PRETORIA, 8 July 2019 – Martin Vorster sealed the Tshwane Junior Open title in stunning fashion after an eagle at the par five 17th gave him the chance to defeat Ayden Senger from Western Province in a sudden-death play-off.
Senger set the first round pace on Sunday with a blistering eight-under-par 64 and the Southern Cape junior trailed by four shots going into Monday’s final round at Irene Country Club.
GolfRSA National Squad member Martin Vorster won the Tshwane Junior Open on the Sunshine Tour Junior Series in a play-off at Irene Country Club; credit GolfRSA.
Senger made a stumbling start, though. He stemmed the bleeding with a trio of birdies around the turn and birdied the par five 17th, but by the time he signed for an even-par 72, the Durbanville junior had been caught by Vorster.
Vorster was four under after a birdie at the 13th and he cancelled a bogey at the 14th and double bogey at the 15th with a birdie at the par three 16th and eagle at the 17th for successive rounds of 68.
Tied on eight-under 136, the pair had to make two trips down the 18th hole before Vorster clinched victory with a birdie.
“I’m really chuffed with my first under-19 win of the season,” said GolfRSA National Squad member Vorster, who also led the GolfRSA Junior Proteas to a record-setting victory in the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan last month.
“It was all down to that eagle coming at exactly the right time. The tee was moved forward and I hit a really good tee shot down the middle. I had 156 metres to the back-right flag and it was playing downwind, so I hit a pitching-wedge in. It landed six metres left of pin and I made the putt.”
Vorster and Senger split the fairway on 18 and both players hit their second shots left of the bunker and short of the green.
“I really thought Ayden had it at the first play-off hole. I chipped it to two metres and Ayden’s chip finished a metre from the hole. I made the par putt and I’d already taken off my cap to congratulate him when his putt horse-shoed straight back at him,” explained Vorster.
“On the second trip, Ayden hit his second shot in the same spot on the left and mine finished in the greenside bunker on the right. His chip ran about seven metres past the pin and I chipped it to a metre. After he missed, I boxed for the birdie and the win.”
It was the second successive victory for the Louis Oosthuizen Junior Golf Academy, after stable-mate Jordan Duminy claimed a runaway seven-shot victory in the Nomads SA Boys Under-17 Championship at St Francis Links last week and Vorster was stoked to add to his East of Ireland Amateur Open win in June.
“I’ve been travelling a lot and I missed out on some of the junior events, so it’s pretty great to get the first one under the belt,” he said.
“I have been working really hard to try to get a win. Sometimes I felt that I have made mistakes and I end up not winning. Other times, I felt I've given a good charge, but other people got the win. Today, I felt I played some of the best golf of the season and I really went for it on the play-off. So I’m extremely pleased that today everything worked out my way.
Fellow GolfRSA Junior Protea Casey Jarvis finished in second on seven-under and Duminy rounded out the top three on four-under.
Final Result
136 Martin Vorster 68 68 (2nd hole play-off)
136 Ayden Senger 64 72
137 Casey Jarvis 65 72
140 Jordan Duminy 70 70
141 Christiaan Maas 71 70; Nikhil Gopal 70 71
142 Kieron van Wyk 67 75
143 Samuel Simpson 74 69; Samual Mckenzie 71 72
144 Amilkar Bhana 75 69; Kian Rose 70 74
145 Jean Pierre van der Watt 72 73
146 Ernest Jaco Ludick 74 72; Divan Mostert 74 72; Kayle Wykes 72 74; Dylan Melville 71 75; Fabrizio de Abreu 70 76
147 Emerson Bam 74 73
148 James Murray 75 73; Joshua Koekemoer 73 75
149 Mitchel Hampson 80 69; Nico Els 78 71; Drikus Joubert 77 72; Luhan Bester 75 74; Nash de Klerk 74 75
150 Luc Gavagnin 77 73; Louis James Barnard 76 74; Herman du Plessis 74 76; Darren Neyt 74 76; Nikhil Rama 74 76; Brandon Weir 74 76
151 Hannes Strooh 75 76; Lyle Pedro 74 77
152 Alessio Graziani 81 71
153 Matthew Mc Carthy 80 73; Andrew Long 77 76; Murad Hoosen 75 78; Craig Jacobs 75 78
154 Rorisang Nkosi(Jnr) 81 73; Jacques van der Merwe 81 73; Jonathan Wilsenach 78 76; Hayden Morgan-Evens 78 76; Enzo Barbaglia 77 77; Liam Ross 75 79
155 Tobias Jan de Flamingh 79 76; Marcus Taylor 78 77; Keagan Crosbie 77 78; Lumkile Mantshiyo 76 79; Matthew Dennis 73 82
156 Pieter Joubert 78 78; Jordan Wessels 74 82; Zandre Labuschagne 72 84
157 Jaden Deltel 80 77; Michael Ferreira 80 77; Nico Booyens 79 78; Kyle Kistensamy 79 78; Matt Walters 76 81
158 Marco Dennis Anderson 81 77; James Fraser 78 80
159 Kael Kurt Strydom 78 81
160 Matthew Mortimer 81 79; Miles Taylor 81 79
161 Ethan Gough 77 84
162 Francois Jansen van Rensburg 80 82
163 Christian Lewis 85 78
164 Nicholas Lewis 84 80; Shaunak Rama 81 83
165 Deacon Rudolph 77 88
168 Ethan Vrey 89 79
172 Filip Sakota 85 87
186 Juan Human 91 95
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of GolfRSA.
