Lejan Lewthwaite continued on her recent excellent form by carding an opening round 66 at the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am, played at the George Golf Club, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN.
Coming off a brilliant victory at the SuperSport Ladies Challenge, presented by Sun International at Sun City last week, Lewthwaite is in line to become the first player to win consecutive titles on the Sunshine Ladies Tour in four years.
Her 6 under par for the opening round has given her the best possible start to the weekend – a four-shot lead over Stacy Bergman, who is in 2nd place on 2 under par.
‘To be honest, I really wasn’t hitting the ball well over the first 12 holes or so, but everything just kind of clicked into gear on the back nine,’ said the Investec-backed golfer, who followed a birdie at the par five second with three more on the bounce from the sixth.
‘I just holed a lot of putts today and that kept the momentum going. I missed a few fairways, but the short game was spot on. All my birdie putts were in the 15 to 20 foot range and all my chips landed within three to four feet,’ said Lewthwaite on Friday.
Lewthwaite is playing alongside amateur Marj Davidson and was really pleased with the performance they were able to put forward on Friday.
‘We had such a great time out there, even when we both struggled at times and the putts just didn’t want to drop. I really enjoy this format. We are both out there trying to put the best score together that we can, that you can manage, but there is a lot of banter and high fives and laughter, so you tend to stay pretty relaxed. It’s very different to competing in a straight stroke play event and it makes for a really nice change of pace,’ Lewthwaite said.
