JG Claassen loses in second round

JG Claassen progress through to the final of the 114th Argentina Amateur Championship was short lived. He came up against a determined Ignacio Elvira, of Spain, in the second round who ended up beating the current South African and Zimbabwe Stroke Play Champion three and two.

The prestigious 114th Argentina Amateur Championship was held at the Buenos Aires Golf Club in the capital city, one of the venues for next year’s World Amateur Team Championship, which incorporates both the Eisenhower (men) and Espirito Santo (women) Trophies.

The match play was won by Frenchman Romain Wattel who defeated Ross Kellett of Scotland seven and five. Kellett was never in the 36 hole final, on Sunday, he turned five down after the first nine holes and never managed to get close to his opponent from then on.

Ryan Dreyer and JG Claaassen won the International Team Competition for South Africa, for only the second time in the fourteen year history of the event, the weekend preceding the Argentina Amateur Championship. The 72 hole stroke play tournament, in which there are two players to a team and both scores count, was held concurrently with the Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup and played at the Los Lagartos Golf Club outside Buenos Aires.

Unfortunately neither of the South Africans could take their good form through to the 114th Argentina Amateur Championship. After both qualifying for the match play stages, Dreyer lost in the first round, also to a Spaniard, Carlos Pigem.