Theron leads title chase at Border Champs

Top South African junior Bianca Theron will lead the field at this year’s Border Open Championship, which tees off at East London Golf Club this weekend.

The country’s number two ranked junior has already tasted success this season with victories at the Nomads WGWP Junior Championship in January and more recently, she lifted the title of the Gauteng North Junior Girls Championship.

Theron defeated Cara Gorlei from the Western Province in a play-off at the Metropolitan Golf Club and beat Ivanna Samu from Gauteng by two shots at the Zwartkops Country Club after posting rounds of 70 and 73.

The Boland junior will face some formidable competition from former Nomads SA Girls champion Michaela Fletcher, who down North West’s Mae Cornforth 3 & 2 for the Eastern Province Match Play title earlier this month.

Fletcher comes to the windy city in great form, having also claimed a top three finish on the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s Chase to the Investec for Ladies this month.

Theron can also expect a strong challenge from fellow Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation member, Kaleigh Telfer.

The Bryanston junior defeated the country’s number one senior amateur Kim Wiliams for the Mpumalanga Championship in late November and followed with a wire-to-wire victory at the KwaZulu-Natal Junior Championship at Selborne Golf Club in December.

Telfer also featured in the Boland Junior Championships, which was won by Ji Sun Kang from the Western Province.

Gorlei, who posted a top five finish at the Gauteng North Junior Girls Championship, cannot be discounted and will certainly be hunting a victory after runner-up finishes in the Boland Junior Championships and Nomads WGWP Junior Championship.

Local hopes, however, will be pinned on young Demi Flanagan and the experienced Millie Dondashe, while Tara Griebenow from the Eastern Province will also attempt to ward off the visitors and keep the trophy on Eastern Cape soil.

The Border Open Championship will be played over 54 holes, with 18 holes being played on Saturday, 22 February 2014 and 36 holes on Sunday, 23 February 2013.

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