ST FRANCIS BAY, 4 July 2019 – Mossel Bay junior Jordan Duminy slept on the lead for two straight nights and on Thursday, he claimed a dominant seven-shot victory in the Nomads SA Boys Under-17 Championship at St Francis Links.
The 16-year-old put the South African golfing fraternity on alert in March when he chased former number one ranked Wilco Nienaber all the way to the 36th hole in the South African Amateur Match Play final in March.
2019 Nomads SA Boys Under-17 champion Jordan Duminy; credit Michael Sheenan
2019 Nomads SA Boys Under-17 champion Jordan Duminy receives the trophy from Nomads National Senior Vice National Chairman Stuart McIver and St Francis Links CEO Jeff Clause; credit Michael Sheenan.
He impressed with a top 14 finish in the East of Ireland Open Amateur at County Louth and again when he reached the match play stage in The Amateur Championship at Portmarnock in June, but never has the GolfRSA National Squad member been more impressive than over 54 holes at the Jack Nicklaus signature course.
Duminy accelerated through the field with a stunning seven-under-par 65 on day one – improving the 13 year amateur course record by one shot and setting a new junior course record.
The Louis Oosthuizen Junior Golf Academy member kept his five-shot overnight lead intact with a level par 72 in the second round and capped off the week with a final round two-under 70 for a truly magnificent wire-to-wire victory on nine-under 207.
Duminy credited the recent GolfRSA National Squad Tour to Ireland and Scotland for his good run of form.
“I’m really so pleased with this win and with the way I managed my game this week,” he said. “My ball-striking was great and the putter was hot, but mostly, it was course management that got me to the winner’s circle.
“We played on top ranked courses and I learned a lot from watching the Brits. You can’t put a price on what I learned from competing over there. The course were a lot tighter and the wind didn’t blow half as much as what we had to face in Ireland and Scotland. It definitely helped me here. I played the course far more strategically this week than I’ve ever played this course before.”
A steady front nine, highlighted by a trio of birdies, kept him clear of the chasing pack, led by Dimension Data Junior Open champion Christiaan Maas.
“I had quite a big lead, so I knew if I could make a few birdies and keep my card clean, I could pull it through,” Duminy said. “I didn’t need to do anything fancy. I birdied two, five and six, but I had a soft bogey after I hit my drive short of the bunker at the par three (7th) and two-putted.”
Duminy started the homeward loop with a seven-shot lead. He voided a drop at the par five 13th with a huge birdie putt at 14, and boxed a 12-footer at the 17th to go eight shots clear on 10-under.
“I had 150 metres flag after a decent drive the par five (13th), but I misjudged the wind and hit my 4-iron into the water.
“At 15, I drove it a bit too far right and I couldn’t see the flag. I hit a knock-down sand-wedge from 117 metres in. The ball pitched into the hill and sat down. I had 25 feet to the hole and I aimed it a foot left and rolled it in.”
His tee shot into the par three 17th pitched 12 feet from the hole and he made the birdie putt to move to 10-under.
“On 18, my second pitched short of the green. I chipped it, trying to use the slope at the back of the green, but it didn’t quite come off and I left myself with a 10-foot downhill putt. I barely touched the ball, and it ran straight past the hole. It wasn’t great finishing with a bogey, but I’ll take it.”
Just before he started the final round, Duminy received news that set him up for a great day.
“I am hoping to make the 12-man team International Team for the Junior Presidents Cup in December and I found out that I’ve moved into 12th place after the amateur golf world rankings were updated on Wednesday,” he said. “Hopefully this win will boost my rankings a bit more.
“It’s still a long way to the cut-off in September, but I am really hoping I will get to represent South Africa in Australia with the other GolfRSA juniors.”
Pretoria Country Club’s Maas returned an even-par 72 to finish in second on five-under, CJ van Wyk from Fancourt carded 73 to take third on two-over and former Sun City Challenge Under-15 champion Jaden Deltel finished a further stroke back in fourth after posting 71.
