Pressure birdie putt seals the deal
There was all to play for at Benoni Country Club on Friday, February 7, when the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship moved into its last round.
After over 100 amateur golfers, some from countries like Scotland, Ireland, France, Switzerland and Mauritius took to the greens and fairways at Country Club it was Irene Country Club’s Jason Smith who stole the show.
He holed a gutsy three-footer putt for birdie at the 18th to win by one shot.
Smith shot a closing round 69 with a winning total of 14-under-par 274.
The Irene golfer found himself in unchartered waters after rounds of 71, 66, 68 left him tied for third with Nigel’s Stefan Cronje on Thursday.
Smith had earned himself a spot in the final match with top international contenders, Scottish Boys u-18 champion Bradley Neil and the 2013 North of Ireland Stroke Play champion, Irishman Dermot McElroy.
“I had inadvertently brought a huge amount of pressure on myself to win the tournament, because the home crowd were cheering for Stefan and me,” he said.
“It was pretty intimidating to play with them, because they have a lot of experience at this level and neither Stefan nor I, had ever been in contention in a tournament of this stature before.”
Smith called the day the toughest rounds of his life, but also the most rewarding.
“This is undoubtedly the greatest moment of my career, but it was so tough out there,” he said.
“I am absolutely drained, but it was so worth it and this sure makes up for missing that short putt last year to lose the Ekurhuleni Open in a play-off.”
When Cronje failed to birdie the final hole, Smith knew that he needed a four at the par-five to win.
“I wasn’t nervous on the tee, because the tee shot sets up perfectly for me and I executed the approach perfectly,” Smith explained.
“I had about four metres to the pin, so I lagged it to about three foot and that’s when the nerves hit me.
“I was shaking from head to toe.
“I was so relieved when the putt dropped that I didn’t even realise at first that I’d won the SA Stroke Play.
“What a feeling when it hit home!”
Cronje had closed with a par for a 70 to share second with Neil and McElroy, who signed for a 72 and 71 respectively.
Some of the final results are:
274 – Jason Smith 71 66 68 69
275 – Bradley Neil SCO 70 66 67 72; Stefan Cronje 69 67 69 70; Dermot McElroy IRE 69 65 70 71
276 – Romain Langasque FRA 71 69 69 67
277 – Toby Tree ENG 70 73 69 65; Zander Lombard 70 70 70 67
278 – Edgar Catherine FRA 71 70 67 70; Kyle McClatchie 68 72 68 70; Christiaan Bezuidenhout 64 74 69 71
279 – Keegan de Lange 72 69 66 72; N J Arnoldi 71 71 72 65; Gerlou Roux 71 70 69 69; Gareth Clements 69 73 70 67; Gary Hurley IRE 69 70 72 68
280 – Paul Elissalde FRA 71 66 71 72; Joel Girrbach SUI 68 70 68 74; Chris Selfridge IRE 66 74 72 68
281 – Jack Hume IRE 73 70 69 69; Ewen Ferguson SCO 67 73 69 72
282 – James du Preez 72 69 67 74; Cedomir Ilic SER 71 73 68 70; Scott Gibson SCO 68 73 71 70
283 – Paul Boshoff 73 70 72 68; Altin van der Merwe 72 67 71 73; Jamie Savage SCO 71 73 68 71
