Kiera Floyd broke through for the biggest win of her young career when she won the South African Women’s Stroke Play Championship by five strokes at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club on Tuesday, 8 February 2022.
The 17-year-old Serengeti golfer has long been considered one of the country’s brightest talents, with her booming drives and sharp iron play, but has not always converted her obvious talent into results.
This time, however, there was little that would stand in her away.
After carrying a slender two-stroke lead into the final round, Floyd settled the nerves early on with a birdie, eagle, birdie start on the West Course to open a sizeable gap on the chasing pack.
Although she dropped a shot on the par-four 7th, she bounced back immediately with a birdie on the short 8th and finished the nine with a five-stroke lead over Bobbi Brown.
Floyd then stretched her lead with another birdie at the 11th and not even an hour-long weather delay could put her off her stride. A birdie on the last hole capped off a fine performance and a five-shot victory at seven under par.
“I really started to feel the nerves as I came down the stretch,” she explained.
“Winning this tournament has been one of my goals for a long time and I’m so glad to have been able to pull it off. It means a lot to have this win.” – Kiera Floyd, South African Women’s Stroke Play Champion
“I’ve been working so hard on keeping my emotions in check and to stay level-headed during the round, especially when I hit a bad shot or miss a crucial putt. When I sunk the putt on the 18th, I could feel some of the emotions bubbling up – both relief and happiness.
Floyd now turns her attentions to the match play part of the SA Amateur Championships where, as the No 1 seed, she will take on fellow GolfRSA National Squad member Ellandri van Heerden from Free State in the first round.
“It’s a good confidence booster going into the match play,” she said. “I’d love to do the double, but I’m not getting ahead of myself. I still need to take it one shot at a time.”
Steenberg’s Bobbi Brown recovered from a poor opening round of 77 to finish on 2-under par and alone in second. The reigning Nomads SA Girls champion matched Floyd’s five-under-par 67 as the low round of the day. Her closing campaign featured four birdies, a lone bogey and an eagle on the par-five 15th.
“It feels amazing,” said the 2021 Western Province Amateur champion.
“I never thought I would be able to climb back so many places, but I never gave up trying. I knew it would take two low rounds and I’m delighted that I put them together. This gives me so much confidence heading into the match play tomorrow.”
Brown will take on Shannon Berry, who finished 31st at her home course, in her opening match.
Country Club Johannesburg’s Samantha Whateley – the current top ranked junior in South Africa – produced the only bogey-free round on the day. Whateley fired a bogey-free round of 68 to join fellow GolfRSA National Squad member Gabbi Venter from Bloemfontein Golf Club and Marine Legentil from Country Club Johannesburg in a tie for third position on even par.
Venter and Legentil carded respective rounds of 71 and 72.
Whateley faces Nicola Streicher, Venter plays Ineke Brynard and Legentil goes head-to-head with 14-year-old Casey Twidale.
Glendower’s Kyra van Kan finished on one-over and will have designs on capturing the SA Amateur title that eluded her in 2020 when she lost to Caitlyn Macnab.
GolfRSA No 1 Isabella van Rooyen, on two-over, rounded out the top 10 with 2021 champion Megan Streicher (five-over), Cara Ford (seven-over) and her Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation stable-mate Crystal Beukes, who finished up on seven-under.
And 13-year-old Lea van der Merwe had a big reason to celebrate, too, after coming up trumps in the battle of the teens with a wire-to-wire victory in the B-Section.
The Zwartkops junior recovered from a nervy start to post a round of 83 and win by seven shots over 13-year-old Kaylee Webster. Van der Merwe’s twin sister, Ame, tied for third alongside 12-year-old Lourenda Steyn from Centurion.
Royal Johannesburg & Kensington pair Tylah James and Stacey-Lee van Gent finished fifth and sixth respectively.
The champion and Webster will both have a shot at the coveted double when they line up in the Flight Division on Wednesday. Van der Merwe will face Goldfields’ Cheslyn Jacobs, while Webster be tested by Olivia Wood from Umhlali Country Club.
The SA Amateur Championships wrap on Friday, with the 36-hole finals for the men and both women’s divisions on the East Course.
