
The GolfRSA President Men’s Team made up a three-shot deficit and eclipsed Team South Africa Juniors Men for second place. Vuyisani Makama anchored the side with a 67 at his home course, while Devon Valentine and Timothy Daniels chipped in with rounds of 71 and 75.
Team South Africa Juniors placed third on seven-under, Team Scotland was fourth on 10-over and Team Réunion Men brought up the rear on 40-over.
Their women’s side led the Women’s Competition by a shot after the opening round but the visitors put up little resistance as Team South Africa Women rallied to move 10 shots clear in the second round. Kesha Louw, Lisa Coetzer and Zané Kleynhans kept the pressure up in the final round to cruise to a victory on eight-over 440. Coetzer birdied the 18th for a closing 74, while her partners signed off with rounds of 75.
“It is really nice to have a team aspect to this tournament, and we all enjoyed the chance to wear the green and gold here on home soil,” said GolfRSA No 1 Coetzer. “We all went out and tried to put the best score on the board for ourselves and the team and that mindset worked in our favour.”
The GolfRSA President Team Women’s Kamaya Moodliar, Odette Booysen and Phenyo Sebata finished third on 37-over.
Barnard will start the final round of the men’s tournament one shot clear of first round leader Arthur and two ahead of second round pacesetter Octave Bailo from Réunion, who returned a level par round.
Just like fellow GolfRSA National Squad member Brown, Barnard also came into the first event of the GolfRSA SA Swing fresh off winning the Gauteng North Open last Sunday.
He opened with a 73 but gave the field a glimpse of what’s to come with a 66 on day two. The 19-year-old Centurion golfer racked up four birdies on the trot from the 11th and followed an eagle at the par-five first with birdies on the second, fourth, seventh and eighth. A bogey at the nineth – his last hole – was the only blemish on his card.
Barnard, who recently gave up college golf in the United States, said the key to his round was keeping it in play.
“It’s a tough course but if you can keep it in the fairway and hit the greens, it suddenly becomes a much easier challenge. That really was the goal today and I managed it with great drives and some really good iron-play.”
Burnand, the 2024 SA Stroke Play champion, is still in touch at 10-under and so is Eastern Province duo Ludick on nine-under and Valentine a further shot adrift.
Recent Eastern Province Border Women’s Stroke Play champion Brown is still firmly in the driver’s seat after a third round 69. The 20-year-old Western Province golfer is nine-under and four strokes clear of Olivia Wood (71) from KwaZulu-Natal.
Fifteen-year-old Lourenda Steyn held on the third place with a 74 and is five shots clear of Melliyal Schmitt from Réunion, and six ahead of Team South Africa Women’s Louw.
Scores (SA unless stated)
MEN’S TOURNAMENT
202 - Charl Barnard 73 66 63
203 - Astin Arthur 65 70 68
205 - Octave Bailo (REU) 68 65 72
206 - Jordan Burnand 68 71 67
207 - Johndre Ludick 70 69 68
208 - Devon Valentine 70 67 71
209 - Sean Paxton 70 66 73
210 - Nathan Schuldt 70 71 69
211 - Tristan Leonard 69 66 76
212 - Oliver Scriven (ENG) 72 71 69; Juan Coetzee 73 65 74; Minjun Heo (KOR) 71 68 73; Dian Kruger 71 69 72
213 - Benjamin Weber 71 73 69; Tristan Fichardt 71 72 70; Janko van der Merwe 73 68 72; Vuyisani Makama 75 71 67
214 - Damian Osner 75 67 72
215 - Logan Leisher 68 79 68; Vian Jansen van Vuuren 69 76 70
216 - Christiaan Heyman 71 76 69; Michael Wallace (ZIM) 71 70 75; Gregor Tait (SCO) 70 77 69; Jack McDonald (SCO) 74 73 69
