Strydom vaults into top 16 in USA
South Africa’s Tristen Strydom broke into the top 20 with a solid performance in the 51st Junior Orange Bowl International Golf on Monday, while fellow Ekurhuleni junior Paul Boshoff hung on to a top 30 placing in the third round at the Biltmore Golf Club in Coral Gables, Florida.
Strydom blasted out of the blocks with back-to-back birdies and reeled in two more at the fourth and sixth holes. He bogeyed the par-three eighth, but parred the tricky ninth to reach the turn in three under.
The 17-year-old Glacier Junior Series champion got too aggressive in the high winds that lashed around the Donald Ross-design, though, and paid the price with double bogeys at both par threes (12 and 14) on the back nine.
Strydom rallied with birdie number six at the 16th, and closed with successive pars for a one under 70 and climbed eight spots to joint 16th on three-over-par 216.
The reigning Nomads SA Boys U-19 Stroke Play champion still has a lot of ground to cover to catch joint leaders, Argentina’s Alejandro Testi and Joaquin Niemann from Chile, who top the 54-hole leaderboard at three-under-par 210.
Boshoff, meanwhile, struggled in the blustery conditions.
South Africa’s top ranked junior notched birdies at the first, ninth and 18th, but dropped five shots and double bogeyed the par-four 11th to sign for a 75. He slipped to a tie for 28th on eight over 221.
Meanwhile Zimbabwe’s Kieren Vincent carded rounds of 73, 68 and 72 to tie for eighth on even-par 213, while compatriot Stuart Krog shares 28th spot with Boshoff after posting rounds of 72, 75 and 74.
Colombia’s Maria Hoyos leapfroggend tournament favourite Linnea Strom from Sweden for the lead in the Girls Division after firing a three-under-par 69 in the blustery conditions.
Hoyos sits at five-under-par 208, four strokes clear of Korea’s Juwon Jeong and six ahead of Strom.
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Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.