CAPE TOWN (25 April 2016) – Danielle du Toit from Gauteng North stayed in touch with 36-hole leader Kaleigh Telfer in the Sanlam SA Women’s Stroke Play Championship on Tuesday. Du Toit carded a 76 to finish three off the pace from 17-year-old Telfer is round two at Westlake Golf Club.
“I am feeling a bit more comfortable on the course,” said Telfer after signing for a second successive 74 to lead at four over 148. “If I just hit greens on the final day it will be much better because it’s tough to chip around the greens.
Brittney-Fay Berger and Switzerland’s Azelia Meichtry are her nearest challengers on six over par following respective rounds of 72 and 75, while Du Toit shares fourth with Woo-Ju Son and Zethu Myeki.
The greens at Westlake have confounded many in the field, and Meichtry summed up their frustration when she putted with a rescue club for the last two holes after bending her putter shaft in anger.
But for Telfer, it was her driver that was the source of frustration on Monday.
“On the first nine my driver was all over the place so I put that away, and it helped a bit on the next nine. I came back a bit,” she said of going out in three over and then coming home in one under.
Her only birdie on the back nine came on the par-three 15th hole. “That was a good hole. After the previous few holes where I was up-and-downing for par everywhere, it was nice to actually hit a green and make the putt.”
Telfer said she wasn’t expecting the course to play as tough as it is.
“I thought the scoring was going to be a lot lower. I thought it would take six under to win it. But obviously not. The trees are a lot closer than you think. On normal parkland courses you’ve got maybe 10 metres of rough to spare, but here it’s just fairway and then trees.”
If Meichtry can sort out her putting problems, she could be a real threat in the final round.
“I can’t describe how disappointed I am with my putting. I was never the best putter, but I’m really struggling here,” she said.
Meichtry’s stroke play challenge comes only a few weeks after her countryman, Loris Schuepbach, lost in the semi-finals of the Sanlam SA Amateur Championship at George Golf Club.
SECOND ROUND LEADERBOARD (top 20)
148 Kaleigh Telfer 74 74
150 Brittney-Fay Berger 78 72; Azelia Meichtry 75 75
151 Eleonora Galletti 76 75; Danielle Du Toit 75 76; Kajal Mistry 75 76
153 Woo-Ju Son 81 72; Zethu Myeki 76 77; Chante Van Zyl 74 79
156 Casandra Hall 79 77
157 Danielle Bekker ZIM 83 74; Chiara Contomathios 82 75; Ivanna Samu 81 76; Symone Henriques 81 76; Demi Flanagan 79 78; Michelle Swanepoel 78 79
158 Lumien Orton 82 76; Catherine Lau 80 78
159 Lizzie Currie 83 76; Lindi Coetzee 80 79; Ethel Ruthenberg 79 80
Photo: Danielle du Toit; credit WGSA.