Schaper doubles up on SA Boys titles!
Congratulations to 14-year-old Jayden Schaper from Ebotse Golf Club, who captured a brilliant victory in the Nomads SA Boys U-15 Championship on Friday.
While all the attention was on the nine amateurs competing in the BMW SA Open, the Ekurhuleni player quietly delivered a champion’s performance at Fish River Sun Country Club.
Schaper won the Nomads SA Boys U-13 Championship in Nelspruit at the age of 11 and he braved a strong assault from another former SA Boys U-13 champion Tristan Galant at the Gary Player designed championship course to claim a three stroke victory on even-par 216.
Schaper opened with a 73 to tie for second, one stroke behind Christo Lamprecht and one shot ahead of Galant.
He offset two bogeys with a pair of birdies in round two to take the lead at one over 145, while Galant matched his even-par 72 to finish a stroke off the pace.
“I was pretty nervous at the start of the final round,” admitted Schaper,
“But once I got my tee shot off down the middle of the first fairway, the nerves settled. My game plan was just to try and make par at every hole.”
Schaper picked up his first birdie at the par-three fourth and was still flawless when he reached the turn. Galant birdied the fifth, but a double bogey at six and a bogey at nine handed Schaper a four shot lead heading into the last nine holes.
He dropped a shot at 11, but negated the drop with a birdie at the par-four 14th.
“I got a little too excited over the par putt at 11 and pushed it past the hole, but I sunk a five-footer at 14 to get myself back to par for the round,” he said.
“Tristen made a great birdie at 16, but I managed to up-and-down for par after a visit to the bush and I still had a three shot lead with two to play.
“I have to admit I was a little nervous at the 17th, but I made a solid par and just enjoyed playing the last hole. Tristen was one the green in two, but I hit a great five-iron to the middle of the green and had two putts for par to win.
“I’m really stoked about this victory and I have to give my dad Ryan credit for all his support. I also want to thank my coach, Grant Veenstra, who works really hard with me to keep improving my game.”
FINAL RESULT (Top 20)
216 Jayden Schaper 73 72 71
219 Tristan Galant 74 72 73
220 Cole Stevens 77 76 67; Christo (Jnr) Lamprecht 72 75 73
223 Ryan van Velzen 76 76 71
225 Casey Jarvis 77 74 74
226 Alessio Graziani 75 79 72
227 Llewellyn Booysen 82 74 71; Alexandre Lasalarie FRA 74 77 76
228 Kieron van Wyk 81 73 74
229 Barend Botha 82 75 72; Luke Pienaar 78 77 74
231 Marcus Taylor 75 75 81
232 Liam van Deventer 79 77 76; Warwick Purchase 73 76 83
233 Martin Vorster 84 79 70; Benjamin Brent 81 74 78
234 Samual Mckenzie 81 80 73; Emerson Bam 80 81 73; James Vorster Jnr 76 85 73; Antoine Sale 76 79 79
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.