Val goes the extra mile for Mid Amateur

Seventy one golfers teed off in the inaugural SA Mid Amateur Championships at the picturesque but challenging Kingwood Golf Estate today. Former South African champions Yvette du Plessis (73) and Gilly Tebbutt (78) lead the field together with Sonja Bland (77) and will play in the leading group in the Championship Division.

Hendrien van der Merwe, a 14 handicapped player from Ceres leads the 13 to 20 handicap division on 87.

But the star of the tournament is Val Holland who instigated, organised and found especially generous sponsors for this first Mid Amateur Championship.

The professionalism that she displays in all aspects of her golf career once again came to the fore and will ensure that the event goes from strength to strength.

After the practice round on Sunday, Val welcomed the players at the opening function – a cocktail party at the Kenako Golf and Sports Academy. This evening a gala dinner and Planet Golf fashion show which featured many local young ( and two not-so-young) golfers as models, was enjoyed by all and once again the generosity of the sponsors was evident.

Early feedback from the players is that the Mid Amateur Championship is going to a priority on their 2011 calendar and a full field is expected. Major sponsors SPAR, Kingswood Golf Estate and Planet Golf have already committed to next year’s tournament and Val announced that the event will be played at Kingswood until at least 2012.

The field is reversed on day two with the leaders teeing off at 8am.