JP van der Watt celebrated his first national success in front of a jubilant home crowd when he lifted the Proudfoot Trophy as the winner of the stroke-play section of the South African Amateur Championship on Monday.
The home favourite fired an opening round of seven-under-par 65 to start the final round one off the pace, and his five-under 67 at Humewood Golf Club lifted him to 12 under par.
“It’s always, always nice to win, but I have to say, this is special,” said Van der Watt, who plays out of Humewood. “I’m really honoured and proud to lift the Proudfoot Trophy.”
Bogey-free through all of the 36 holes, the Eastern Province golfer triumphed with a one-stroke edge over Dian Kruger, who chased hard, but his closing eight-under 64 was just not enough.
Juan Coetzee, who led after the first round, was third on 10 under after his second round of two-under 70, and India’s Sukhman Singh shared fourth on nine under with Jordan Wessels after rounds of 68 and 65 respectively.
Van der Watt said the advantage of his local knowledge was crucial to chiselling out his victory.
“I think I just stuck to my game plan and executed it quite nicely. I do know the golf course like the back of my hand; it’s basically a second home. I know the misses, I know the winds and I know where to go. I relied on that knowledge to get around. And I did get a few favourable member’s bounces, but in golf, you take it when it comes.”
After he made just two birdies on the front nine, just as he did in the first round when he started on the 10th, the 24-year-old made three in a row from the 15th, and that was the stretch the reeled in the trophy for him.
“The closing stretch is always quite important,” he said. “In the first round, with the westerly wind, all the par-fives on the front nine and on the back nine were playing downwind, so I could try to attack them and make a move there.
“Today I played really solid. When I got to 15, I hit a good drive, and a very solid second and two-putted the par-five. On 16, just executed the plan nicely. I laid up, wedged it close and made the putt. Took advantage of the wind on 17, hit it middle green and two-putted for another birdie. That stretch does open itself up to birdies if you can take advantage of a good tee shot.
“The outward nine is definitely the tougher nine, and you have to respect the par fours and the par-three 6th hole. You pluck your way around and if the birdie comes, it comes, but nine pars will never hurt you. I was solid through the front, picked up birdies on five and nine and turned with no bogeys on the card. That’s always a win.”
Kruger’s 64 which took him so close consisted of 32 shots on each nine, with three birdies on the front and five on the homeward nine.
Coetzee stumbled out of the gate with a double-bogey on the par-three 12th and a bogey on the tough par-four 13th, but the 15-year-old bounced back incredibly well. He racked up five birdies from the 14th and got to within a shot of Van der Watt with his sixth gain on the par-four 4th before his chase was halted with a drop on the par-five 7th.
Singh made five birdies and a bogey in his 68, and Wessels had an eagle on the 17th, as well as seven birdies and two bogeys in his seven-under 65.
For Van der Watt, the victory, which is really just a precursor to the match play which begins on Tuesday, is vindication of a number of decisions.
In 2020, persuaded by former inter-provincial teammate Kyle de Beer, he opted to stay in South Africa to attend Nelson Mandela Bay University after contemplating taking up a scholarship to an American college.
“Kyle set me up with an interview with Madibaz Golf Club president Karl de Preez, who said if I started doing well and got into the national rankings, he would be able to assist with funding and finding scholarships,” Van der Watt explained. “And it worked out for me.”
The Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation member twice represented South Africa at the FUSI World University Championships, and in last April, he graduated with a BCom Information Systems and Business Management degree.
Named 2024 Madibaz Sportsman of the Year, Van der Watt was inducted into the GolfRSA National Squad following his won in the Cape Province Open. He earned his first cap for the Africa Region 5 Golf Tournament in Zambia, where he led the team scoring, won the KZN Match Play Championship, finished third in the MCB Indian Ocean Open in Mauritius and helped Team South Africa to victory in the 2024 All-Africa Golf Team Championship in Zimbabwe in October.
And now he’s the owner of one of the most coveted pieces of silverware in South African golf, the Proudfoot Trophy. It’s named after a man who won the South African Amateur Championship title eight times between 1893 and 1902. Four of those eight titles came in Port Elizabeth, or Gqeberha as it is now, including the very first one.
Perhaps that’s an omen for Van der Watt as he sets off in search of victory in the match play.
Photo: GolfRSA
