Gauteng North Daisies ends long drought in Team Championship
The Gauteng North team celebrated their victory at the SA Women’s 72-Hole Team Championship by jumping into the pond at the 18th hole afterwards.
Danielle du Toit tapped in for birdie on 18, took off her shoes and jumped into the pond at the closing hole with her Gauteng North team-mates to end the SA Women’s 72-Hole Team Championship with a victory splash at Waterkloof Golf Club on Wednesday.
Du Toit, Lenanda van der Watt and Larissa du Preez went wire-to-wire with rounds of 138, 147, 148 and 146 to lift the Swiss Team Trophy with a thundering seven-shot victory on three-over-par 579, ending a four-year winning drought for the Daisies, who previously dominated the team event with four successive victories from 2010.
The young emerging golf star Du Toit also shared the Individual Honours in the competition with Ekurhuleni’s Caitlyn Macnab.
“We are absolutely ecstatic; just over the moon… and very wet,” gushed Du Toit.
She said after the third round, they made a pact that they would jump in the pond like the ANA Inspiration winner jumps into Poppy’s Pond.
“It felt great to tap in that last putt for the win but making that jump with Lenanda and Larissa was the best feeling ever. I hope Waterkloof names that pond after the Daisies,” she said with a big smile.
Gauteng North opened up a six-shot lead in the first round and still led Ekurhuleni by seven shots after 54 holes.
Van der Watt went off first and erased a trio of bogeys with three birdies for an even-par 72 to keep her the team in the driver’s seat.
“It was another tough day on the greens but I limited my mistakes and bounced back after every bogey. The greens are so tricky and it’s easy to get sucker-punched by one bad shot. The moment you lose your focus, this course punishes you. The key to our success was patience and playing the course, not our opponents,” said Van der Watt.
Du Preez, who returned a non-counting 76, added that the team’s credo for the week was to fight until the last putt dropped.
“Take Danielle, who was two down to Caitlyn with four holes to play in the final round. Caitlyn bogeyed 17 and Danielle made a great up-and-down to save par. She laid up on 18 and hit a brilliant wedge to an inch. Caitlyn missed her birdie putt and Danielle tapped in to tie her for the lead. It’s never over till it’s over and we fought for every shot,” Du Preez concluded.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
