https://www.facebook.com/144130809004378/

Just About Golf, Sandton (2026)

27/10/2014

It was so close (again) for Brendon de Jonge searching for his first PGA Tour win.

An incredible tournament (68 – 64 – 69 – 65) put him in the clubhouse at 14 under par for the McGladrey Classic. He had started his final round with 3 back-to-back birdies and then sank a 40 footer on the 10th and a 19 footer on the 12th to have high hopes at Sea Island, Georgia.

But two more walked in on that score, meaning a play-off where Brendon lost to a brilliant birdie on the second play-off hole.
Rory Sabbatini was T22 at 7 under.

Earlier, Tyrone van Aswegen and Richard Sterne missed the cut.

26/10/2014

Charl Schwartzel was the top billed player going into ISPS Handa Perth International event.

Charl had a solid start with a 68 and 69, but the weekend’s 70 and 72 finish saw him end T15.

It hasn’t been his best calendar year with no wins on either the US or European Tour and only 5 top 10 finishes. But there’s still time to claim a victory in the events remaining before Christmas, especially the Alfred Dunhill Championship which was his in 2013.

26/10/2014

Hainan Island is a golfing paradise in the most southern part of China, about 460 km west of Hong Kong and 480 km east of Hanoi, Vietnam.

It has a been a real pearl of a golfing venue for Lee-Anne Pace, who on different courses has claimed 2 LET wins and now lies on the verge of a third one, this time on the LPGA.

In terrible wet, monsoon conditions, the Blue Bay LPGA event was reduced to 54 holes and only made possible by the incredible drainage systems in place at this state of the art venue (Sanya Jian Lake Blue Bay GC) which was opened in 2012.

Lee-Anne dropped only 2 shots in her opening 67 – 66 rounds which were completed over three days and got her to a joint lead starting today’s third and final round. Three birdies in 9 holes moved her into sole position of the number one spot at 14 under par, 3 shots clear of the field, when torrential rain came down and play was suspended again. After a two hour delay, she came out and birdied the 12th to go 4 ahead with just 5 holes to play when bad light suspended play as she stood on the 13th.

I will have fingers crossed for her making more history tomorrow as she will sleep overnight knowing the only SA lady to win before her on the LPGA was Sally Little whose wonderful record 15 tour haul ended 26 years ago in 1988.

20/10/2014

The weather was much kinder to us this year for the SA Women’s Open played at San Lameer. Only one day was lost to rain, and the 22nd championship was decided over 54 holes.

Lee-Anne Pace is not just a world champion golfer but one of the nicest people in golf and a brilliant ambassador for all it stands for.

Literally, she left her best till last shooting a final round tournament low of 67 (having opened with 28 pars on her 71, 73 scorecards) to get to 5 under in the clubhouse. 6 ladies were still out on the course, one of whom was already on that mark and the others needing to catch her. It was an amazing eagle on the par 5 13th, and a wonderful birdie on the 18th, courtesy of an approach shot over the water to just 4 foot short the pin, that took her through the field and onto the leader board for the first time this week.

In the end, it was a shoot out on the 18th, with shared pars the first time around and then on the second attempt yet another brilliant approach shot - this time to 3 foot - that gave her victory, the SA trophy (for the first time) and the R672 000 purse. Arguably, as one of the most popular ‘players’ player’ on the LET her fellow competitors doused Lee-Anne and caddy, Andy, in champagne as the final putt dropped.

There were incidents aplenty on the rain drenched course where wayward shots were captured by water traps and out-of-bounds areas. The rules officials worked hard! Overall scores ballooned particularly in the first two rounds leading to a cut mark at plus 9 for 62 players (including 9 Southern Africans) for the finale. In the end, only nine could beat the course par.

Stacy Lee Bregman (75, 74, 69) had 12 straight pars on the final day before coming right with 3 closing birdies in 6 holes. She ended T14 at 2 over.

