Feisty SA pair finish third in Argentina
South Africa’s Jared Harvey and Graham van der Merwe overcame a sluggish start in Argentina and rallied for a third place finish at the 16th staging of the international Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup on Sunday.
The annual 72-hole stroke play championship drew entries from Canada, Holland, England, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay and Argentina for the Team Competition, while more than 70 local Argentinean amateurs competed alongside the team entrants in the Individual Competition. South Africa won the team competition, in which the aggregate scores of both players count, in 2009.
Reigning SA Amateur champion Harvey opened with a 76 at the Los Lagartos Golf Club just outside Buenos Aires and Van der Merwe’s opening 75 saw the pair finish the first round in the lower echelons of both the Team and Individual leaderboards.
After the local duo responded with 70s in the second round, Harvey added rounds of 71 and 74 to finish on three-over-par 291 to tie for ninth in the individual competition. Meanwhile Van der Merwe carded 72 and 71 for an even-par 288 to finish fourth in a tie with Teemy Toivonen from Finland.
But their combined scores for the four rounds – 151, 140, 143 and 145 – pushed their 72-hole total to 579 that saw them claim third place on their own. The South African pair finished just six shots off the pace from the tournament winners, Daniel Huizing and Robin Kind from Holland. Australia’s Todd Sinnott and Nathan Holman took second place on 575.
The South Africans will square off next against a noteworthy international field in the Argentine Amateur Championship at San Isidro Golf Club from 15-20 November.
TEAM LEADERBOARD (Top Five)
573 Holland 145 139 145 144
575 Australia 144 143 143 145
579 South Africa 151 140 143 145
585 Argentina 145 147 144 149
588 Spain 152 144 146 146
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD (Top 10)
275 Daniel Huizing HOL 72 67 70 66
284 Jorge Fernandez Valdez ARG 71 72 69 72
286 Todd Sinnott AUS 71 71 75 69
288 Graham van der Merwe RSA 75 70 72 71; Teemu Toivonen FIN 76 73 68 71
289 Nathan Holman AUS 73 72 68 76
290 Xavi Puig Giner ESP 77 70 70 73; Santiago Bauni 73 73 69 75 ARG
291 Jared Harvey RSA 76 70 71 74; Vaughan McCall NZ 78 73 68 72; Alejandro Tosti ARG 71 76 67 77; Garrett Rank CAN 72 69 73 77
NOTE:
The annual Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup is a 72-hole stroke play championship. This year’s event drew entries from Canada, Holland, England, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay and Argentina for the Team Competition, while more than 70 local Argentinean amateurs competed alongside the team entrants in the Individual Competition. South Africa won the team competition, in which the aggregate scores of both players count, in 2009.
The 116th Argentina Amateur Championship that takes place this week, requires all players to play 36 holes stroke play over two days. The leading sixty four, on conclusion of the stroke play, go through to play in the match play stages which will determine the amateur champion for 2011.