Tough day for SA juniors in Jakarta
After a solid opening round at the Enjoy Jakarta World Junior Golf Championship in Indonesia, South Africa’s juniors struggled to carry the momentum into Thursday’s second round at the Damai Indah Golf Club in North Jakarta.
Conditions were considerably cooler and overall, the day dished up a significantly higher scores in all the divisions as the players struggled in the strong wind.
Tshwane golfer Nicole Hannah, one of only 10 players in the 25-strong field that posted a sub-80 round, was by far the most impressive among the three South Africans campaigning in the Girls A-Group.
The Pretoria Country Club player followed her opening 74 with a five-over-par 77 to finish alone in fourth and just five shots off the pace from overnight leader, Kanyalak Preedasuttijit from Thailand, who held on to pole position with a second round 74.
Hannah got off to a bogey-bogey start, but settled down with three straight pars before collecting her first birdie at the par-five sixth. She turned in 37 after three more pars and played textbook golf until a double bogey setback at the par-five 13th. The 17-year-old sandwiched a birdie at the 15th between pars at 14 and 16, but erased the good work done with a pair of bogeys at the closing holes.
Meanwhile compatriots Bianca Lohbauer and Cara Gorlei carded rounds of 83 and 84 respectively.
Gorlei from Milnerton tied for 12th on 14 over 159, 13 shots off the pace, while Paarl’s Lohbauer finished in 11th place on 13-over-par 157
But none of the A-Division girls had it as tough as Kaleigh Telfer.
The lone South African competing in the Girls B-Group for ages 13-14 started the second round three shots off the pace from the joint leaders, Paphangkorn Tavatanakit from Thailand and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, after an opening 74.
Telfer had a dismal start to her second round, but after turning in 42, she got the putter under control and blitzed home in one-under. Her resulting 77 would have left her three shots off the pace from Tavatanakit and Hataoka, who kept ahead with respective rounds of 75 and 77.
“Kaleigh was smiling when she came off the course to tell me she shot a 77,” said Womens Golf South Africa president, Cynthia Rayner, who is accompanying the players.
“However, about an hour after play finished, we were called to the scoring office. The officials discovered that her marker had recorded a four instead of a five at the 17th hole, which meant Kaleigh signed for the wrong score. She was absolutely gobsmacked, because she was convinced that when she checked her card, it had a five written down.
“And, because the marker had not added up the card, there was no discrepancy in the gross score.”
Rayner said the error was picked up by another player who discovered the mistake after the live scoring scoreboard was altered to a four with a total of 76 and reported it to the officials.
“Kaleigh is absolutely gutted,” said Rayner. “It is such a hard lesson for her to learn during her international debut, but I believe that she will never sign a card again before checking it herself.”
Telfer’s disqualification also dashed all hopes for South Africa to win the team competition, although Gorlei would have had to pull out all the stops for the team to contend in Friday’s final round.
To view the scoring from the Enjoy Jakarta World Junior Golf Championship, click HERE