Smit ready for Senior Nationals defence

Western Cape golfer Lorraine Smit is cautious but eager ahead of her Senior Womens Golf Nationals title defence at the Krugersdorp and Randfontein Golf Clubs this week. Smit is certainly in winning mode after coming up trumps in the Rooibos Inter-Club Foursomes Challenge at Hermanus Golf Club two weeks ago alongside playing partner and sister, June Watson, who will also be competing in the prestigious Senior Womens Golf event. However, the fifty-something Mowbray golfer warned that she won’t put too much pressure on herself to replicate the performance she delivered at home last year when she clinched the prestigious Senior Ladies title by one shot on a winning score of 155. “Last year I won after playing two solid rounds at Rondebosch Golf Club and at my home course, Mowbray Golf Club,” Smit explained. “These were both courses I know well, but this time I am well out of my comfort zone. It my first visit to Krugersdorp and the first time I’ll be playing either of the two courses. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, though. I thought it would be very flat, but actually, both courses are very well laid out and not flat at all.” Instead of focussing on her title defence, Smit is simply going to enjoy the experience. “I’m just really excited at the prospect of playing,” she said. “I think you should just tee it up and give it your best shot on both days. If you finish at the top, it’s a bonus.” This year’s Senior Womens Golf Nationals has drawn a field of 145 entries, including 80-something Hillcrest golfer Pauline Mountain and Pixie Phillips from Jeffreys Bay in the Southern Cape, who turned 86 on at the end of April. The field will warm up for this year’s event with a friendly Fourball-Alliance on Monday, 20 May, followed by the 36-hole tournament on 21 and 22 May. “I’m sure the curtain-raiser will help me to come to terms with the courses and the altitude,” Smit said. “I think it is just fantastic that golden oldies like us still have the opportunity to compete at a national level and really, when all is said and done, winning the title is just the icing on the cake. As long as I can play, I don’t care who gets to take the trophy home.”

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