Melissa Eaton had the best SA first round with a 2 birdie 70, and American-based SA-born, Paula Reto (for whom San Lameer is the first and only course she has played in this country) the same score on Saturday. However, their respective 80 and 79 other rounds left them out of contention going into Sunday. Final 72 and 71 scores had them tied with Ashleigh Simon (79, 71, 72) at 6 over par on T30.

Connie Chen (73, 75, 75) finished T37 on 7 over par, and Kim Williams (75, 74, 77) three further back on T46.

Special mention must go to 16 year old Shawnelle de Lange who was the only SA amateur to make the cut. 10 over par and T46was more than respectable. She is full of potential.

Nobuhle Dlamini played with flu, and braved the week for T60.

The LET and Sunshine Tour used the occasion to announce a 7 year extension of the co-sanctioned event, which is brilliant news for ladies’ golf.

21/09/2014

Congratulations to Richard Sterne and Tyrone van Aswegen who secured their full playing cards for the US PGA 2015 tour.

In the 4 match finale to the season, Richard’s card was secured last week with his second place finish (where he gave up a 3 shot lead in his last four holes), while Tyrone’s went all the way to the wire to today’s final round where his 3 over par 73 gave him a Web.com Championship 5 under for T11. He too made it difficult, repeating Richard’s 3 dropped shots in the last 4 holes.

Nonetheless, their Web.com qualifying rankings for the PGA Tour (9th and 29th, respectively) give Richard a first time experience, and Tyrone a repeat year on the hardest golf tour of them all.

Unfortunately, neither Dawie van der Walt nor Trevor Immelman made it.

21/09/2014

What a weekend for SA ladies!

Connie Chen made a brilliant breakthrough on the LET claiming a maiden win on tour at the Tenerife Open played on the Canary Islands.

She won by 3 shots after a closing 69 which got her to 12 under par (68 – 70 – 69 – 69), and a 2 shot margin. Her final round highlights included an opening birdie and a 10 meter putt for eagle on the 13th.
Stacy Lee Bregman finished 9 shots further back in T12, and Lee Anne Pace a shot further back.

21 year old Connie’s previous best finish was T7 in the Czech Republic earlier in the year, and this fantastic win comes off the back of missing 7 cuts out of 12. However, today’s result marks a turning point in her opportunities and ambitions.

Well done, Connie!....

Meanwhile, on the LPGA, Paula Reto (who only took up golf 9 years ago at the comparatively ‘old’ age of 15, and is in her first year as a tour pro) did brilliantly.

She was tied for the lead going into the final round in Alabama (65 – 66 – 70), only to be steamrolled by the winner’s 66. Her opening 65 was a career best score.

With all the first-time pressure on her, she posted a respectable 73 score today for 14 under par for the tournament and a finish of 3rd alone. 7 shots behind the winner, it was the best finish of her rookie year.

I think we can expect a lot more of this former track athlete.

01/09/2014

Earning a full playing card for the US PGA Tour changed last year from the draining old Qualifying system.

Effectively, all 50 available additional cards now come through the Web.Com tour.

25 cards go to the top money winners for the year, and then 25 more cards go to the top point holders after a four tournament finale to the season.

So last week, and the coming three weeks ending in the Web.com Championship, are events to watch.

Neither Tyrone van Aswegen (151st) nor Trevor Immelman (153rd) retained their 2014 PGA cards so they are playing in the Web.com Finals as are Dawie van der Walt, Branden Grace and Richard Sterne.

Tyrone was the top finisher (T7 at 13 under par) in the opening event - the Hotel Fitness Championship at Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dawie finished T60 and Trevor T63, while Branden and Richard missed the cut.

Watch this space.

01/09/2014

The Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston moves into its Monday final round with Charl Schwartzel in T40 at 1 under par after a 72 – 72 – 68 start.

Ernie Els (72 – 71 – 73) is T62 at plus 3.

Their FedEx Cup status is projected as 50th and 44th respectively so they will both want a good final round in Massachusetts to ensure their progress to next week’s Draw for the third leg of the playoffs at Cherry Hills.

