{{ubiquityData.prevArticle.description}}
{{ubiquityData.nextArticle.description}}
South African teenager Martin Vorster lived up to his billing as one of his country’s rising stars when he won against a strong international field in the African Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Leopard Creek.
The 18-year-old holed a 30-foot eagle putt on the 72nd hole to close with a 71 and tie fast-finishing Englishman Olly Huggins on 4-under-par 284, and then held his nerve to beat his rival on the fourth hole of a weather-interrupted play-off.
“It was unreal,” said Vorster, who won both the 2017 Italian Under-16 Championship and the 2018 Junior Open at St Andrews before becoming the second-youngest winner of the East of Ireland Championship last summer at Baltray. “I’m speechless. This win means so much for me.
“The putting definitely saved me this week. I made a few good ones down the stretch and the one on the 18th was the longest of the week. It couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
Huggins, from Frilford Heath Golf Club near Oxford, started the final day in a share of fifth place after opening rounds of 76, 69 and 72 but shot up the leaderboard with a 67 before losing to Vorster when he dropped a shot on the fourth extra hole.
“I’m gutted obviously, but I’m really happy with the week,” he said. “I’ve done what I’ve said I was going to do, which was to hit fairways, hit greens and make the putts. I played really nicely.
“I found out how to play this course after the first round.”
The best round of the last day came from another Englishman, Joe Long, who carded a 66 to move into a share of fourth place alongside South African Jordan Duminy. It also proved to be a good week for Irishmen Caolan Rafferty, James Sugrue and Tom McKibbin and another Englishman, Haider Hussein
Rafferty and Amateur champion Sugrue were tied for sixth on 291, Hussein was eighth on 292 and McKibbin was one shot further back in a share of ninth place.
The highlight of the week for Walker Cup player Rafferty came on the 12th hole of his third round when he made a hole-in-one with a wedge from 145 yards on his way to posting a 71.
“I got the yardage, picked a club and tried to hit a shot,” he said. “It was one of those funny ones. I didn’t really catch it and turned away in a bit of disgust. As I was turning my back, I heard my playing partner telling it to go in, and I was like, ‘Sorry, that can’t be right.’ Then the ball just disappeared.”
Former English amateur international David Langley made a fast start to his new life on the MENA Tour when he won on his debut at the season-opening Journey to Jordan 1 tournament at Ayla Golf Club.
The 25-year-old from Marlow was one shot out of the lead after an opening 71 but then carded a 68 and a 66 to clinch a four-shot victory ahead of 16-year-old Jordanian amateur Shergo Kurdi and English professionals Tom Sloman and Jamie Rutherford on 11-under 205.
It was an emotional win for the Englishman, whose father passed away in December, and he was quick to thank his mother and sister for all the support they had given him during what has been a difficult time for the whole family.
“This win is dedicated to my mother and my sister,” he said. “They have been so supportive of me.
“I went to America just after Christmas, to practise and to see some friends, and for them to give me the green light to do that when things were tough at home meant a lot. I’m truly blessed. You can’t put a price tag on support like that.
“Like any father, Dad was a big influence on me when I was growing up. The last couple of years were difficult for him because he had some issues with alcohol and stuff but, if anything, it helped me to focus on what I needed to do. You just have to get the job done.
“I’m really shellshocked,” he added. “There wasn’t a moment on the golf course when I wasn’t nervous. I handled myself very well and was completely focused on each and every shot, but my mind was all over the place in between.”
Kurdi was hospitalised three months ago and diagnosed with Crohn’s disease but he battled a recalcitrant putter to card rounds of 70, 70 and 69 and claim his best finish on the MENA Tour.
“A 3-under-par round is never bad but it was getting frustrating out there,” said the two-time Jordan Open champion, who was born in England but is now based at Ayla. “I must have missed five birdie putts from inside the 5- to 10-feet range. But I just kept patient and my dad did a great job on the bag, motivating me and giving me positive thoughts.
“I’m very proud of what I have achieved. It gives me so much confidence for the future.”
Langley’s win was worth $13,500, while Rutherford and Sloman both picked up cheques worth $7,500. Sloman is another newcomer to the professional ranks, having made the switch last autumn after playing on Great Britain & Ireland’s Walker Cup team and helping England secure victory at the subsequent men’s Home Internationals at Lahinch.
Another Q-School qualifier, Englishman Sean Towndrow, finished tied for 11th, while reigning Yorkshire Amateur champion David Hague missed the cut in his first start in the professional ranks.
Irish Curtis Cup player Olivia Mehaffey has confirmed she turned down the chance to make a second appearance at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Instead, the 22-year-old Arizona State senior from Banbridge has accepted an invitation to play in the concurrent ANA Inspiration, the first women’s major of the year.
“I believe this is the right decision at this time of my career,” said Mehaffey, who will graduate from college in the summer and is likely to turn professional soon afterwards. “I’m excited to play with the best in the world and I am grateful for this opportunity.
“I had a great experience at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last year and it is one of the highlights of my career so far.”
