Solid start for SA at Junior World Cup
South Africa’s top juniors celebrated a productive Youth Day in Japan as both the boys and girls teams placed inside the top five in the first round of the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup at the Chukyo Golf Club in Aichi-Prefecture on Tuesday.
Defending champions Japan opened with a four-under-par 140 in the Girls Competition to finish three strokes clear of Korea and six shots ahead of South Africa, who tied for third on 146 with Colombia and France.
Kaleigh Telfer opened with an even-par 72 for a share of fourth in the Girls Individual Standings, Ivanna Samu registered a 74 and Natasha Carlsson signed for a non-counting 76.
Japan and Sweden set the first round target in the Boys Competition at seven-under-par 206.
The United States lag two off the pace in third, while South Africa tied for fourth with Korea and Canada on three under 210.
Keegan de Lange fired a two under 69 to tie for 10th in the Boys Individual Standings.
Dylan Naidoo opened with a 70, Herman Loubser returned a 71 and Marco Steyn posted a non-counting 80.
GIRLS TEAM STANDINGS
140 Japan (-4)
143 (-1) Korea
146 (+2) South Africa; Colombia; France
147 (+3) United States
149 (+5) New Zealand
152 (+8) Mexico
GIRLS INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS (top 10)
68 Yumi Matsubara JAP
71 Jo Hyunkyung KOR; Lauren Stephenson USA
72 Kaleigh Telfer RSA; Isabella Cardenas COL; Minami Hiruta JAP; Heo Hyeonju KOR
73 Elisabeth Codet FRA; Agathe Laisne FRA
BOYS TEAM STANDINGS
206 (-7) Japan; Sweden
208 (-5) United States
210 (-3) South Africa; Canada; Korea
211 (-2) Norway
212 (-1) Chile
215 (+2) China; Italy
216 (+3) New Zealand
217 (+4) Mexico; Scotland
218 (+5) Brazil
220 (+7) Zimbabwe
BOYS INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS (top 10)
67 Zenjiro Matsui ITA; Joaquin Niemann CHILE; Ren Okazaki JAP; Tim Widing SWE
68 Takumi Kanaya JAP; Mason Overstreet USA; Chandler Phillips USA; Marcus Svensson SWE; Jang Taehyeong KOR
69 Keegan de Lange RSA; Im Sungjae KOR
Daily draws and scores available at http://www.wjgtc.org/english/score/index.html
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association and Womens Golf South Africa.