Connie finished third at the Harder
17-year old South African Connie Chen played great golf on the final day of the Harder German Junior Masters to finish in third place on 6 under par 210 (71, 71, 68). The event was won by Dane Nicole Broch Larson on -12, with Thailand’s Thidapa Suwannapura in second place on -7.
Connie teed off best of the three players in the second last girls group. Erica Lefson, who had walked 18 holes earlier in the day with Lara Weinstein and Talia Nel, was with Connie again and reports, “Connie played superb golf today and can be very proud of her performance, especially as the series is drawing really strong fields – evidenced by the low scoring.
“The first hole (par five) set the pace – she was on for two and two putted for her first birdie of the day. She continued with solid golf and birdie opportunities on every hole. She managed to drop one long putt for another birdie on the fourth to turn two under. And then the heat was on with birdies at 10 – nearly an eagle, and almost a hole-in-one at 11. Suddenly she was four under and in the running.
“Unfortunately a dropped shot at 14 with the leaders finding birdies behind her, she fell back into third place after being second for a while. She picked up her last birdie at the 18th hole – missing a crucial one at 17 and ended six under. Thidapa birdied the 17th to go seven under and Connie settled for third place.
“The day started really badly for Talia and Lara who teed off first on the first tee – and then the heavens opened. Bunkers filled up water on some fairways but the greens were clear – also interesting – lots of thunder and no lightning. Talia did not have a good day but Lara did quite well to score 76 considering the weather which started to clear at about 11.00 before the top groups teed off.”