01/09/2014

The Northern Island Open Challenge was played at Galgorm Castle and gave Brandon Stone his best finish on the Challenge Tour.

A very consistent week (69 – 67 – 69 - 69) took him to 10 under par and a T5 result.

Earlier, Dylan Frittelli and Jake Roos missed the cut.

01/09/2014

Hennie Otto played a blinder!

He claimed his second Italian Open (previously in 2008) and third ET win (the other was the SA Open played at Serengeti in 2011), by winning in Torino today.

His 20 under winning total was founded on an incredible second round 62.

Hennie survived a potential scare on his first hole today (the commentators thought his ball might have moved on his downswing in his second shot) but played so composed the whole day without dropping a shot to record a closing 68 for a wire-to-wire victory and the 250 000 euro cheque.

With the event’s focus seemingly substantially on the nine players who automatically get selected for the Ryder Cup, Hennie possibly sneaked under the radar and received less media attention the whole week and could concentrate on his game.

His win catapults him 65 places on the OWGR to inside the Top 100.

Darren Fichardt’s 71 gave him T18 on 9 under, while Merrick Bremner produced another excellent performance with a final 72 for 7 under and T35.

Five other South Africans started, but didn’t make the weekend.

28/08/2014

The Wild Waves Golf Challenge is on at the magnificent Wild Coast golf course.

The weather has been exceptionally kind to us for the past two days, but things are predicted to change dramatically tomorrow for the final round with 70 km per hour winds predicted which threaten to even make the course unplayable.

So far, the opening 36 holes have all belonged to Colin Nel whose back-to-back 65’s for 10 under par were created totally differently. Whereas yesterday’s 18 was almost perfection the whole way round, today’s involved some amazing scrambling that incredibly also gave him a 5 under par score. He had 8 birdies to 3 bogeys with his putter saving him on a number of occasions.

Colin holds a 3 shot lead over Uli Van den Berg (68 – 65), whose great year is continuing, and Jared Harvey (69 – 64). Jared eagled the 18th and added 5 birdies to his scorecard.

Four others are T4, just one shot further back, including Ockie Strydom who jumped 62 places today by shooting an amazing 8 under par 62, in a round where he said he 'could do nothing wrong'.

With a few still to finish at the time of writing, the cut will most likely be 1 under par, with 49 players left to contend for the R700 000 purse.

24/08/2014

The first of the four events making up the USPGA FedEx playoffs is always the Barclays played at Ridgewood CC in New Jersey.

Each event is an elimination with more or less 30 players dropping out of the running each week for the $35 million overall bonus purse, which includes a $10 million top prize.

Ernie Els had a wonderful final round. Birdies on the 4th, 9th, 13th, 17th and 18th and not a single dropped shot gave him a perfect 5 under par 66. There are six players still on the course, but Ernie’s 11 under par should finish an impressive T5, at a tournament he has won twice before. It jumps him from 91st to 39th in the FedEx Rankings.

Charl Schwartzel’s final round 70 (which included 15 pars) gave him a grand total of 4 under for T30.

Brendon de Jonge had a difficult first nine, dropping 5 shots in 5 holes, before carding 10 straight pars for a closing 75 which was 1 over par overall and T61 - but still good enough to progress to next week, where he will need to do exceptionally well to go to the third event.

Retief Goosen, however, may have finished just one shot worse in T66, but today’s 74 knocked him down 7 places on the FedEx Cup ranking and out of the Top 100.

Tim Clark, like Louis Oosthuizen and Rory Sabbatini, missed the cut this week, but unlike them, Tim still moves on to next week’s event by virtue of his ranking well within the Top 100.

Just About Golf

27/10/2014

26/10/2014

26/10/2014

20/10/2014

21/09/2014

21/09/2014

01/09/2014

01/09/2014

01/09/2014

01/09/2014

28/08/2014

24/08/2014

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category