Carel du Plessis claims the 2019 Eskort Open title
An eventful, fun and competitive weekend on the greens as the club hosted the annual Eskort Open
Submitted by Estcourt Golf Club
The general manager of Eskort PTY (LTD), Wynand Nel, opened the weekend’s proceedings by striking the first ball for the Eskort Open tournament.
SEE THIS: Eskort Open is officially open
It was a weekend where the weather played its part and over 130 golfers walked onto the course for a four-ball on Friday, a better-ball on Saturday and then the big one, the Eskort Open 36-hole stroke play competition.
It has been a long time since the B division has started with a three handicap and up, and players as low as plus-eight for the 36-hole medal. As anticipated, with professional golfers taking part, the scores were going to be low.
Young Carel du Plessis out-scored the field and posted 33, 34, 34, 33 10-under and missed the course record by one, held by Lindani Ndawondwe.
He was six shots clear of professional James Kampte on 140, followed by Lindani Ndawondwe (also on 140) and Elvis Sithebe on 143. Fifth was Lindani Mthiyani on 146.
The B division saw S Khuzwayo win on 149, Vuzi Ntanzi on 156, followed by L Majola on 157, Z Dlamini on 159 and our own Luke Schiever on 160. The best nett for the day went to S Khuzwayo on 137, Carel du Plessis on 140, Deejay Ramdhav 142, L Mthiyani 144 and L Majola on 145.
The course record would surely have been broken if the wind hadn’t come up, making it virtually impossible to post good scores.
To crown it all, JP Majola posted a hole-in-one, winning a R1000 voucher kindly sponsored by Eskort.
This did not deter Carel du Plessis, who posted a 33 in that howling wind. On Friday, the four-ball alliance was won by T Dladla, Elias Mageza, Johannes Mchunu and Sondlo Mlotshwa on 119 points, followed by Owen Mcluckie, Bunn Hamman, Wilfie Laatz and Carlo Piagesti on 116, in third position were Shane Davis, Deven Govender, Tony Pillay and Juggy Pillay on 114 and Deejay Ramdhav, Shane Mothilal, Gordon Chotu and Lee Archary on 111.
The Saturday better-ball was won by Gordon and Graham Smith on 47 points, followed by Warren and Graham Smith on 47, Phiwe Mabaso and Gordon Chotu on 44, Arnold and Gail Boettiger on 46, Johannes Mchunu and Elias Mageza on 46, and Garrick Oliver and Jeremy Hunter Smith on 43.
Closest to the pin on 3 and 16 was won by Graham Smith and on number 12 and 7 by Leon Naidoo. We have to give it up for Wynand Nel for the weekend sponsorship, as well as Blu Rock Quarry for also sponsoring.
The course was in perfect condition thanks to green keeper Ron Elmore, as well as Darryn Wortmann and his committee for a very well-run open, not forgetting Bruce Titlestad and his staff for all the catering done over the weekend.
Please put your names down for Saturday, which will be the annual four-ball scramble drive competition in aid of St Gregory Primary School. Fantastic prizes are on offer, so don’t miss out.
The better-ball, sponsored by Rite Watch, was won by Phiwe Mabaso and Dewald Ludere on 42 points. Thank you to Richard and Aruna Drewett; we appreciate it.
SEE MORE: Deejay Ramdhav claims victory on the golf course again
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