Rorisang Nkosi adds Nomads u/15 championship feather to his golfing cap
This year's edition of the Nomads Championship included girls
South African Golf Development Board’s rising star, Rorisang Nkosi, celebrated his first national victory in style on Wednesday, producing a strong closing round at Mbombela Golf Club to win the prestigious Nomads SA u/15 Championship.
Rorisang set himself a target of securing his first win on the national junior circuit in 2020 and duly delivered in Mbombela, carding rounds of 72, 74 and 72 to finish the week on two-over-par 218.
“Winning one of the Nomads national tournaments was my top goal this season, and I’m so stoked with this win,” said the 14-year-old North West junior, who rallied after a stumbling start to pull off a one-shot victory.
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Two shots behind overnight leader Hannes Strooh at the start of the final round, Rorisang stumbled out of the blocks with three bogeys in a row, however, he righted the ship with a birdie on the fourth and made nine pars in a row to stay in touch with the pacesetter from Gauteng.
“I two-putted the 14th after I pulled my drive for bogey, but I bounced back with a birdie on 15. I hit 3-wood down the right, and wedged over the trees and the water to 15 feet.”
The birdie on 15 moved him within a shot of Hannes and he drew level with the leader on five-over with a further gain at the par three 17th.
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“Hannes missed the green on the right, but he putted it to five feet. I lagged my first putt to three feet and when he missed his par putt, I knew I had a chance.
“I was really nervous standing over that putt. I just thought about all the clutch putts I made to save par earlier in the round, took a couple of deep breaths and boxed it for the win.”
He showed plenty promise in the middle of last season, when he finished joint fifth in the Boys Class B for 13- to 14-yearolds in the ATI Ciputra Golfpreneur Junior World 2019 in Indonesia. He also partnered SAGDB stablemate, Kieron van Wyk, to third overall in the Boys Team Competition.
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The Pecanwood golfer backed up the strong performance in Jakarta with a top five in the Nomads SA Boys u/17 Championship at St Francis Links and two runner-up finishes on the popular Bridge Fund Managers Junior Series.
He also banked eight valuable points in his second appearance for North West in the SA Junior Inter-Provincial at Oubaai in December.
“I want to thank my parents, Sizwe and Hloni, for their awesome support and the South African Golf Development
Board for giving me so many incredible opportunities to improve.”
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Tyron Groenveld, from Modderfontein Golf Club, birdied the closing hole for 73 to tie for second with Serengeti’s
Marno Lange (70) and Hannes Strooh (75), while Zimbabwean junior Keegan Shutt also carded 73 to finish alone in fifth on 221.
The 2020 Nomads SA u/15 Championship was opened to female competitors for the first time, and local favourite Lucia Mhlabane walked off with the honours with rounds of 91, 85 and 92.
Lucia is a member of the South African Golf Development programme in Malalane, which is funded by the Gaynor Rupert’s Ladies Invitational. She lives on Riverside Farm and benefits from having access to the National Junior Development Centre at Leopard Creek.
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After a top-five finish in the B-Division at the 2019 Nomads SA Girls Championship, she was selected for the WGSA Invitational Team which won the B-Division in last year’s South African Women’s Inter-Provincial at Vaal Golf and
Country Club.
