South Africa’s golf paired team to the Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, Kaleigh Telfer and Kyle McClatchie delivered a champions’ performance in the final round, to claim a top 20 finish in the Team Competition in China on Tuesday.
In very wet conditions at the Zhongshan International Golf Club, the local heroes combined for an opening 65 in the foursomes to finish sixth, but lost their footing and dropped well outside the top 20 after a disappointing 72 in the second round Fourballs.
However, the youngsters rallied in the final round to combine for a 140 in the Individual Medal format to tie for 17th with Spain, Norway and a combination side from China and Switzerland on two-over-par 290.
Ekurhuleni’s McClatchie carded a 74, while Telfer from Gauteng fired a one-over-par 73 to improve five shots on her first round in the Girls Competition.
“This was a undoubtedly a fantastic and unique experience for Kyle and Kaleigh,” said golf code manager, Gavin Reynolds.
“They both enjoyed the chance to test the current level of their games against top golfers from around the globe. Both juniors realise that they have work to do, however, they learned a lot from the experience and the opportunity to gain experience at this very high international level will certainly benefit both of them in months to come.
“We are all quite tired after all the excitement, so we are looking forward to having a nice day at the local markets on Wednesday.”
Meanwhile Sweden, who tied Korea for first on 16-under-par 272, won the play-off tussle for gold, while Italy clinched the bronze medal after going into extra time against Denmark after the sides also tied at 14-
Final Result – Top 10: 272 (-16) Sweden 65-67-140 (gold) 272 (-16) Korea 61-71-140 (silver) 274 (-14) Italy 62-72-140 (bronze) 274 (-14) Denmark 65-65-144 275 (-13) Chinese Taipei 66-67-142 276 (-12) Germany 63-72-141 277 (-11) Japan 68-70-139 278 (-10) Venezuela 69-70-139 279 (-9) Thailand 68-70-141 280 (-8) New Zealand 68-73-139 282 (-6) Mexico 67-72-143; Australia 63-70-149 290 (+2) South Africa 65-78-147; Spain 68-77-145; Norway 64-71-155; China/Switzerland 70-69-151
Click here to go to the official Nanjing2014 website for the full results
Photo 1 caption: Kaleigh Telfer and Kyle McClatchie with golf code manager, Gavin Reynolds, at the Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China. Photo: Wessel Oosthuizen / SASPA
(With editing by gsport)
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