Kim wins Jackie Mercer Trophy at SA Woman’s Open

With only the first round completed on Friday, the SA Women’s Open held at Southbroome on the KZN south coast was always going to be under pressure trying to beat the forecasted run of freak weather. Saturday’s play was eventually cancelled after a number of rain delays. Sunday’s start was delayed to enable course staff to clear the course of debris from the previous night’s storm and just as play was about to get under way, lightning in the vicinity caused yet another delay. Eventually play got under way at noon, but after two suspensions of play, first due to rain and then gale force winds, the Ladies European Tour and tournament promoters took the decision to declare the winner based on first round scores alone.

It may have been the shortest tournament victory for Norwegian, Marianne Skarpnord but it was also the toughest. Her 3-under-par 69 was good enough for the win, and South Africans, Ashleigh Simon and Stacey Bregman shared 2nd spot with five international players all on 2-under-par 70. Kim Williams, the leading amateur in the first round was playing solidly in the awful conditions on Sunday, and had in fact crept up the leader board on Sunday and was among the top 10 when play was finally suspended. This is her second win of the coveted Jackie Mercer Trophy.

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