A nine-birdie blitz combined with an eagle for a bogey-free final round of 11-under-par 60 secured South Africa’s Kiera Floyd her maiden professional win on the Sunshine Ladies Tour in the Platinum Ladies Open on Friday.
Floyd showed her intent with a front nine of 29 and then rounded it off with a closing nine of 31 on the par-71 Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate course for her lowest round of golf in her professional career and a winning score of 15 under par.
England’s Hayley Davis finished second on 14 under par with a closing five-under-par 66 followed by South Africa’s Casandra Alexander in third place on 12 under par after she also signed for a final round of 69.
Floyd was in awe of her own performance on Friday.
“I honestly have no words. It doesn’t feel real right now, but I think it is definitely going to kick in later. It’s just amazing. This is my first victory on Tour. I am trying to bring it back to reality. I honestly didn’t realise it today on the golf course either. When I got off after nine and I saw that I shot 29, and I was like … oh, OK.”
The 20-year-old Floyd said her putting was especially impressive during Friday’s round.
“I basically kept the ball in play off the tee and I hit a lot of greens which helped, but my putter was just on today. Something just kicked in with my putting and I just felt so comfortable over the ball. Everything was good, but the main aspect was my putting.”
The young golfer who turned professional in 2023 favours longer courses and confirmed that Blair Atholl suited her game particularly this week.
“This course suits my game. I am quite a long hitter so it doesn’t play as long for me but the course set-up was just perfect to my distances the whole day and the whole week, and it was just a pure golf course to play on. It just suited me. Even during the pro-am I shot five under, so I knew it was out there.”
Floyd was paired with Olivia Mehaffey from Northern Ireland during the final round and said she enjoyed the exposure to international competition.
“It’s so nice to have all the international players in the field. I played with Olivia Mehaffey today and I learned so much from her – like how calm she is on the course. And if the European players make a drop, they just carry on. So, it is very nice and a good experience playing with them. Olivia said I made her round of six under par look terrible today,” said Floyd with a laugh.
The Absa Ladies Invitational is up next on the Sunshine Ladies Tour schedule and will be played from 27-29 March at Royal Johannesburg.
Photo: Sunshine Ladies Tour
