Blaauw and Ferreira bow out in 1st round of The Amateur Match Play

Jacques BlaauwThe only two remaining South African amateur golfers, in the 113th Amateur Championship, Jacques Blaauw and Derik Ferreira, bowed out in the first round of the match play today which was played at Turnberry over the Ailsa course on the west coast of Scotland.

Twenty-Two year old Blaauw, who plays his golf out of Paarl Golf Club, started on the back foot losing the first two holes to his opponent Gareth Shaw, one of Ireland’s top ranked amateurs. Blaauw won the 3rd hole but lost the 4th. A bogey on the par 3 6th resulted in Blaauw being 3 down, a position he never recovered from.

“The weather conditions were just like yesterday, strong winds except there was no rain,” said Blaauw in a telephonic interview after his round. “To give you an indication, the long par 3, 223 yards 6th hole, in the practice round I hit a 1 iron, today I hit a 7 iron,” he explained.

“The difference between Gareth’s performance and mine is that he made fewer mistakes, and he ended up in fewer pot bunkers,” joked the current SA Amateur Stroke Play and Glacier SA Amateur Champion.

It was a more closely fought affair in the match between 19 year old Gauteng North player, Derik Ferreira, and Italian Andrea Pravan, in which the Pretoria golfer went down 2 and 1.

The South Africans were in good company, yesterday’s top qualifier,Englishman Sam Hutsby, was knocked out by TJ Bordeaux of the United States in the first match of the day, 3 and 2.

Runner up in last year’s championship, Tim Stewart of Australia, he was knocked out by Englishman and current Welsh Amateur Open Stroke Play champion Chris Wood 3 and 2.

Tomorrow the second and third rounds are played, with the quarter and semi finals being concluded on Friday. The final, over 36 holes, will be played on Saturday. All matches are being contested over the Ailsa course at Turnberry.

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