Michaela tops the leaderboard at Gauteng Junior Championships

15-Year old Maritzburg junior Michaela Fletcher continued her recent good form when she won the Rule Trophy at the Gauteng Nomads Junior Championships. The event was played at Roodepoort Country Club. Michaela is one of three junior girls selected to travel to Germany and England in August, representing South Africa. She is pictured here (left) with Kirsten Campbell and Gauteng North’s Magda Kruger.

A good field of 42 players aged 18 and under participated – 19 in the A Division 36 Holes Strokeplay, seven in the B Division 36 Holes Strokeplay, six in the C Division 36 Holes Stableford, seven in D Division 18 Holes Stableford, and three without handicaps playing nine holes.

Entries were received from Western Province, Kwazulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng North and North West, and Gauteng President Les Rule said it was wonderful to see so many new golfers and how enthusiastic they are. The youngest player was six years old, Ntokozo Masanabo.

The weather started off with a chilly 4 degrees in the morning but soon warmed up and turned into a beautiful Highveld winter day. The field was unfortunately very slow due to scratch league being played in the morning, delaying the start of the afternoon field and they had also booked a “small” mixed open field to tee off in front of our girls. It was very frustrating but the club management did their best to keep the field moving.

The B and C divisions completed their rounds and the A Division managed to finish the last hole in the dark. The 18 Hole Stableford girls weren’t able to complete their 18 holes, so their results were decided over 16 holes as all seven of them had managed to complete 16 holes.

Michaela won the A division on 147 (74,73) playing off a 4 handicap. She finished six strokes ahead of Milnerton’s Cara Gorlei on 153 (76,77). Ebotse’s Sarah Bouch won the B Division on 169 (81,88).

“The girls had a super day despite the slow play. Players from out of town said they were looking forward to taking part in further Gauteng Tournaments and we would be seeing a lot more of them in future.”