GEORGE, 1 July 2016 – Southern Cape junior Christo Lamprecht and Casey Jarvis from Ekurhuleni braved high winds, rain and icy conditions to come up trumps in the Dimension Data Junior Open at Fancourt on Friday.
Overnight leader Lamprecht closed with a hard-fought for two-over-par 74 to claim the main title by two strokes on three under 212. Gauteng North’s Keegan Mclachlan carded a 72 to share second with Kyle de Beer after the Eastern Province junior returned a 71.
Meanwhile 12-year-old Jarvis battled the elements to hold on for a six shot victory on one-under-par 216 in the Under-15 Challenge.
Lamprecht shook his head in relief at having survived what he called “the most brutal day” of his short golfing career.
“The conditions were incredibly testing,” said the 15-year-old Oubaai golfer. “We anticipated cold and windy weather from the forecast, but we expected the wind to start picking up around 11h00. It was ice cold when we teed off and the wind was already howling. The day just got grumpier as dark clouds and rain moved in. The temperature dropped into single figures and the wind just kept picking up speed. It was really, really brutal.”
Lamprecht opened with an one-under-par 72 at The Links to grab a three-way share of the lead with Jayden Schaper from Ekurhuleni and North West’s Andre van Dyk and took pole position with a four under 68 at the Outeniqua course on Thursday.
His experience in windy coastal conditions shown through in the final round as he kept clear of the chasing pack at the par-72 Montagu course and never relinquished the lead, despite bogeys at par five fourth and short eighth and further drops at 12 and 15 on the back nine.
“The birdies at 10 and 14 really saved the day,” said the Louis Oosthuizen Junior Academy player.
“Keegan got within a shot of me when he started with back-to-back birdies,” Lamprecht said. “I was two ahead when we turned, though, so my aim for the back nine was just to play for pars to protect my lead.
“At 10, I hit my drive slightly left, but I went for the green in two and just missed the first putt from 20 feet for eagle. I boxed the birdie putt, though, and that kept me safe. After the bogey at 12, I hit it to 20 feet at the 14th and holed the birdie putt to stay ahead.
“I dropped 15 and Keegan birdied 16 to get back within two shots, but I was able to save par at the last three holes to seal the win. I’m really relieved that I finally got it done, because I’ve had a few chances in the last couple of months. They say that the first win is always the toughest and I’ve done it in the toughest conditions possible, so I hope I won’t have to work quite as hard for the second win.”
Jarvis lagged one off pace from Gauteng’s Marcus Taylor after a first round 71 at the Outeniqua course, but moved four shots clear of the chasing pack with a second round 72 at The Links.
He mixed four birdies with five bogeys for a final round 73 to seal his victory.
“The conditions were really, really tough, but I’m happy with the scores I produced under the circumstances,” said the HPC Golf Academies player.
“I’m off to San Diego next week for the IMG Academy Junior World Golf Championships. Mentally, I had to really dig deep to pull through the win in the nasty weather and I feel good about my game.”
DIMENSION DATA JUNIOR OPEN RESULT (top 20)
214 Christo (Jnr) Lamprecht 72 68 74
216 Keegan Mclachlan 75 69 72; Kyle De Beer 73 72 71
219 Luca Filippi 77 66 76
221 Alex van Wyk 75 69 77; Andre van Dyk 72 76 73
223 Jayden Schaper 72 75 76
224 Franklin Manchest 75 71 78
227 Bradley de Beer 79 71 77; Wilco Nienaber 74 72 81
228 Werner Deyzel 80 75 73; Sentanio Minnie 78 73 77
229 Christopher Long 83 71 75; Tristan Barnard 75 73 81
230 Ethan Smith 78 74 78; Keelan van Wyk 74 76 80; Chris Woollam 74 73 83; Christiaan Burke 73 75 82
231 Carlo Heunis 85 67 79; Ge-Rico Muller 81 75 75; Deon Germishuys 78 71 82; Bryce Leach 75 75 81
DIMENSION DATA U-15 CHALLENGE RESULT (top 20)
216 Casey Jarvis 71 72 73
222 Warwick Purchase 76 74 72
224 Samuel Simpson 75 72 77
225 Barend Botha 75 75 75
226 Tristan Galant 78 70 78
228 Marcus Taylor 70 78 80
229 Luka Stanisavljevic 75 74 80
230 Yurav Premlall 77 75 78; Antoine Sale 75 73 82
234 Luke Pienaar 79 78 77; Luhan Bester 77 77 80; Daniel van Seumeren 76 79 79
236 C.J van Wyk 80 81 75; Nkosenye Carl Mwale 77 76 83; Alessio Graziani 75 73 88; Jordan Duminy 73 81 82
237 Kieron van Wyk 77 79 81; James Murray 76 74 87; Ayden Senger 72 88 77
242 Murad Hoosen 84 79 79; Cole Stevens 80 81 81; Ryan van Velzen 75 81 86