Mehaffey is one of five amateurs invited to take part in April’s ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. She will be joined by American Junior Golf Association No 1 Rose Zhang, her fellow American Kaitlyn Papp, Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels and China’s Angelina Ye.
Ruffels won last year’s US Women’s Amateur while Ye is the reigning US Girls’ Junior champion.
Norway’s Renate Grimstad’s three-year wait to claim her first collegiate title came to an end when she routed the field at the UCF Challenge at Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.
The University of Miami senior started the final round with a five-shot lead after opening rounds of 66 and 67 and she closed with a 69 to claim a runaway seven-shot victory ahead of England’s Lianna Bailey (Oklahoma State) and Japan’s Yurika Tanida (Michigan State) on 14-under 202.
It proved to be a successful event for the strong European contingent with Grimstad’s compatriot Karoline Stormo closing with a 68 to finish tied for fourth and her English and French Kent State teammates Caley McGinty and Chloé Salort claiming a share of eighth place on 4-under 212.
The performances of Stormo, Salort and freshman McGinty also helped Kent State claim its fourth team title of the 2019-20 collegiate season
“That was awesome,” said Grimstad, a former Norwegian junior champion from Bergen. “I’m so happy I was able to pull it off.
“Winning my first title means so much, not just because I won, but because of all the hard work over the last three and a half years finally paying off. I was nervous going into the final round because I’ve been in that position before without getting the trophy at the end, but I felt so calm and excited before teeing off.
“It’s strange to say it like this, but I kind of knew I’d be able to win,” she added. “This week has been a sort of validation for me and I’m so happy I got to experience winning at Miami.”
Miami head coach Patti Rizzo was the first to congratulate Grimstad for achieving her maiden victory.
“Renni earned every bit of her win,” she said. “She works harder than anyone and never quit believing her day would come. We have always known she’s loaded with talent. I’m so proud of her.”
The University of Miami has announced it has signed one of the hottest young players in women’s amateur golf.
Russia’s Nataliya Guseva, who turns 17 early next month, is set to join the Hurricanes for the start of the spring 2021 season after a spectacular run in which she has amassed seven victories and more than 20 top-10 finishes in the past two years.
Guseva’s victories during that period came in the Austrian International Amateur (2018 and 2019), the Evolve Spanish Junior Championship (2018 and 2019), the Bulgarian Amateur Championship (2018), the Turkish International Amateur (2019) and most recently at the 2019 Spanish International Women’s Amateur Stroke Play, where she beat England’s Bel Wardle.
The 2019 European Junior Vagliano Trophy team member also won the Doral-Publix Junior Classic in 2017 and was tied for second behind Germany’s Paula Schulz-Hanßen in the same tournament last November.
Guseva will join a Miami team that will also include the Czech Republic’s Kristyna Frydlová, Finnish duo Anna Backman and Daniella Barrett and Franziska Sliper from Norway.
This year’s men’s and women’s World Amateur Team Championships have been switched from Hong Kong to Singapore.
The International Golf Federation made the decision to move both championships to alleviate any concerns about the potential impact of the protests that have been taking place in Hong Kong in recent months.
The Singapore Golf Association now will host both competitions at the Tanah Merah Country Club and the Sentosa Golf Club, with the women’s event for the Espirito Santo Trophy scheduled for October 14-17 and the men’s competition for the Eisenhower Trophy following it on October 21-24.
“Although the Hong Kong Golf Association expressed its willingness and ability to stage the World Amateur Team Championships, the IGF Board determined that, to allay the members’ concerns and to remove uncertainty about the staging of the event, it was in the best interests of the championships to relocate them,” said the organisation’s executive director, Antony Scanlon.
“We appreciate the SGA’s willingness to host the championships and its efforts in securing government and local support to enable this to happen on the same dates as scheduled. At the same time, we want to acknowledge and thank the HKGA for all the work it did and its understanding of the decision we have made.
“We look forward to the opportunity to hold the Team Championships in Hong Kong at a future date and will be inviting the HKGA to submit a proposal for staging the 2024 edition.”
The World Amateur Team Championships, which date to 1958, are a biennial competition featuring up to 72 countries competing over 72 holes of stroke play. Each country fields two or three players with the two lowest scores counting for the team score in each round.
Paul Conroy birdied the last hole to win the fourth of this year’s R&A Student Series events, staged at Troia in Portugal.
With a closing 72, Conroy posted a 1-under 215 total and secured a single-shot victory ahead of his Maynooth University teammate Allan Hill. Hill’s level-par 72 left him a further shot ahead of two other Maynooth University representatives, Alan Fahy and David Kitt. Fahy closed with a 67, the low round of the tournament, while Kitt also moved up the leaderboard with a 69.
The women’s event was dominated by Louise Duncan, from the University of Stirling, who carded rounds of 71, 69 and 72 to finish a distant 12 shots ahead of her Stirling colleague Penelope Brown. Another Stirling player, Chloé Goadby, was third, 14 shots adrift of Duncan.
The final event in the R&A’s inaugural Student Series, previously known as the R&A Scholars tournament, is to be played over the Eden and Old courses at St Andrews on April 5-7.
E-MAIL COLIN