GolfRSA National Squad duo Yurav Premlall (73) and Nash de Klerk (71) rounded out the top five with South African Golf Development Board member Rori Nkosi (70) from Pecanwood and Pretoria Country Club’s Tobias Jan de Flamingh (74).
Final Result
207 Jordan Duminy 65 72 70
214 Christiaan Maas 73 69 72
218 C.J van Wyk 68 77 73
219 Jaden Deltel 73 75 71
222 Yurav Premlall 76 73 73; Nash de Klerk 74 77 71; Rorisang Nkosi(Jnr) 73 79 70; Tobias Jan de Flamingh 71 77 74
223 Jonathan Wilsenach 75 73 75; Hannes Strooh 72 78 73; Malan Potgieter 72 78 73; Tom Addy AUS 72 76 75
227 Casey Jarvis 78 75 74; Mitchel Hampson 73 78 76
228 Jordan Jung AUS 78 77 73; Jaime Clive Lewis 73 77 78
229 Eddie Ward AUS 78 74 77; Kayle Wykes 76 71 82; Dylan Melville 71 81 77
230 Herman du Plessis 78 76 76; Amilkar Bhana 76 80 74
231 Brandon Weir 75 82 74; Ian Pienaar AUS 75 76 80
232 Jacob Dundas AUS 82 77 73; Christopher Gutuza 75 81 76
233 Luke Cubitt 80 79 74; Dean Wilken 77 77 79
234 Emerson Bam 82 78 74; Reece Dyer 79 77 78; Matthew Lotz 76 78 80; Christopher Bagnall 75 74 85
235 Bernard Meyer (Jnr) 81 77 77; Christian Lewis 78 78 79; Luke Truter 76 81 78
236 Lyle Pedro 83 77 76; Christiaan Heyman 79 82 75; Kael Kurt Strydom 74 86 76; Jordan Wessels 71 81 84
237 Joshua Bürki 82 81 74; Ivan Verster 82 80 75; Fabrizio de Abreu 77 82 78; Angelo Keffers 77 78 82; Meekah de Sousa 76 78 83; Nico Booyens 75 91 71
239 Matthew Dennis 82 81 76; Heinrich Appel 78 82 79; Jack Cubitt 78 80 81; Justin Behrens 77 81 81
240 Ali Rachid AUS 83 84 73; Michael Ferreira 81 80 79
241 Jaco Anderson 83 77 81; Craig Jacobs 77 90 74; Jean Louis du Plessis 76 80 85; Thobelani Magwaza 74 84 83
242 Giaconi Middel 85 79 78; Hezron Frieslaar 84 84 74; Hannes Conradie 84 81 77; Travis Procter 81 84 77; Filip Sakota 81 76 85
243 Caden Sanders 83 78 82; Astin Wade Arthur 82 79 82; Tristan Leonard 80 81 82; John-William Blomerus 77 85 81
244 Zander Lombard 82 81 81; TJ Sandys 81 81 82; Keagan Crosbie 80 85 79; Enzo Barbaglia 76 81 87
246 Ferdinand Roth (jnr) 81 79 86; Ulrich Steinhobel 80 88 78
247 Danny Wattrus 82 82 83; Alric Rowaan Rooi 81 81 85
248 Nicholas Lewis 85 81 82; Pieter Joubert 85 79 84; Jere Brits 84 85 79; Joshua Hirsch 79 91 78
249 Kyle Conradie 86 82 81; Tiaan Hugo 83 85 81; Mujahid Jacobs 78 84 87
250 Ronan Nortje 81 85 84
251 Agib Aubrey Hughes 94 78 79; William Joseph Lyons 88 86 77; Tiaan Diedericks 87 78 86; Andrew Long 84 89 78; Joshua Sansom 77 89 85
252 Werner Potgieter 91 77 84; Joshua Osner 88 83 81
253 James Fraser 83 79 91
254 Declan Brews 84 79 91; Tiaan Tibshraeny 80 86 88
255 Joshua Koekemoer 89 78 88; Josh Wilmot 82 84 89; WJ Annandale 81 90 84
256 Jan Petrus Lion-Cachet 82 84 90
259 Pieter Bronkhorst 86 85 88
262 Ruwan van der Watt 82 91 89
263 Gean Lategan 84 89 90
264 Jayson Borcher 98 79 87
265 Matt Walters 90 83 92; Percy Hawken 85 96 84
266 Schalk van Wyk Jnr 91 86 89
268 Jan-Hendrik Nieuwoudt 94 85 89
274 Heinrich Strauss 90 86 98
275 Matthew Mortimer 93 93 89
276 Heinrich Laas 95 85 96
280 Divan Visagie 101 95 84
281 Blake Botes 94 93 94; Matthew Dippenaar 88 95 98
284 Zamokuhle Nxasana 98 97 89
289 Daniel Gerrits 98 94 97
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of GolfRSA.