Kajal Mistry, Symone Henriques and Kaleigh Telfer lifted the inaugural Girls Competition trophy for South Africa at the All-Africa Junior Golf Championship, after winning Africa’s premier junior golf contest at the Royal Harare Golf Club in Zimbabwe on Friday.
The SA Girls teams began the final round with an insurmountable lead, and a five-over 149 was good enough to triumph on four over 580, and edge out Zimbabwe by 61 shots.
Mistry from Gauteng completed a wire-to-wire victory in the Girls Competition in four rounds that included two course records – a 69 in round one and 67 in round two – and a final round 75.
“I didn’t start well today and I was three over after nine holes,” Mistry said. “I made some birdies at 11 and 16, but I finished with a pathetic double. At the end of the day, we all did out bit to make this victory happen and we are going to Japan. That’s all that matters.”
The Gauteng junior celebrated victory on even-par 288 and finished four shots clear of Symone Henriques, who closed with a 74. “I was two under through 14, but I bogeyed 15 and I missed a short putt for birdie at 16,” said Henriques.
“Unfortunately I had a horrible finish with a double bogey at 17 and bogey at 18. Not how I wanted to end the week, but I’ve had an amazing experience. The course was brilliant, meeting the girls from the rest of the teams was really awesome and I am so stoked that we pulled off the win.”
Fellow Gauteng golfer Kaleigh Telfer made it a one-two-three finish for South Africa when she carded a 75 to finish at 304. “I was going along really nicely and got it to two under through 14 holes,” said the reigning Sanlam SA Women’s Stroke Play champion.
“Then I dropped a shot at the short hole and it was downhill from there. This was an amazing experience, and I am so pleased to share this victory with Kajal and Symone.
“It’s going to be a fantastic experience to go back to Japan for a third time with these girls, and we are so happy we could win this for South Africa.”
“(SA boys team member) Luca (Filippi) and Kajal both won the Individual Honours and our players held the leading positions in both the Girls and Boys Competitions,” said Women’s Golf South Africa president Karen Olivant.
“But most importantly, our teams made sure that we will be sending two South African junior teams to compete in this year’s Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan.”
Final Result of the Girls Team Competition:
580 South Africa 144-150-137-149
641 Zimbabwe 159-163-161-158
666 Kenya 170-177-163-156
703 Zambia 103-219-197-184
Final Result of the Girls Individual Competition:
288 Kajal Mistry RSA 69 77 67 75
292 Symone Henriques RSA 75 72 70 74
304 Kaleigh Telfer RSA 75 79 75 75
320 Kellie Gachanga KEN 78 89 77 76
325 Danielle Bekker ZIM 77 82 83 83
326 Emily Jones ZIM 82 81 87 76
333 Margaret Nyamukondiwa ZIM 87 86 78 82
346 Ashley Ouma KEN 92 89 86 80
384 Loice Akinyi KEN 93 99 96 99
406 Rachel Namusiya ZAM 103 114 199 90
409 Miness Siami ZAM 98 115 100 96
N/A Martha Matyola ZAM DQ 105 97 94
Photo 1 caption: Gauteng junior Kajal Mistry (R) finished four shots clear of compatriot Symone Henriques (C) to win the All-Africa Junior Golf Championship’s Girls Individual competition at the Royal Harare Golf Club in Zimbabwe on Friday. Kaleigh Telfer (L) finished third for a South African girls’ podium sweep that saw Team SA win the inaugural All-Africa Junior Golf Championship’s Girls Team competition. Photo: GolfRSA
Photo 2 caption: 16-year-old Randpark golfer Mistry has steadily worked her way up the rankings, moving into the Womens Golf South Africa’s Senior top spot in November last year to cap a very successful 2016 season. Photo: Image SA
Photo 2 caption: 2016 Mpumalanga Open and Junior Open champion Kajal Mistry pictured with Womens Golf Mpumalanga president, Meagan Brisley. Photo: WGM
Photo 4 caption: The combined SA Girls and Boys team pictured celebrating their double victory at the All-Africa Junior Golf Championship, in Zimbabwe, are (From left): Luca Filippi (Western Province), Symone Henriques (Gauteng), Christo Lamprecht (Southern Cape), Kaleigh Telfer (Gauteng), Garrick Higgo (Boland), Kajal Mistry (Gauteng) and Jayden Schaper (Ekurhuleni). Photo: GolfRSA
With editing by gsport
(0 rating, 0 votes, rated)
Loading...