Final Results of the South African Women’s Stroke Play Championship, at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club on Tuesday, 8 February 2022 (A-Division):
209 Kiera Floyd 71 71 67
214 Bobbi Brown 77 70 67
216 Samantha Whateley 76 72 68; Gabrielle Venter 73 72 71; Marine Legentil
73 71 72
217 Kyra van Kan 71 73 73
218 Isabella van Rooyen 71 75 72
221 Megan Streicher 74 74 73
223 Cara Ford 82 69 72; Crystal Beukes 77 74 72
225 Kera Healey 83 70 72; Kaylan Boshof 79 73 73
227 Bea Breedt 76 73 78; Chloe Malgas-Kelpin 75 77 75
229 Bronwyn Leigh Doeg 82 76 71; Nicole Strydom 81 78 70; Eleonora Galletti
79 74 76
230 Kim Turgut 76 80 74
231 Federica Biscuoli 81 78 72; Julia Saulez 79 77 75
233 Stephanie Barbaglia 76 80 77
234 Jasmine Furstenburg 80 82 72; Gia Raad 79 79 76
235 Danielle Bekker 77 79 79; Demi Flanagan 77 79 79
236 Kesha Louw 85 76 75; Nicola Schoeman 82 78 76
238 Casey Twidale 87 77 74; Ineke Brynard 85 76 77; Nicola Streicher 81 77
80
239 Shannon Berry 76 84 79
240 Ellandri van Heerden 85 79 76; Holly Lau 82 81 77; Charlotte Millard 81
80 79
241 Liezl Smit 84 80 77; Nelia Swanepoel 79 80 82
242 Anika Smit 83 75 84; Isabella Jordan Ferreira 82 80 80; Kaitlyn van de
Vyver 78 81 83
243 Olivia Wood 86 79 78
244 Zelane Wessels 87 82 75; Lizemari Richter 82 84 78; Shivania Kalimuthu
82 79 83
245 Zané Kleynhans 84 77 84
246 Shannon Butler 83 82 81
247 Hanne Rademeyer 84 80 83; Zara Le Keur 83 80 84; Heather Kruger 82 85
80
248 Lonique Jansen van Vuuren 83 80 85; Amy Fletcher 83 79 86
250 Cheslyn Jacobs 94 76 80; Lauren Clough 85 83 82
251 Tayla Howroyd 86 80 85; Tebogo Lefifi 85 84 82
252 Lee-Ann van der Merwe 90 79 83; Tyla Potgieter 87 80 85
254 Ashley Huysamen 85 83 86; Samantha Conradie 84 85 85
255 Isabella Crafford 93 82 80; Kayla van der Merwe 88 84 83
256 Rene Liebenberg 90 80 86
258 Lisa Coetzer 88 82 88
259 Jemima Ullyett 85 86 88
260 Paola Sofia Sakota 89 85 86; Lizerie Raubenheimer 84 91 85
261 Mikah Poonawassy 93 78 90
262 Bongiwe Shabalala 90 86 86; Megan Marais 89 82 91; Sabiha Bacaus 86 91
85
263 Lindsay Owen 91 83 89; Olivia Krige 89 89 85; Charlene Oosthuizen 84 90
89
266 Heidi van der Berg 92 89 85
267 Tanya van Staden 86 89 92
270 Kim Albertus 95 88 87
271 Orateng Maphake 95 86 90
281 Olivia Grace Tait 101 88 92
283 Adri Vorster 99 87 97
286 Kamaya Moodliar 95 94 97
B-Division:
245 Lea van der Merwe 82 80 83
252 Kaylee Webster 88 80 84
259 Lourenda Steyn 92 85 82
260 Ame van der Merwe 89 88 83
263 Tylah James 93 85 85
264 Stacey-Lee van Gent 91 93 80
268 Jaden Visagie 94 90 84; Marne van der Merwe 92 89 87
269 Lerato Mosiane 92 92 85
273 Mandie Badenhorst 99 81 93
274 Maegan Webster 94 92 88; Vivienne Doeg 90 98 86
277 Valda Ford 96 93 88
280 Alexis Toriani 96 96 88
283 Veronica Paddy 89 99 95
285 Mogomotsi Tshepo Sebata 94 93 98
293 Danielle van der Merwe 95 96 102
309 Paro Kistensamy 109 105 95
WD Isabella Williams 94 90 WD; Patience Copeman 96 99 WD
Photo 1 Caption: GolfRSA National Squad member Kiera Floyd celebrated a five-stroke victory in the South African Women’s Stroke Play Championship at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club on Tuesday, 8 February 2022. Photo: GolfRSA
With editing by gsport
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