South African golfer Gia Reed crowned the 2023 English Girls Open Amateur Stroke Play Champion after she produced two eagles to secure the win on Thursday, 27 July.
The 16-year-old who plays for the Country Club in Johannesburg, finished the 72 hole event with a total gross of 276 with a total to par gross of -12 after she had four impressive rounds of 71, 66, 71 and 68. This allowed her to seal a five shot victory over Lili-Rose Hunt of England with a total gross of 281 and a total to par gross of -7.
In the final round the lead kept changing back and forth between the two in the early exchange and there was still nothing to separate them after the nine holes. In the eleventh and fourteenth hole Raad edged two shots clear leaving her with four holes to play. Raad walked away victorious after Hunt played a double bogey on the 18th hole.
Raad said the following in a statement released by England Golf: “It feels amazing especially when I’ve travelled all of this way. It’s nice to have a South African flag up there and for me to be able to represent my country, it means a lot.”
She added:“I actually wasn’t making a lot of puts, I was struggling to get it to drop, but that first eagle was a long putt, so it gave me a little bit more hope because I was one-shot behind at that moment. The second eagle was a really short one, so I got quite excited by that.”
“During the last three or four holes, I was shaking! Lili-Rose Hunt was playing really well and shot six-under in the morning, so I had to keep up and just keep playing my own game, but she was playing amazing, so I was quite nervous!”
“I tried to keep as calm as I could and hit as many fairways and greens as possible and greens as possible and when the putt dropped on 18, I was so excited, it didn’t feel real!” she concluded.
Photo 1 Caption: South African golfer Gia Raad crowned the 2023 English Girls Open Amateur Stroke Play Champion after she produced two eagles to secure the win on Thursday, 27 July.
Photo: England Golf (Twitter)
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