More Southern Cape success for Porteous

South Africa’s Haydn Porteous delivered another commanding performance in George to claim his fifth stroke play title this season at the Cape Province Open on Sunday.

The country’s number one ranked amateur was in blistering form, carding rounds of 65-70-71-67 at George Golf Club and Kingswood Country Club for a winning total of 15-under-par 273.

Porteous finished four shots clear of Ekurhuleni’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout and six ahead of Woodhill golfer Zander Lombard in third.

Local golfer Nicholas Meyer produced a final round 69 to finish in fourth on five under 283, one stroke ahead of Country Club Johannesburg’s Louis Taylor and fellow George Golf Club players, Jovan Rebula and Breyten Meyer.

Porteous took over the number one spot in the South African Golf Association’s rankings after former number one, Brandon Stone, left for the United States to take up a golf scholarship last August.

The Modderfontein golfer hit a purple patch after the winning season-opening Prince’s Grant Invitational in January. He successfully defended his SA Stroke Play Championship title at Oubaai in February, won the Proudfoot Trophy as the leading player in the Stroke Play qualifier for the Sanlam SA Amateur Championship at Country Club Johannesburg and lifted the Northern Amateur Stroke Play title with a massive 14-shot runaway victory at Randpark Golf Club in March.

Among his other highlights was a third place finish in the KwaZulu-Natal Open, second in the Gauteng North Open and a tie for third at the North West Open Stroke Play.

Porteous also proved instrumental in South Africa’s seventh place finish in the inaugural Ten Nations Cup at Kingswood in George in February and was a member of the SA side who claimed the country’s third victory in the fourth annual Leopard Trophy Test against a team from the Scottish Golf Union’s Mens National and Transitional Squads in March.

The Kyalami teenager teed it up in the first event of the Sunshine Tour’s Big Easy Tour at Roodepoort Country Club this week, hoping to gain more experience before transitioning to the pro ranks after the US Amateur Championship at Brookline Country Club in Massachussets in August.

“One of my goals is to try and make the halfway mark at the US Amateur this year and improve my world ranking, so I can skip the first stage of European Tour Qualifying School,” the world number 37 explained.

For this reason Porteous elected to play the Western Province Amateur this month, which carries a lot of world ranking points, instead of representing South Africa at this year’s Africa Zone VI Golf Championships.

“I have a lot of faith in the team that the SAGA has chosen and I am sure they will successfully defend the title and return victorious,” he said

Porteous and Lombard were members of the side that claimed South Africa’s 12 victory in the African championship in Malawi last year. Lombard, the country’s number two ranked amateur, will lead the South African team in their title defence at Windhoek Golf and Country Club from 22-26 April alongside Leopard Trophy debutants Taylor, Gerlou Roux, Werner Ferreira, Tertius van den Berg and new caps Thriston Lawrence, the reigning Sanlam SA Amateur champion, Sanlam SA Amateur finalist Andrew Light, and Taylor’s twin brother, Eddie.

CAPE PROVINCE OPEN LEADING SCORES:

273 Haydn Porteous (Modderfontein GC) 65-71-70-67

277 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Nigel GC) 65-70-69-73

279 Zander Lombard (Woodhill CC) 68-72-68-71

283 Nicholas Mitchell (George GC) 69-74-71-69

285 Jovan Rebula (George GC) 75-71-69-70; Breyten Meyer (George GC) 73-72-69-71; Louis Taylor 72-73-68-72

286 Ivan Williams (Riversdale GC) 75-70-73-68; Teaghan Gauche (The Els Club Copperleaf) 74-72-66-74, Gerlou Roux (Bellville GC) 71-74-73-68

288 Jarred Miltz (Wanderers GC) 76-70-70-72

289 Drew Denyer (Mowbray GC) 74-74-72-69

290 Graeme Vrugtman (Randpark GC) 73-73-70-74

291 Jaco Mouton (Glendower GC) 75-77-71-68; Daniel Mantel (Durbanville GC) 73-75-69-74; Paul de Beer (Kameeldoring GC) 72-73-73-73; Johann Germishuys (Stand GC) 68-72-75-76

292 Werner van Niekerk (Wingate Park CC) 76-74-70-72; Armandt Scholtz (Paarl GC) 74-74-68-76

293 Marlon Swarts (Durbanville GC) 76-68-71-78; Henri van der Walt (Stellenbosch GC) 71-75-69-78

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