Local junior golf star counts among selected amateurs at SA Open
An upcoming local amateur golfer from the Centurion Country Club will be part of the amateur field in the 2019 South African Open, hosted at Randpark Golf Club this weekend.
The South African Open Championship has always enjoyed a rich history of amateur participation and the 2019 tournament at Randpark Golf Club from 6-9 December will once again feature some of South Africa’s most promising amateur talents.
Current number one Wilco Nienaber will spearhead the seven-strong amateur challenge in the prestigious championship, hosted by the City of Johannesburg, and tri-sanctioned for the first time by the European, Asian and Sunshine Tours.
The 18-year-old Nienaber, who bombs his PING driver a massive 320 metres, became the first South African to win the 36-hole Qualifier for The Amateur Championship at Royal Aberdeen in July since qualifying was introduced in 1983.
He was nominated alongside fellow GolfRSA National Squad players Jovan Rebula, Matt Saulez, Deon Germishuys and Christo Lamprecht by the custodians of the SA Open, the South African Golf Association, to fill the five exempt spots in the world’s second oldest national Open.
The other two spots were snapped up in the qualifying round by Centurion amateur Nicholas Frade and 15-year-old GolfRSA National Squad player Yurav Premlall, who will be the youngest starter in the 240-player field at Randpark.
Their incentive will not be a cut of the R17.5-million purse.
The young guns will vie for the esteemed Freddie Tait Cup, which is awarded to the leading amateur, provided he made the 36-hole cut.
This year’s debutants are Nienaber, Frade, Premlall and Western Province’s Germishuys, the reigning Sanlam South African Amateur champion and two-time Nomads SA Boys Under-19 Stroke Play Championship winner.
Third ranked Saulez from KwaZulu-Natal makes his second appearance alongside 2018 East of Ireland Amateur Open winner and former SA Amateur champion Lamprecht, while fellow Southern Cape golfer Rebula – the 2018 Amateur champion and the highest ranked amateur on the official world amateur golf rankings at 63 in the world – hopes that the third time’s a charm as takes aim at the Freddie Tait Cup.
The amateurs gushed over the condition of the courses.
“Both courses are in the best condition I’ve ever seen. We played the ProShop Northern Amateur here in March and the rough is definitely up. The greens are running smooth and true, but definitely a lot faster,” said Frade.
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