Another Cape success for Porteous at Boland Open
South Africa’s top amateur Haydn Porteous has done so well in the Cape Province in the last three months, he might consider want to consider spending even more time at the coast.
On Thursday, the country’s number one ranked amateur claimed the Boland Open with a four-stroke victory on 14-under-par 202 for his fifth win this season, and his third in the Cape since winning the SA Stroke Play Championship in February.
The Modderfontein golfer trailed by two from Wingate Park’s Werner van Niekerk, who set the first round target at Devonvale Golf and Wine Estate with an opening seven-under-par 65.
However, Porteous hit the front in the second round alongside SA number two, Zander Lombard, after both players picked up seven birdies a piece in a flawless display at the par-72 championship course.
Tied with Lombard at 12 under, the 18-year-old Porteous blasted out of the blocks in the final round with three successive birdies to immediately put space between himself and his nearest challenger.
He birdied the seventh to pull four shots clear of Lombard, but dropped two shots at the par-three ninth to cut his lead to two. Lombard, who had parred his way through the first eight holes, had a chance to draw level with Porteous, but let the opportunity slip when he responded with a double bogey of his own at the par-three.
With his lead back to four strokes, Porteous birdied the par-four 12th and added birdie number six at the 15th, sandwiched between bogeys at the 14th and 16th. Pars at 17 and 18 for a final round 70 that left him with a four stroke victory after Lombard finished bogey-birdie-bogey.
Lombard’s 74 saw him to finish second on 10 under, one shot clear of Andy Dill from Royal Johannesburg and Kensington. First round pacesetter Van Niekerk shared fourth on eight under with Jack Duthie from Knysna Golf Club and Durbanville golfer Daniel Mantel.
It has certainly turned into a watershed season for Porteous, who took over the number one spot in the South African Golf Association’s rankings from Brandon Stone last year.
His purple patch began at the season-opening Prince’s Grant Invitational in January, followed by a successful title defence at the SA Stroke Play Championship title at Oubaai in February. Two weeks later he won the Proudfoot Trophy as the leading player in the Stroke Play qualifier for the Sanlam SA Amateur Championship at Country Club Johannesburg.
He lifted the Northern Amateur Stroke Play title with a 14-shot runaway victory at Randpark Golf Club in March and held off Ekurhuleni’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout to win the Cape Province Open in George by four shots a fortnight ago.
Porteous came close to a Cape win again when he tied Bezuidenhout for the lead in the Stroke Play Qualifier for the Western Province Amateur at Strand Golf Club last week.
However, this time the Nigel golfer emerged triumphant when he claimed the title at the fourth play-off hole. Having beaten the country’s number one ranked player, Bezuidenhout went on to win the Match Play while Porteous was knocked out in the quarter-finals by Angus Ellis-Cole from Glendower.