Former champs in pursuit at SA Women’s Mid-Am

Southern Cape golfer Sandra Winter will have to go low in Wednesday’s final round to claim a record fifth victory in the SA Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Krugersdorp Golf Club; credit Pieter Els.

KRUGERSDORP, 6 November 2018 – Former champions Vanessa Smith and Sandra Winter will have to pull out all the stops in Wednesday’s final round if either player hopes to extend their winning record in the SA Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

Liezl Smit set the first round target with a four-over 76 at Krugersdorp Golf Club.

She began the second round three shots clear of Smith from Western Province and six clear of Southern Cape’s Winter. The KwaZulu-Natal golfer increased her chances to bag a maiden national title with another round of 76 in Tuesday’s second round.

Smit leads the field on eight-over 152 and will head into the final round with a comfortable cushion on the seasoned champions.

Smith, the winner in 2014 and 2015, carded 78 to finish seven shots off the pace.

Winter, who won the championship an unprecedented four times in 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2017, improved five shots on an opening 82, but still lags seven shots behind the 36-hole leader.

Winter said that the thunderstorms on Monday afternoon softened up the course, but the greens were unexpectedly firm.

“We had quite a bit of rain and we thought the greens would be softer, but they actually firmed up overnight, which made the approach shots quite tricky,” said the Kingswood golfer.

“It was difficult to get it close and putting was already tricky, so scoring wasn’t easy. I gained a bit of confidence going five shots better today, though. I know I need a really good, low round to win and I’ll give it a go tomorrow.”

Carina Theron also held on to her overnight lead in the B-Division.

The Bloemfontein golfer added an 86 to her opening 85 to move to 171. Valda Ford from Randpark posted 85 to finish in second, just one off the pace, while Isabel Verwey from Bosch Hoek will start the final round in third place on 178 after rounds of 90 and 88.

Angela Krugel leads the C-Division on 69 points after rounds of 34 and 35. The Rustenburg golfer is one point clear of Rosa-Linda Wessels from Durbanville Golf Club and local golfer Riana Joubert.

Karin Watts from Gauteng North tops the Senior Division leaderboard on 170.

The Services golfer carded rounds of 82 and 88 to edge out Theron by one shot for the top spot. Ford is third on 172, and former SA Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Sonja Bland from Southern Cape is fourth on 175.

A-Division Scores (top 5)
152 Liezl Smit 76 76
157 Vanessa Smith 79 78
159 Sandra Winter 82 77
163 Adele Beytell 81 82
170 Karin Watts 82 88

B-Division Scores (top 5)
171 Carina Theron 85 86
172 Valda Ford 87 85
178 Isabel Verwey 90 88
181 Wendy Carruthers 86 95
183 Thelma Dippenaar 88 95

C-Division Scores (top 5)
69 Angela Krugel 34 35
68 Rosa-Linda Wessels 32 36; Riana Joubert 34 34
66 Rita Herholdt 34 32
63 Jeanette Freeman 32 31

Senior Division Scores (top 5)
170 Karin Watts 82 88
171 Carina Theron 85 86
172 Valda Ford 87 85
175 Sonja Bland 91 84
178 Isabel Verwey 90 88

Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of GolfRSA.