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James Wilson’s hopes of becoming the fifth Scot to win the South African Amateur Championship in the past 10 years were dashed when he lost to 16-year-old South African sensation Casey Jarvis in this year’s scheduled 36-hole final over the East course at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club.
Wilson, a 23-year-old psychology graduate from Balmore Golf Club in Dunbartonshire, beat England’s Jake Bolton, 3 and 2, in the semi-final but was no match for Jarvis (above), who came into the event on a high having cruised to a nine-shot victory the previous week’s South African Stroke Play Championship at Randpark.
Jarvis joins Ernie Els in a list of 10 players who have won both the South African Stroke Play and South African Amateur titles while Wilson’s defeat meant he narrowly missed out on emulating compatriots Michael Stewart (2011), Brian Soutar (2012), Daniel Young (2015) and Craig Ross (2016), all of whom have won the South African Amateur in the past decade.
Wilson was one ahead after 11 holes of the morning round but lost the short 12th to a par and found himself 4 down at lunch after his teenaged opponent birdied the 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes. The margin had increased to six holes when play was halted by lightning after 22 holes and after the enforced break Jarvis moved seven in front on the 26th before halving the next four holes to win, 7 and 6.
The victor was 10-under par with the usual match-play concessions for the 30 holes played during the final, while Wilson (below) can take consolation from the fact he was 3-under par when his young opponent sealed his second victory in the space of a week.
“I’m a bit lost for words at the moment,” Jarvis said. “I was mentally tired after last week so to come here and manage to get the win is something I’m extremely proud of.
“I made some good putts coming down the stretch (of the opening round). It allowed me to play freely in the second round. After I won the 19th and 20th to go 6 up I felt I could play a bit safer. But I knew I couldn’t relax because James is such a good player. I stuck to my game plan. I just didn’t attack the pins.”
Jarvis started the week by carding rounds of 63 and 71 to finish tied second in a group also including England’s Joe Long in the 36-hole stroke-play qualifier.
The Proudfoot Trophy awarded to the leading qualifier went to 17-year-old South African Samuel Simpson, who put together a 65 and a 66 to complete a three-shot victory on 13-under par and join an illustrious list of past winners that includes Trevor Immelman, Brandon Stone and Haydn Porteous. England’s James Biggs, Sam Bairstow and Haider Hussain, Scotland’s Darren Howie and Connor Wilson and Holland’s Koen Kouwenaar also made the top 10.
A total of 17 Europeans qualified for the match-play stage and no less than four made it through to the quarter-finals, where Wilson beat South Africa’s Christiaan Maas, Bolton beat fellow Englishman Olly Huggins and Long defeated South Africa’s Aneurin Gounden. Long went on to lose, 2 and 1, to Jarvis in the semi-finals.
South African No. 1 Caitlyn Macnab claimed a double in the South African Women’s Championship. Macnab celebrated her 18th birthday by winning the previous week’s SA Women’s Stroke Play Championship and then a few days later beat 14-year-old Kyra van Kan, 4 and 3, in the final of the match-play event. She became the 13th player to win both events in the same calendar year.
Switzerland’s Ladina Semadeni beat South Africa’s Ineke Brynard by two holes in the Women’s Flight Division final.
This year marked the first time both the SA men’s and women’s amateur championships were played concurrently at the same venue.
England’s Harry Goddard revealed that he bounced back from a major health scare before claiming his first major international title at the recent Portuguese Men’s Open Amateur Championship at Montado.
The 20-year-old from Hanbury Manor was hospitalised in November and then hardly touched a club during the next two months, which makes his maiden victory all the more impressive.
Goddard’s problem began when he was struck down by what he first thought was a severe bout of influenza but which later was diagnosed as pericarditis, an inflammation of the tissue around the heart. He spent two weeks in hospital and was then ordered to rest for the next six weeks.
The Englishman takes up the story.
“In November, I had what I thought was a bad case of (the) flu, but after a week I developed pains in my chest, neck and shoulder,” Goddard said. “At that point I thought I should say something to my mum and I was taken to A&E. When they checked me out, they told me they would need to find a bed as I’d be staying in for a while. In total, I was there for 12 days.”
The illness meant Goddard’s plans for winter training were scuppered and he also missed out on a trip to Australia with the England Golf squad at the turn of the year.
“I virtually did nothing for the whole of November and December,” he added. “I was scheduled to go to Australia, but that had to be cancelled. I was gutted as I was so looking forward to it, but I was under instructions from the doctor.”
Under the circumstances, it was remarkable that the England “A” squad member was able to card rounds of 71, 65, 66 and 67 to complete a slender one-shot victory in Montado.
“It’s been a tough few months, so to come out the other end with this win is very special,” he admitted. “I was thrilled to get over the line. I had the chance to win the Lytham Trophy last year, but came up just short, and it feels like a win was a long time coming. I’ve been knocking on the door for a while.”
Reigning British women’s champion Emily Toy heads a group of four players who will comprise England Golf’s Women’s squad for 2020.
The 22-year-old Toy, from Carlyon Bay, who headed the stroke-play qualifiers at this year’s Australian Women’s Amateur, will be joined by 18-year-old Australian Amateur champion Charlotte Heath, from Huddersfield; 17-year-old reigning Irish and Welsh International Stroke Play champion Lily May Humphreys, from Stoke by Nayland; and 18-year-old Mimi Rhodes, the Justin Rose Daily Telegraph Junior champion from Burnham and Berrow.
