Martin Vorster sealed the Tshwane Junior Open title in stunning fashion after an eagle at the par-five 17th gave him the chance to defeat Ayden Senger from Western Province in a sudden-death playoff.
Senger set the first-round pace on Sunday with a blistering eight-under-par 64 and the Southern Cape junior trailed by four shots going into Monday’s final round at Irene Country Club.
Senger made a stumbling start, though. He stemmed the bleeding with a trio of birdies around the turn and birdied the par-five 17th, but by the time he signed for an even-par 72, the Durbanville junior had been caught by Vorster.
Vorster was four under after a birdie at the 13th and he cancelled a bogey at the 14th and double-bogey at the 15th with a birdie at the par-three 16th and eagle at the 17th for successive rounds of 68.
Tied on eight-under 136, the pair had to make two trips down the 18th hole before Vorster clinched victory with a birdie.
‘I’m really chuffed with my first U19 win of the season,’ said GolfRSA National Squad member Vorster, who also led the GolfRSA Junior Proteas to a record-setting victory in the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan last month.
‘It was all down to that eagle coming at exactly the right time. The tee was moved forward and I hit a really good tee shot down the middle. I had 156 metres to the back-right flag and it was playing downwind, so I hit a pitching wedge in. It landed six metres left of pin and I made the putt.’
Vorster and Senger split the fairway on 18 and both players hit their second shots left of the bunker and short of the green.
‘I really thought Ayden had it at the first playoff hole. I chipped it to two metres and Ayden’s chip finished a metre from the hole. I made the par putt and I’d already taken off my cap to congratulate him when his putt horse-shoed straight back at him,’ explained Vorster.
‘On the second trip, Ayden hit his second shot in the same spot on the left and mine finished in the greenside bunker on the right. His chip ran about seven metres past the pin and I chipped it to a metre. After he missed, I boxed for the birdie and the win.’
It was the second-successive victory for the Louis Oosthuizen Junior Golf Academy, after stablemate Jordan Duminy claimed a runaway seven-shot victory in the Nomads SA Boys U17 Championship at St Francis Links last week and Vorster was stoked to add to his East of Ireland Amateur Open win in June.
‘I’ve been travelling a lot and I missed out on some of the junior events, so it’s pretty great to get the first one under the belt,’ he said.
‘I have been working really hard to try to get a win. Sometimes I felt that I have made mistakes and I end up not winning. Other times, I felt I’ve given a good charge, but other people got the win. Today, I felt I played some of the best golf of the season and I really went for it on the playoff. So, I’m extremely pleased that today everything worked out my way.’
Fellow GolfRSA Junior Protea Casey Jarvis finished in second on seven under and Duminy rounded out the top three on four under.
Final Result
136 Martin Vorster 68 68 (2nd hole playoff)
136 Ayden Senger 64 72
137 Casey Jarvis 65 72
140 Jordan Duminy 70 70
141 Christiaan Maas 71 70; Nikhil Gopal 70 71
142 Kieron van Wyk 67 75
143 Samuel Simpson 74 69; Samual Mckenzie 71 72
144 Amilkar Bhana 75 69; Kian Rose 70 74
145 Jean Pierre van der Watt 72 73
146 Ernest Jaco Ludick 74 72; Divan Mostert 74 72; Kayle Wykes 72 74; Dylan Melville 71 75; Fabrizio de Abreu 70 76
147 Emerson Bam 74 73
148 James Murray 75 73; Joshua Koekemoer 73 75
149 Mitchel Hampson 80 69; Nico Els 78 71; Drikus Joubert 77 72; Luhan Bester 75 74; Nash de Klerk 74 75
150 Luc Gavagnin 77 73; Louis James Barnard 76 74; Herman du Plessis 74 76; Darren Neyt 74 76; Nikhil Rama 74 76; Brandon Weir 74 76
151 Hannes Strooh 75 76; Lyle Pedro 74 77
152 Alessio Graziani 81 71
153 Matthew Mc Carthy 80 73; Andrew Long 77 76; Murad Hoosen 75 78; Craig Jacobs 75 78
154 Rorisang Nkosi(Jnr) 81 73; Jacques van der Merwe 81 73; Jonathan Wilsenach 78 76; Hayden Morgan-Evens 78 76; Enzo Barbaglia 77 77; Liam Ross 75 79
155 Tobias Jan de Flamingh 79 76; Marcus Taylor 78 77; Keagan Crosbie 77 78; Lumkile Mantshiyo 76 79; Matthew Dennis 73 82
156 Pieter Joubert 78 78; Jordan Wessels 74 82; Zandre Labuschagne 72 84
157 Jaden Deltel 80 77; Michael Ferreira 80 77; Nico Booyens 79 78; Kyle Kistensamy 79 78; Matt Walters 76 81
158 Marco Dennis Anderson 81 77; James Fraser 78 80
159 Kael Kurt Strydom 78 81
160 Matthew Mortimer 81 79; Miles Taylor 81 79
161 Ethan Gough 77 84
162 Francois Jansen van Rensburg 80 82
163 Christian Lewis 85 78
164 Nicholas Lewis 84 80; Shaunak Rama 81 83
165 Deacon Rudolph 77 88
168 Ethan Vrey 89 79
172 Filip Sakota 85 87
186 Juan Human 91 95
