Woo-Ju Son stayed in touch on another windy day at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, while Jayden Schaper vaulted into the top 25 in the second round of the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy on Wednesday.
Reigning Nomads SA Boys Under-19 champion Schaper improved 10 spots and grabbed a share of 22nd with a second round 78.
‘Jayden improved four shots on his opening 82, and it might not look like much on paper, but given the trying conditions it was a great round,’ said Women’s Golf South Africa president Sally Greasley. ‘The start of the second round was pushed back for an hour due to gale force wind. When play eventually got under way, the wind had weakened only slightly to 70kms per hour.
‘Over the course of 18 holes, the field was subjected to three hailstorms, driving rain and the just occasional bit of sunshine. The last three days here at Hoylake have been a real learning curve for two top juniors.
‘Jayden was much steadier, but a couple of three-putts cost him some shots. He opted for a one-iron off the tee instead of the driver and found more fairways. He mixed birdies at six and 14 with bogeys at three, nine, 10, 11 and 15, and he made six at the par-four fifth after his ball hit the pin and plugged in a deep pot hole bunker. With 38 putts on his card, he had a much better ball-striking day.’
Son – the reigning Nomads SA Girls champion and South Africa’s number one ranked junior – carded consecutive rounds of 77 to tie for 11th.
‘Woo-Ju missed a slippery putt for a bogey start and parred the second,’ said Greasley.
‘As I warned after the practice round, the rough is absolutely penal. If you are just a foot or two offline, you are punished severely. She had to declare a lost ball at the third after a very wayward second shot, and left the hole with a double bogey.
‘After a great up-and-down at the fourth, two more wayward drives at five and six led to further bogeys, but after a par at the seventh, she made a great birdie to claw back a shot. She lost some momentum again at the ninth when she missed the fairway again and turned five-over.
‘The first hailstorm of the day hit us on the 10th, but Woo-Ju managed a par there and also parred 11. The notorious 12th hole caught her out after a poor chip to the green and two putts, but she steadied the ship over the next few holes and sank a nice putt for birdie at 15.
‘She made a superb up-and-down for birdie at 16, but chunked her chip at 17 and she missed a long putt to save par. At the last hole, she drove it into the greenside bunker, came out beautifully but the putt just slipped past for a five-over 78.
‘It’s all to play for today, but with another day of high winds, it will take a lot of patience once again.’
Ben Jones from England carded rounds of 75 and 70 to grab the overall lead at one-over-par 145. He leads the Boys Competition by two shots from Scotsman John Patterson.
Maja Stark from Sweden and Franziska Sliper from Norway tied for fifth overall at five-over 149. The Scandinavian pair share the lead in the Girls Competition. Son and Dutch junior Maryke Hoogeboom are joint-third at 10-over.
