Bertine wins the SA Girls for the third consecutive year
The final day of the 54 hole Nomads SA Girls Championship started with five players, Lara Weinstein, Bertine Strauss, Connie Chen, Anel Herselman and Bonita Bredenhann lying within three shorts of each other.
But it took only the 1st hole to split the group, Anel dropped four shots for a 9 and Bonita, in the following group, had tree trouble and finished with a 10. This took them out of the running, and when Lara, having started the day one ahead, also dropped at the 1st, she, Bertine and Connie were level at plus four.
Lara birdied the second to go one ahead again but by the 12th hole, all three were level at +6. Playing the 13th, Connie and Lara dropped shots and Connie dropped again at 14 while Bertine sunk a 10ft putt to save par and remain ahead. She birdied 15 to have a two shot lead and went on to eagle the par five 17th to consolidate her position and confirm her status as South Africa’s number one player. Her final score was 219 (72, 76, 71).
Connie Chen was runner-up on 223 (72, 77, 74) and Lara who won the Under 16 Championship, finished in third place on 224 (75, 72, 77).
As the South African girls’ champion, Bertine will join the SA Boy’s Champion to play in the Duke of York Trophy at Dundonald Links in September.
Helena Buitendag from Ficksburg picked up the Esther Cutler Trophy for the 10 to 18 handicapped players with a 36 hole score of 160 (81, 79), six strokes ahead of Olivia le Roux from Devonvale on 166. Another three shots back to tie in third place were Zethu Myeki, playing out of West Bank, East London and Lejan Lewthwaite from Benoni Lake, both scoring 169.
In the stableford competition, the Jean Eustice Trophy for 19 to 27 handicapped players was won by 15 year old Candice Lindeque from ERPM on 78 points (37, 41) while Somerset West’s Cassidy Williams who only turned 12 in April was runner-up with 77 points (38, 39).
Royal Cape’s Jade Gray won the Copper Division Faith Daniel Trophy with 88 points (47, 41) and Bianca Lohbauer from Paarl was runner-up on 79 points (41, 38).
146 Girls competed in 34th SA Girls Championship, sponsored once again by the Nomads, and all were accommodated at The Key, a guest house with chalets right across the road from Orkney Golf Club.
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