England Golf also has named an Overseas Women’s squad comprising Annabell Fuller (Roehampton), Caley McGinty (Knowle), Hannah Screen (Berkhamsted) and Amelia Williamson (Royal Cromer), and a Girls’ squad made up of Jess Baker (Gosforth Park), Rafiah Banday (Royal Mid Surrey), Rosie Belsham (Whitley Bay), Rachel Gourley (Arcot Hall), Ellie Gower (based in America), Caitlin Whitehead (Carus Green) and Lottie Woad (Farnham).
The 15-year-old Gourley is the youngest member of the Girls’ squad while Banday and Woad are 16; Baker, Gower and Whitehead are 17; and Belsham is 18. All four of the Overseas Women’s squad are at college in the US with Fuller at the University of Florida, McGinty at Kent State, Williamson at Florida State and Screen a recent transfer to Oklahoma.
“We are very excited to finally announce the national squads for 2020,” said England Golf’s women’s performance manager, Rebecca Hembrough. “They are a strong and dedicated group of young women who have been challenging themselves and one another with the support of the coaching programme since October.
“There were some extremely tough decisions to make, but squad sizes were reduced to provide more individualised coaching support with an eye on a big year at the Europeans, Home Internationals and World Amateur Team Championships.
“We fully envisage selection to continue to be very competitive this year and we’re really excited by this.”
Former English amateur international Bailey Gill came from behind to secure his first professional victory at the MENA Tour’s Ghala Open in Oman and earn a spot in this week’s Oman Open on the European Tour.
The 22-year-old from Worksop was one behind leader Craig Ross on the 16th tee of his final round but three birdies in a row during the closing stretch gave the left-hander a single-shot victory on 16-under-par 200.
Gill’s nearest challenger was roommate and amateur international David Langley who raced home in 7 under and also overhauled Ross. The Scot made a superb par save on the 17th but a wayward drive on the cost him two shots and dropped him into third place on 204.
Dubai-based Indian Arjun Gupta claimed the amateur prize when he closed with 66 to finish fourth in the main event on 11-under 205. English amateur Ben Jones also fired a closing 66 to finish in the group in fifth place one shot further behind.
Gill has been a pro for only a couple of months but he displayed the nerves of a veteran coming down the stretch to put disappointment of stalling in the final round of the previous week’s Newgiza Open in Egypt behind him.
The highlights were the chips he played over a bunker of the 17th and from the desert area on the 18th, both of which he hit stone dead.
“This is fantastic,” he said. “It didn’t happen in Cairo but I’m glad I could hang on and win in Oman.
“I was disappointed last week but I came here knowing I was playing solid. I have been playing good golf for some time but struggling to put everything together. I’m glad I managed to do that here.”
With his second place in Oman and a victory in the opening event of the MENA Tour season, Langley leads the tour’s Order of Merit with $24,025 from three starts. Gill is currently in second place on $15,330 with two of their former amateur international teammates, David Hague and Tom Sloman, in fourth and fifth places on the list.
With his top-five finish on his first start of the season, Jones moved up to third place on the tour’s Amateur Order of Merit behind Shergo Kurdi and Gupta.
The MENA Tour now moves to Bahrain for this week’s Royal Golf Club Bahrain Open.
Finland’s Anna Backman (University of Miami) birdied the last to clinch a share of first place alongside Florida’s Clara Manzalini at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate at English Turn Golf and Country Club in New Orleans, Louisiana.
With a 4 on the final hole, Backman matched Manzalini’s 7-under-par 212 total and scored a second successive individual title for Miami following Norway’s Renate Grimstad’s runaway seven-shot victory on her team’s previous outing at the UCF Challenge in Orlando, Florida.
“Anna was awesome today,” said Miami’s head coach, Patti Rizzo. “She made two great putts on the last two holes so I’m very pleased for her.”
No less than five European players finished within the top seven places in the IJGA Collegiate Invitational at Guadalajara Country Club in Mexico.
Sweden’s Ingrid Lindblad narrowly missed out on her second victory of her rookie season at LSU when she closed with 71 to finish second, a single shot behind Florida State’s Amanda Doherty on 9-under 207.
French world No. 1 Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (South Carolina) fired a closing 67 to jump into third place, two shots further behind, while Sweden’s Beatrice Wallin (Florida State) and France’s Elodie Chapelet (Baylor) were tied for fourth on 210 and Sweden’s Linn Grant (Arizona State) finished in a share of sixth place on 211.
On the men’s collegiate circuit England’s Barclay Brown (Stanford) shot two rounds in the 60s on his way to finishing third in the Prestige Individual Invitational at Coral Mountain Golf Club in California while Scotland’s Jamie Stewart closed with two rounds of 68 to finish sixth in the same event.
English Walker Cup player Alex Fitzpatrick was the leading European player in the All American at the Golf Club of Texas. The Wake Forest sophomore claimed his best collegiate finish when he carded rounds of 69, 69 and 71 to finish tied third.
Fitzpatrick’s Irish Wake Forest teammate Mark Power recovered from a second-round 77 to claim a share of seventh place with a closing 68. Power subsquently was named as one of three freshmen on the initial 2020 Ben Hogan Award watch list. Denmark’s John Axelsen (Florida), Norway’s Carl Didrik Meen Fosaas (Keiser), Sweden’s Vincent Norrman (Georgia Southwestern), France’s Adrien Pendariès (Duke), Germany’s Matthias Schmid (Louisville) and Scotland’s Sandy Scott (Texas Tech) were the other Europeans on the initial 31-strong list.
This year’s 10 semi-finalists will be announced on April 15 before that group is pared down to three finalists in May.
E-MAIL COLIN