Kang holds on for Nomads SA Girls Champs lead

Overnight leader Ji Sun Kang from Korea is still holding sway in the A-Division after a tough second round at Orkney Golf Club, while Symone Henriques from Gauteng took a three shot lead in the B-Division of the Nomads SA Girls Championship on Monday.

Kang began the day four shots ahead of Gauteng North’s Carrie Park, last year’s runner-up.

The 17-year-old Western Province golfer extended her lead to five shots with a two-over-par 74 on a tough scoring day that saw only one A-Division player, Cara Gorlei, manage to match par.

The 72 from Gorlei shot the Western Province into a tie for second on four over 148 with Park, who signed for a 75.

Meanwhile 15-year-old Eleonora Galletti from Gauteng signed for a 71 to launch to fourth on seven over, which handed her the lead in the Under-16 competition. Galletti is one stroke ahead of defending champion Michaela Fletcher (77), Woo-Ju Son (75), Shawnelle de Lange (77) and Ivanna Samu (78), who share fifth on 10 over 154.

Kang dropped just one shot in the first round, but the tournament leader had to exercise a lot of patience to keep ahead of the pack on day two.

The 17-year-old Western Province golfer bogeyed the second hole, birdied the fifth, but dropped again at the sixth hole. She finished the front nine in one over after a third bogey at the par-five ninth.

After a birdie at the 10th, Kang held par through the next three holes and and picked up another birdie at the 14th. She gave it right back with bogey number four at the 15th and dropped one more shot at the closing hole for her 74.

Gorlei made her move with four birdies and bogeys a piece to post the best score on the day. The 17-year-old Milnerton golfer, who will represent South Africa alongside Kang and Fletcher at the Harder German Junior Masters in August, claimed a share of fifth at the recent Enjoy Jakarta World Junior Golf Championship, and could be the player to stop Kang’s winning run with two rounds to play.

The second hole at the Orkney course took a lot of prisoners, including Park, who came away with a double bogey at the tough par-three. The Gauteng golfer retaliated with a brace of birdies at the fifth and sixth hole and sandwiched another birdie at the ninth between bogeys at the eighth and 10th holes.

Park dropped one more shot at the 13th, but finished with a flourish when a birdie at 18for her 75.

In the B-Division, 11-year-old Caitlyn McNab lost the overnight lead to Henriques after carding a 17-over-par 89. She shares third with Ashleigh Mills from Western Province, who returned an 83.

Second round leader Henriques signed for an 80 and tops the 36-hole leaderboard at 23-over-par 167, one shot ahead of Lenanda van der Watt from Limpopo, who returned an 83.

The C-Division lead belongs to Cleo Jordaan from Gauteng North and Mari Stroh from Limpopo, who both earned 19 points in the stableford competition for 19-23 handicaps, while Amore Steyn from Boland leads the D-Division for handicaps 24-30 with 48 points.

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