Kruger chasing glory in Mpumalanga
It has been a season of close calls for Magda Kruger, but the Gauteng North junior golfer hopes to get the monkey off her back at the Mpumalanga Open & Closed Championship this weekend.
The 18-year-old Centurion player will be teeing it up alongside local favourite and defending champion Monja Richards, as well as reigning Sanlam SA Women’s Amateur champion Kim Williams, at Middelburg Golf Club from 16-17 November.
Top juniors Carrie Park and Mae Cornforth – the respective winners of the Ackerman Championship and Boland Championship in October – will also feature in the line-up.
Kruger, who ranks second in the national junior standings and seventh in the senior rankings, has been in threatening form this season and is certainly due a win.
She followed victory at the Gauteng North Junior Girls Open in January with 14 top 10 and eight top five finishes and only finished outside the top 20 once. She claimed her fifth third place in the Stroke Play at the Boland Championship last month and was narrowly beaten by Cornforth for the match play title at Somerset West Golf Club.
Williams, meanwhile, will use the tournament as a final tune-up for the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School in December.
“The Q-School is drawing closer and it’s great to have another chance to keep the game sharp and the focus going,” the 27-year-old said. “If all goes to plan, I will be playing in the pro ranks next year, so it’s really nice to finish my last amateur season here in Middelburg.”