218 - Marno Lange 72 75 71; Tylor Phillips 77 73 68; James Truter 71 75 72; Jean-Pierre van der Watt 75 70 73; Keegan Shutt (ZIM) 73 72 73
219 - Fabrizio de Abreu 74 74 71; Jeré Brits 69 78 72; Morris Schiefner (GER) 76 68 75; Bryan Newman 74 73 72
220 - Noa Auch-Roy (FRA) 78 73 69; Max Hopkins (WAL) 72 74 74; Harry Watkins (WAL) 71 75 74; Liam McKenna 74 71 75; Darren Strachan 73 69 78; Samuel Aiach (REU) 75 72 73; Ivan Verster 74 74 72; Dewan de Bruin 72 71 77; Roelof Craig 72 70 78
221 - Cilliers Craig 73 75 73; Daniel Copeman 73 75 73; Keegan du Plessis 72 75 74; Lorenzo Sakota (ITA) 73 79 69; Bradley de Beer 73 73 75; Tanaka Chatora (ZIM) 74 71 76
222 - Matthew Mortimer 71 75 76; Andries van der Vyver 73 73 76; Kaiden Chetty 74 72 76; Pieter Coetzee 78 76 68
223 - Gerard Hartman 73 77 73; Timothy Daniels 72 76 75
224 - Travis Procter 75 72 77; Liam Ross 74 77 73; Jean du Toit 75 77 72; Saul Moss 79 75 70; Werner Potgieter 73 73 78
225 - Emilio Meijer (NED) 80 69 76; Josh de Aguiar 70 79 76; Mitch Phigeland 77 72 76
226 - Keagan Crosbie 73 77 76; Andrew Curlewis 77 78 71; Jamie Mann 74 76 76
227 - Dujuan Snyman 77 71 79
228 - Jandré van Niekerk 76 74 78; Craig Jacobs 69 78 81; Nicolaas Weber 76 76 76; Andreas Yiallouris 76 78 74
229 - Gilbert Chalwe (ZAM) 78 76 75
230 - Thomo Mokgatle (BOT) 71 75 84; Ben Willis 76 81 73
231 - Kyle Kistensamy 74 74 83; Kamoza Longwe (MAL) 72 82 77
232 - Andrew Wahome (KEN) 78 76 78
233 - Stefano Marchetti 76 78 79; Gerhard Botha 75 79 79; Willem Lotriet 79 78 76; Camille Wolf Taillefer (REU) 74 84 75
234 - Nicholas Lewis 76 81 77
235 - Francois Alexandre (REU) 81 81 73
240 - Ben Jacobs 81 83 76
241 - Sebastian Greenan 78 76 87; Harry Llewellyn (ENG) 75 82 84
251 - Mongiwetfu Masuku (SWZ) 87 84 80
253 - Edwin Kutara (NAM) 84 85 84
WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT
207 - Bobbi Brown 72 66 69
211 - Olivia Wood 71 69 71
216 - Lourenda Steyn 71 71 74
221 - Melliyal Schmitt (REU) 69 77 75
222 - Kesha Louw 74 73 75
224 - Megan Marais 76 74 74
225 - Lisa Coetzer 70 81 74
226 - Jasmine Furstenburg 78 78 70; Casey Twidale 72 82 72
227 - Shannon Butler 73 70 84
229 - Liezl Smit 78 77 74; Gia Raad 79 75 75
230 - Zané Kleynhans 81 74 75
232 - Kamaya Moodliar 78 77 77; Zayaan Hendricks 78 76 78
233 - Charlotte Millard 82 77 74; Maegan Webster 75 76 82
234 - Ophelie Odin (REU) 76 79 79; Bea Breedt 81 75 78
235 - Celeste Darloy 83 75 77
238 - Kaylee Webster 83 78 77
242 - Lucia Mhlabane 81 79 82
243 - Odette Booysen 76 88 79; Phenyo Sebata 79 82 82
245 - Danielle Chong 77 87 81; Paola Sakota 81 84 80
246 - Valentina Sakota 80 88 78
249 - Kaitlyn van de Vyver 79 88 82
251 - Hanne Rademeyer 82 84 85
258 - Tze Ning Chang 84 85 89
259 - Keisha Wiltshire (UGA) 86 84 89
263 - Ellandri van Heerden 94 85 84
264 - Holly Duddy 87 88 89
266 - Danielle van der Merwe 87 91 88
MENS TEAM RESULTS
621 - Team South Africa Astin Arthur, Dian Kruger, Ivan Verster & Jordan Burnand 204 210 207
640 - GolfRSA President Team Devon Valentine, Mitch Phigeland, Timothy Daniels & Vuyisani Makama 217 210 213
641 - Team South Africa Juniors Bryan Newman, Dewan de Bruin, Johndre Ludick & Roelof Craig 214 210 217
658 - Team Scotland Gregor Tait, Jack McDonald & Jamie Mann 218 226 214
688 - Team Réunion Camille Wolf Taillefer, Francois Alexander & Samuel Aiach 230 237 221
WOMENS TEAM RESULTS
440 - Team South Africa Kesha Louw, Lisa Coetzer & Zané Kleynhans 144 147 149
455 - Team Réunion Melliyal Schmitt & Ophelie Odin 145 156 154
469 - GolfRSA Presidents Team Kamaya Moodliar, Odette Booysen & Phenyo Sebata 154 159 156
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