Gauteng teenager Kirsten Campbell wins Abe Bailey B division chamionship

Gauteng star Campbell established a nine-stroke lead going into the final round after an opening 84 and a solid 80 in round two at the challenging Royal Cape Golf Club.

The 10-handicapper from Modderfontein Golf Club fired a final round 85 in blustery conditions to claim a runaway victory on 27-over-par 249. Campbell finished 14 strokes clear of her nearest challenger, Bianca Theron.

“I kept my composure over all three days and I tried to limit the mistakes,” said Campbell. “This is the kind of course where mistakes are very costly. You could be gone in a couple of holes. I was just trying to keep the ball on the fairways and greens and make putts.”

Boland’s Theron returned a final round 90 for a 54-hole aggregate of 41-over-par 263 and finished three shots clear of Southern Cape’s Chris-Mare Horn, whose final round 87 gave her a one stroke edge over Talitha Cronje of Boland, who finished alone in fourth on 268.

Meanwhile it looks like the A-Division might come down to the wire.

Local favourite Yvette du Plessis has taken a one shot lead on three-over par after nine holes, but has in-form golfer Kim Williams from Pretoria and SA number one amateur, Bertine Strauss chasing hard.

While Du Plessis remained bogey-free after the turn and leads by one from Williams, the winner of the Western Province Amateur Strokeplay last month knows she will have to pull out all the stops to keep her edge.

Williams, the overnight co-leader, won the Kwazulu Natal Match play and Stroke play titles in April and was two-over at the start of the final round. Williams lost a ball at the par-5 fifth after mailing her tee-shot into a tree but immediately shaved a shot off her triple bogey eight with a birdie at the par-4 sixth. The 17-year-old Strauss, looking to win her 23rd amateur title, also recovered from a shaky start to turn in five-over.

B-Division winner Campbell will have the opportunity to challenge for the Match play title which tees off on Wednesday. She will meet Azra Badrudeen in the first round and, should she beat the Western Province player, will meet the winner of the match between Michelle Allers and Candice Street in round two.