Simpson seals sensational Nomads SA Boys win

PORT ELIZABETH, 27 March 2019 – Sam Simpson from Western Province produced a grandstand finish at Humewood Golf Club on Wednesday to claim a three-stroke victory in the Nomads SA Boys Under-19 Stroke Play Championship.

2019SamuelSimpson StuartMclver

Sam Simpson from Western Province receives the Nomads SA Boys Under-19 Stroke Play Championship trophy from Nomads National Vice-Chairman Stuart McIver at Humewood Golf Club; credit Ernest Blignault / GolfRSA.

Less than a fortnight ago, the 16-year-old GolfRSA National Squad new cap anchored South Africa in their 21st consecutive victory in the All-Africa Junior Golf Challenge in Botswana and sounded a loud warning the 100-plus field heading to Port Elizabeth when he won the Boys Individual Competition by nine strokes.

Simpson lagged one off the pace at the start of the final day, but it didn’t take him long to reel in overnight leader Casey Jarvis.

A solid tee to green performance in the howling 3-club wind and some superb putting helped Simpson to back up his opening rounds of 69 and 68 with successive rounds of 69 for victory on a winning total of 13-under par 275.

The lead changed hands multiple times over the last 36 holes.

Jarvis, Jayden Schaper and Tyran Snyders all had a look and stepped up the pressure over the last nine holes, but no-one in the chasing pack could throw Sampson off his stride.

The 15-year-old Jarvis, aiming to become the only the second junior to win all four Nomads SA Boys titles, will have put his title hopes on the Match Play Championship, which gets underway on Thursday.

The State Mines junior closed with rounds of 72 and 70 on the final day and had to settle for a tie for second on 10-under with Schaper, the only player to have achieve the SA Boys ‘grand slam’. The country’s number one ranked junior signed off with rounds of 71 and 69.

The Ekurhuleni duo finished one shot clear of first round leader Snyders from Western Province, whose successive rounds of 71 earned him fourth on his own.

Jordan Duminy from Southern Cape slipped into fifth on seven-under while Ryan van Velzen from Ekurhuleni and Southern Cape pair Ben van Wyk and Barend Botha finished a further shot adrift in joint eighth on four-under.

Meanwhile Judd Sundelson, Tobias Jan de Flamingh and Oliver Goldhill survived a seven man play-off on 12-over for the last three spots into the top 32 for the first round of the match play stage.

Final Result (top 32)

275 Samuel Simpson 69 68 69 69

278 Jayden Schaper 70 68 71 69; Casey Jarvis 70 66 72 70

279 Tyran Snyders 67 70 71 71

281 Jordan Duminy 73 71 66 71

284 Ryan van Velzen 75 70 68 71; Ben van Wyk 73 71 67 73; Barend Botha 70 71 74 69

285 Kian Rose 71 68 72 74

286 Nikhil Gopal 72 69 73 72

287 Luhan Bester 75 69 70 73

288 Nikhil Rama 69 71 73 75

289 Jordan Burnand 72 70 75 72

292 Kieron van Wyk 76 70 71 75; Reece Coleman 74 71 74 73; Ayden Senger 72 69 78 73

293 Drikus Joubert 74 69 74 76; Malan Potgieter 73 70 73 77; Yurav Premlall 71 75 73 74

294 Martin Vorster 72 74 77 71

295 Nash de Klerk 78 66 79 72; Liam Ross 76 69 78 72; Alexander Pienaar 74 74 77 70; Kayle Wykes 71 76 78 70

296 James Murray 78 72 72 74; Jaime Clive Lewis 74 69 73 80

298 Samual Mckenzie 76 74 76 72; Matt Walters 73 72 75 78

299 Francois Cilliers 76 70 77 76

300 Oliver Goldhill 77 77 74 72; Judd Sundelson 77 72 76 75; Tobias Jan de Flamingh 77 71 72 80

Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of GolfRSA.