Skukuza Golf Club’s Ewané Verschoor was crowned the winner of the women’s B division at the GolfRSA Champion of Champions held at Pecanwood Golf and Country Estate on September 30 and October 1.

This tournament pits the best of the best of club champions from around the country against one another, across four divisions, including a specific caddies’ division. The process to simply reach the Champion of Champions final is no mean feat in Mpumalanga.

First, you need to win at club level. Then you need to win either the Lowveld or Highveld competition (depending on where you’re from), after which you must win the Mpumalanga provincial competition. Only then do you qualify for the national final, which is the GolfRSA Champion of Champions tournament.

Competitors are invited to play a practice round if they wish, followed by 36 holes of tournament golf, with the format being stroke play for the A, B and caddie divisions and Stableford for the C division. Each province has two representatives (one man, one woman) across the A, B and C divisions.

Mpumalanga’s representation came from all over the province, but the Lowveld made up five of the seven competitors: Lucia Mhlabane (Malelane Golf Club), Ewané Verschoor (Skukuza Golf Club), Sunnyboy Sehlabela (Sabie Country Club), Letitia de Wet (Sabie) and Lawrence Mdhluli (Mbombela Golf Club). The remaining two, Nkosinathi Maseko and John-George Pringle, hailed from eMalahleni and Volksrust respectively.

The Lowveld golfers shone bright among the country’s very best, emerging with four top-three finishes. Mhlabane finished third on stroke play in the A division, while also claiming first place on nett. Sehlabela was third on stroke play in the B division and seventh on nett. De Wet came close to victory in the C division, but finished second overall.

But the best finish by any of the Mpumalanga golfers belonged to Skukuza Golf Club’s ladies’ champion, Ewané Verschoor. She posted rounds of 81 and 80, defeating Karien Alberts from Wanderers by one shot.

“I’m speechless. I was three shots behind after the first round, so the win was quite unexpected,” she said. “The first thing I thought was that I’ll have to win again next year, just so I can come back. I had such a great time and this is definitely the highlight of my year.”

The remaining Mpumalanga golfers still did their clubs and the province proud. Pringle finished 11th on stroke play in the A division and 12th on nett. Maseko, who plays out of Greenside Colliery in eMalahleni, finished sixth in the C division. Mdhluli finished 12th on stroke play and nett in the caddies’ division.