SA Team’s WAGR make them Favourites against France
If the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) are anything to go by, the Protea team of Derik Ferreira (ranked 19), Jacques Blaauw (27), Adrian Ford (29) and Ryan Clarke (313) will start as the favourites to win the fourth annual amateur golf Test Match against France which starts tomorrow.
The two day Test match, being played at the Chantilly Golf Club, north of Paris, will see the two teams play Foursomes and Better Ball on day one and singles on the final day. The team winning a game gets one point. Should a game be halved, both teams get half a point. The team winning the highest number of points on conclusion of the competition will win the Test Match.
“We beat the French last year in Port Elizabeth, although then there were eight players to a team” said team manager and Senior Vice President of the South African Golf Association (SAGA), Enver Hassen. “We have a solid team this year and will be going all out to beat the home side. The French have won two of our last three encounters, so we are hoping to even the score,” an upbeat Hassen commented.
The French Team is made up of David Antonelli (WAGR ranked 610), Victor Dubuisson (94), Rudy Thuillier (717) and Romain Wattel (829).
The WAGR can be misleading, Antonelli finished runner up in the prestigious Brabazon Trophy (English Amateur Open Stroke Play) two weeks ago. Dubuisson is one of France’s most promising young amateurs, he led the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship, played in February this year at Pearl Valley, going into the final round but stumbled in the last round, in difficult weather conditions, finishing third.
The Test Match precedes the French Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship which commences on 30th May at the same venue. The four Protea players will be participating in this as well.