In mid-September, Kaleigh Telfer, a Grade 12 pupil of Education Incorporated’s boutique school in Fourways, interrupted her preliminary exams midway to fly to Mexico to compete in the prestigious World Amateur Team Golf Championship (WATC).
Kaleigh was part of the three women South African national golf team competing on the world’s highest international amateur golfing stage. The other team members were 17-year-old Ivanna Samu and 20-year-old Cara Gorlei.
“The conditions were extremely hot and humid, much like Durban on steroids,” said 18-year-old Telfer on her return, “And the competition was just as fierce.
“The courses were tough, long and narrow, exactly what the Ladies Professional Golf Association professionals have to contend with on a weekly basis.”
Although the first two days of the tournament did not go as well as was hoped, on the third day Telfer came back strong with an under par round, along with her teammate Samu. The duo posted a pair of 71s that moved South Africa from 28th to 20th place at that stage of the tournament.
This was quite an achievement considering that, on average, only 11 percent of the field returned an under par score on any one day.
“Although the humidity was at its worst, Ivanna and Kaleigh took advantage of the perfect weather to give us a considerable boost in the team standings,” said Women’s Golf South Africa national coach Val Holland, who also travelled with the team.
The WATC is a biennial international amateur competition organised by the International Golf Federation. The competition was held for the 27th time this year, with 55 countries competing for the Espirito Santo Trophy. South Africa’s only victory in this event was in 2006.
At the close of the tournament, the South African team finished in 25th place.
“Although this was not the result we had been working towards, we all gained huge experience playing at this level of international competition. We would like to thank Women’s Golf South Africa for this fantastic opportunity,” concluded Telfer.
She is now back to the books to finish her preliminary exams, with matric finals just around the corner.
