Nobuhle aims for double at SA Amateur

2012 SA Amateur Stroke Play Champion, Nobuhle Dlamini will be pulling out all the stops when the Sanlam SA Match Play Championship is played at Benoni Country Club from 8 to 11 July.

Although she won the SA Match Play in 2010 her next step up is to pick up the coveted ‘double’ with a victory at Benoni.

But she won’t be having it all her own way. Kim Williams, who won the individual trophy at the All Africa Challenge Trophy at Phakalane Golf Club in Botswana in June, including a seven under par 66 in the second round, will present a strong challenge, having the won the double in 2011 and determined to win at least one of these prestigious championships in 2012.

In addition to the SA Amateur Stroke Play this year, Nobuhle also won the double in the Eastern Cape Championships, the North West and Ekurhuleni Stroke Play Championships and the KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng Match Play Championships.

Kim did not play all the events but did pick up the WGSA 72 Hole Stroke Play and the Gauteng Stroke Play Championship.

Two South Africans on their US summer break, Bertine Strauss and Lejan Lewthwaite, are included in the SA Elite squad, and they are delighted that this Championship is being held whilst they are at home. They have so few opportunities to compete against their local peers and this should serve as a great incentive to win at Benoni. Bertine won the Botswana Women’s championship played at Gaberone after the All Africa Challenge Trophy earlier this month.

The others in the Elite Squad are Kim Williams, Alana van Greuning, Nicole Loesch and Nicole Garcia. Nicole Garcia, at the time of writing, will not be at Benoni. She and three other Pretoria University Students were selected to play at the World University championships in the Czech Republic which clashes with the SA Match Play. Nobuhle, also selected, turned the university championships down in favour of the South African Championship.

Benoni Country Club is a great venue for the inaugural Sanlam SA Match Play Championship. A well-established country club course, it has great new practice facilities, is close to OR Tambo airport and boasts a real country atmosphere with black swans on the lake, and springbok and blesbok roaming the estate.

Sanlam generously agreed to sponsor both the stroke play and match play when it was decided to split the championships and the support of this great company is appreciated.

Enries for this event close tomorrow, Friday 29 June.

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