MALCOLM Mitchell of Howick ‘stormed’ to victory at the Midlands Open, played this year at Mooi River Country Club’s 9-hole course.
Play was suspended at times due to some unruly weather.
“Play was suspended for about half an hour. The storm got quite close at times but kind of circled around us,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell shot 72 in the morning to lead by one from Samuel Gouma and by two from Matthew Main.
He increased his lead with 69 in the afternoon, and eventually won by four from Gouma, who had another round of 72.
Mitchell was a member at Mooi River when he was very young, but didn’t have much recollection of the course.
“To be honest it was a lot tougher that what we expected. The rough was quite thick. It rained a bit and it got cold and dark towards the end,” he said.
Mitchell, now 20 years old, was thrilled to finally defend a title. “I was quite nervous as it’s the first time I’ve been able to do that,” he said.
He struggled on both opening nines, with loops of 38 and 37, but was potent on the back nines, scoring 33 and 32.
“I started hitting fairways and the scoring came right. It also helped that I sunk a few putts,” he laughed.
It hasn’t all been clear thinking for Mitchell. He forgot to enter the SA Amateur which is currently taking place at Silver Lakes, and where Matt Saulez shot a first round 69.
“The worst part was that as a KZN team player I did not need to pre-qualify,” he said.
This was Gouma’s best finish in a tournament and justifies his inclusion in the U23 team after Clayton Mansfield withdrew last week.
Main added 72 to his morning 73 to finish in third place.
Gitesh Maharaj was fourth, with rounds of 76 and 74, followed by Derek Scullard and Steve Phytides on 151.
There was a four-way tie on 152, shared by Gareth Atkinson, Walter Malevu, Graham Dickinson, Kwanele Mkhoma and Sipho Hlongwa.
* THE KwaZulu-Natal Golf Union has taken the bold and exciting step of registering its own non profit company in the name of The KwaZulu-Natal Transformation and Development Programme.
The NPC was registered in January and is also a qualifying socio-economic development initiative which affords companies which donate towards the cause, the opportunity to earn BEE points on their BBBEE scorecards, under the element of socio economic development.
“This a brave step forward in attempting to secure funding from the corporate sector to further promote the development of amateur golf in our province” said KZN Golf Union president, Neil Champion.
“We are the first golf union to follow this route and firmly believe it will allow us to control and administer the development of our young and upcoming golfers on a more personal and professional basis. It also affords donors the opportunity to secure valuable BEE points for their businesses. We request all potential sponsors who wish to assist the union in this noble cause to contact our offices for more information.”
