South African’s leave Royal Troon very disappointed
The three South Africans competing in the prestigious Duke of York Young Champions Trophy will leave Troon this evening very disappointed with their individual performances. Conditions have proved challenging for all three days of the tournament, with wind gusting to 40mph and periods of rain. On Tuesday, Mother Nature even threw in some hail to test this strong field of boys and girls from 31 countries with handicaps averaging +2.
All three South African juniors were only able to break 80 once in their 3 rounds, and Michaela Fletcher (pictured above) was the best of the South Africans on the final day with a 79.
Michaela (pictured above), who won the Nomads SA Girls at Orkney, said Orkney weather was decidedly easier to play in than at Troon. “It was a lot of fun, aiming 40 yards right of the green and the ball catching the left-hand side,” she added.
Haydn Porteous finished on a distressing +26 (85, 76, 81 – 242) and the under 19 SA Boys Champion, Tristen Strydom, tied 36th on +32 (84, 78, 86 – 248). A somewhat disillusioned WGSA President, Cynthia Rayner, was loathe to comment on their performances, and hoped that this was simply a bad spell for Haydn who leaves for World Amateur Teams to represent South Africa in a couple of weeks.
After a 3 hole play-off, Ragnar Gardarsson from Iceland won the event on +9 (76, 77, 72 – 225). Max Orrin from England and Katja Pogacar from Slovenia were the runners-up.