There were some big-name casualties as the South African Amateur Championship whittled down to its last eight players on Wednesday, with 15-year-old East London schoolboy Arron Louw and Frenchman Louka Morin stealing the show at Humewood Golf Club.
Louw – the younger sibling of reigning GolfRSA No 1 Kesha Louw – was absolutely thrilled to extend his stay in his debut at the GolfRSA flagship event.
“Every round I’ve won has been a bonus. My mom entered me the day before entries closed, and I came into the championship with no expectations. It’s all been about gaining experience. In fact, she’s packed us up every morning, and every night we’re unpacking again,” he said with a chuckle.
The Selborne College 10th-grader battled to an opening 77 of the 36-hole stroke-play qualifier but shot 70 in the final round to secure his berth in the match play stage.
He crossed the first hurdle when he downed Rakshit Dahiya from India 4&3. He routed Dutchman Emilio Meijer 3&1 to reach the top 16 in the morning and defeated Kyle Kistensamy on the 21st hole to make the top eight.
“I am very happy with my result today,” said Louw. “The conditions were mild over the first nine holes against Emilio, but the wind really picked up on the back nine. I 1-up at turn and I birdied the par-five 11th to go 2-up. From there I just kept my head down.”
Louw won the 14th and birdied the 17th to send the Dutchman packing.
“The match against Kyle was really tough, especially after I won the 2nd and 3rd holes and he rallied to win four in a row,” Louw said.
“I won the 8th and the 9th holes to square and I had to gie him the 11th after my wedge in hit the top of the bunker and my bunker shot flew the green.
“Then it was a real rollercoaster. I won 14 and 15, he won 16, I won 17, but he took the 18th to square again.”
The pair both parred the first, and Louw lipped out on the 2nd hole for the win.
“I eventually got it done with a par on the 3rd,” Louw said. “It’s a long par-three and it played straight into the wind, so I hit a big draw. It looked like it would hold up in the wind, but the ball landed just left of the green. I chipped it to a metre, but my arms felt like lead. I just hit the putt, watched it turn. The relief was immense when it dropped, and Kyle missed his putt to extend.”
The teenager will adopt the same style of aggressive, but strategic golf for his match-up with Cameron Mukherjee on Thursday.
“The conditions do dictate what you hit and how you shape your shots, but I haven’t held back yet, so I’ll play the same kind of golf.”
Mukherjee from Great Brittain toppled Kyle van der Bergh from East London 2&1 in the morning, then ended Kartik Singh from India 1-up, who earlier had knocked out Proudfoot Trophy winner JP van der Watt 4&3.
Meanwhile, Morin continued his quest to emulate countryman Martin Couvre, the champion in 2022, when he claimed two big scalps on day four.
The Bourgenay golfer may have needed 19 holes to get past Fabrizio de Abreu in the first round of knock-out matches, but he slayed Scotsman Gregor Tait 6&5 in the morning on day four, and downed GolfRSA No 1 Astin Arthur 3&2 in the afternoon to reach the quarter-finals.
Morin will face 2024 Nomads SA Boys U19 champion Charl Barnard in the final eight.
“Louka is obviously playing great golf, and has a good feel for the Humewood course, so it should be a good match, but it’s match play, and it can go either way,” said Barnard, who cruised into the top 16 after taking out Ethan Govender 5&4, and ousted local favourite Michael Holden 3&2.
“The match against Michael was quite tough, because he had a lot of support being local, but I just used that to fuel me. I’m very pleased that I pulled it through, because he was a very gritty opponent.
“I’m sticking to the same strategy in my match against Louka; play the course, not the player. You can only control your own game, especially at a course as tough as this.”
The other two quarter-finals will feature last week’s SA Stroke Play Championship runner-up Dian Kruger versus South African Golf Development Board standout Mitch Phigeland, while Ruben van den Berg will take on Christiaan Heyman.
Centurion’s Kruger had wins against Eastern Province’s Naldo Claasen (3&1) and England’s Ben Willis (2&1), while Phigeland from Atlantic Beach rolled on with 1-up wins over fellow Western Province IPT stable-mate Dan Copeman and Southern Cape’s Damian Osner.
Van den Berg, who plays out of The River Club, beat Nathan Schuldt from Gauteng North 4&3 and took out Eastern Province’s Johndre Ludick 5&4.
Bloemfontein’s Heyman downed North West’s Jordan Wessels 2&1 and beat Hannes Conradie from Western Province 3&2 to secure his quarter-final spot.
The semi-finals will follow the quarter-finals on Thursday, where the field will be culled to the two 2025 finalists who will do battle in a 36-hole final on Friday for the most prestigious title in South African amateur golf.
Photo: GolfRSA
