Jean-Pierre van der Watt won the prestigious Proudfoot Trophy at the SA Amateur Championship as he won the Strokeplay Qualifier by a shot from Dian Kruger at Humewood Golf Club.
Van der Watt made a brilliant start to the week by carding a bogey-free seven-under 65 with seven birdies to his name. A shot adrift of first round leader Juan Coetzee, Van der Watt turned in a bogey-free round in the second round as well en route a five-under 67.
After a solid if not spectacular first round of three-under 69, Kruger fashioned an eight-under 64 in round 2 consisting of three front-nine birdies and five on the second-nine.
Third meanwhile was Coetzee who signed for a two-under 70 in the second round while Jordan Wessels and Sukhman Singh shared 4th on 9-under par.
The top-64 players from the Strokeplay Qualifier will now advance to the Matchplay and vie for the SA Amateur title.
Let’s take a brief look at three players who advanced and three to miss out on qualification.
Moving On
T-20. Astin Arthur (70-70)
South Africa’s top-ranked player, Astin Arthur, turned in two solid rounds of 70 which leave him primed to make a run at the Amateur Championship title. He takes on India’s Arin Ahuja in the round-of-64.
T-23. Mitch Phigeland (74-67)
Atlantic Beach Golf Links’ Mitch Phigeland rebounded superbly from a first-round 74 with a 67 which sees him move onto the matchplay. Phigeland went bogey-free in round 2, carding five birdies in the process, which bodes well for his round-of-64 clash with SA’s Benjamin Weber.
T-61 Jere Brits (78-70)
Jere Brits did well to rebound from an opening round six-over 78 with a two-under 70. Brits combatted a double-bogey and bogey with five birdies before coming through a 6-for-2 playoff to secure Matchplay berth. He plays Sukhman Singh in the round-of-64.
Missing Out
Josh Daniels (79-70)
Somerset West’s Josh Daniels fought back valiantly from a first round of seven-over 79 with a second round two-under 70 but the South African Golf Development Board standout missed out on qualifying for a potential spot in the Matchplay by a stroke.
Nelis de Bruin (73-81)
Nelis de Bruin crashed out of the SA Amateur after following a one-over 73 with a round of 81. De Bruin found himself in the upper-reaches of the SA Strokeplay leaderboard in the early part of the week and will certainly be disappointed that his SA Amateur campaign met a premature end.
Nicholas Thompson (81-67)
Westlake Golf Club’s Nicholas Thompson showed terrific grit by bouncing back from a nine-over 81 with a superb 67 in the second round. Thompson mixed seven birdies with a double-bogey at the par-4 13th. Given his impressive fightback, it is unfortunate that Thompson did not make it out of a 6-for-2 playoff for a spot in the Matchplay.
Take a look at the round-of-64 matchups at the link below and don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter for more SA Amateur updates!
Photo credit: Ernest Blignault/Supershots