Lara and Bianca leads SA Girls, while Zanele cards 80 (68 net) to head B Division

Heavy frost greeted the 96 girls in the top stroke play divisions of the Nomads SA Girls’ Championships at 7.30am today when the 54 hole tournament teed off at Orkney Golf Club in the North West Province.

Frozen fingers did not help the players in the early tee-off times but later in the day fine winter weather prevailed to make an enjoyable event for all the junior girls.

Topping the leader-board on two-over par 74 are Gauteng’s Lara Weinstein and Bianca Theron from Boland. And tied in third position are Kelly Erasmus (WP) and Carrie Park (Gauteng North).

Leading the B Division (10 to 18 handicaps) and tied 12th in the tournament overall is Harrismith Golf Club’s Zanele Mazibuko, pictured here. Playing off a 12 handicap, she returned an 80 and the low net score of the day – 68.

Nomads has sponsored this top junior girls event for many years – at no cost to the girls or their parents. The players travel by air, bus and car from all corners of the country and Namibia and are accommodated at in chalets directly across from Orkney Golf Course. This is the fifth year that Orkney Golf Club has hosted the championship and the club and the committee make it extremely easy to run this event.

The youngest competitor is nine-year Caitlyn McNab from Glendower Golf Club in Gauteng – playing off a 26 handicap. The ‘baby’ of the championship division is Woo-Jo Son – now an eight handicap after her 74 gross, including a hole-in-one at Zwartkops earlier this week.

The nine and under division has a record entry of 54 – a number that increases every year as girls’ golf spreads country-wide. Women’s Golf South run a Girls Love Golf programme and makes a concerted effort to bring girls in all provinces into golf – its success being evident as the number of good junior golfers increases each year at this championship.

The C and D Divisions, 19 – 24 and 25 – 30 handicapped players commence their 36-hole stableford competition tomorrow, Tuesday, bringing the number of players in this championship to 132.

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