San Lameer hosts golfing stars
A number of locals will tee it up against some of the game's global stars.
THE Cell C SA Women’s Open is finally here, and at the time of writing, the weather looked…well, a little gloomy.
Hopefully by the time the paper hits the streets the sunshine will be blazing and the putts will be dropping.
The women teed off at San Lameer CC for the first round of four this morning.
The early birds were on the course at 6.30am, which is not a bad time to take advantage of usually calm conditions.
It’s the third consecutive year that the tournament has been co-sponsored by the Hibiscus Coast Municipality.
The first time around it was held at Selborne Park, where rain and gale force winds made it unpleasant.
Last year, at Southbroom Golf Club, unseasonal flooding put paid to the final two days.
So everyone is hoping for great weather, especially seeing as though the event has been lengthened to four days.
Do yourself a favour and get down to San Lameer at some stage.
In the first two rounds, there are some tantalising match ups in prospect.
South African number one Lee-Anne Pace will play with American Cheyenne Woods (yes, Tiger’s niece) and the defending champion Marianne Skarpnord from Norway.
They tee off from the 10th hole at 11.55am today.
Pace, with eight Ladies European Tour (LET) titles, leads a strong local challenge with 37 South Africans in the field of 120 competitors from 24 countries worldwide.
They include Sunshine Ladies Tour winners Ashleigh Simon, Stacy Bregman, Monique Smit, Kim Williams and Tandi von Ruben, a former SA Women’s Open winner, as well as last month’s Tenerife Open de España champion, Connie Chen.
Simon and Chen will compete alongside English Solheim Cup star Charley Hull at 11.44am, while leading Ladies European Tour rookie professional Amy Boulden from Wales will play with South African Paula Reto and England’s Trish Johnson at 11.33am.
The field boasts seven of this season’s LET winners with Woods, Hull, Kylie Walker, Johnson and Florentyna Parker and Valentine Derrey and Julie Greciet from France.
Entry and parking is free for the duration of the tournament.
Televised highlights will be shown on SuperSport and SABC from Thursday to Sunday, with live coverage on SuperSport over the weekend.
There’s a lot of local interest too, with four South Coast players teeing it up.
Melissa Eaton came close to winning it at Selborne, and is perhaps flying in under the radar a bit.
Her twin Nicola had a good start last year before the weather came in.
Amateurs Tiffany Avern-Taplin and newcomer Lizzie Currie have been granted invites and both will be trying to make an impression.
Avern-Taplin played last year and did reasonably well considering, but will be looking forward to a full tournament to show her skill.
The tournament carries a €320 000 purse and is co-sanctioned between the WPGA and the Ladies European Tour (LET).
It is also the first event in the Sunshine Ladies Tour 2015 Chase to the Investec Cup for Ladies series.
