Limpopo Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship

LIMPOPO -This event is a National Ranking event for the top players in the country to come to Limpopo to play in the event. The tournament is played over three days but only the top 60 and ties are eligible to play the third round. The championship had a total 115 entries this year.

Jean Sadie, Limpopo Golf Union Operations Manager, said: “The weather was perfect and the course was in great condition from the practice rounds throughout the tournament. The greens reached speeds of 13 on the stimp meter and for some of the players who do not play in national events regularly it was a tough ask to get comfortable on the greens”.

Round one finished with three players tied at the top on two under par. David Meyers from Central Gauteng, Steven le Roux from Free State and Christopher van der Merwe from Gauteng North. Limpopo’s top player, Jannie Bronkhorst, was five behind on three over par.

Round two saw co-leader David Meyers break away from the pack with a second round 69 (three under par and five under par total) and take a two-shot lead over Ekurhuleni golfer, Kyle McClatchie on three under par. Kyle had rounds of 73 and 68 until this stage but it was round three that provided all of the excitement.

David Meyers did not wait or stand back for anyone and started quick out of the blocks with birdies at hole one, two, five and six to turn in three under after a bogey at number seven. But two of the toughest holes on the course was no match for David as he made birdie on 10, 11 and 12 after the turn to take a nine-shot lead at that stage. There was a small hiccup at hole 17 where he made a double bogey six which was quickly corrected with a birdie on the last hole.

David finished with an eight-shot victory and took home the coveted prize of Limpopo Amateur Open Stroke Play Champion Golfer 2016. Limpopo’s best finish player was Cameron Nesmith on two over par tied for 12th position.

Limpopo Golf Union took a big step into the future when they joined hands with Albetros Scoring Solutions and used a new live scoring system for the tournament. This kept everyone up to date and informed said Sadie. “We will use this system in all our open tournaments in the province from now on as this adds more value to the tournament for players and sponsors alike. We can measure exactly how many people visited the site and checked scores, this way we know how good the sponsors are being advertised,” Sadie explained.

“We would like to say a big thanks to Koro Creek Bushveld Golf Estate for hosting the event and to all the players who came out to play.”