The South African Boys team tied for sixth and the SA Girls grabbed a share of seventh in the first round of the 2016 TOYOTA Junior Golf World Cup Supported by JAL in Toyota City, Aichi-Prefecture, Japan on Tuesday.

Girls Competition

Gauteng’s Ivanna Samu pushed the boat out for South Africa in the Girls Competition. Just a day after she won the Girls Long Drive Contest, the Ruimsig golfer birdied the last two holes for a one-under-par 71, while Kaleigh Telfer from Gauteng and Gauteng North’s Danielle du Toit returned a pair of 77s to help South Africa to joint seventh with Mexico on four-over-par 148.

The South African trio will have to shoot some low numbers in round two to reduce the gap on Japan, who picked up where they left off last year.

The defending champions rocketed into a two shot lead over the United States with a nine-under-par 135 and leads by four from Argentina and Spain in joint third.

“Ivanna played solid tee to green, but a few putts didn’t drop and she felt that it could have been better,” said WGSA national coach Val Holland.

“Kaleigh and Danielle also had a frustrating day with just one birdie each. The course was set up with fair pin positions and the greens are running quite smooth, but missing greens equals bogeys. The semi-rough around the greens at this course is extremely thick and it is very, very difficult to control chip-shots to the greens.”

Samu was one of just 12 players who managed to break par in the first round, with American Kristen Gillman setting the pace in the Girls Individual Competition with a six-under-par 66. Gillman leads by one from Japan’s Riri Sadoyama, while three players share third on 68.

Boys Competition
Dylan Naidoo, Marco Steyn and Herman Loubser combined for an opening three-under-par 210 to finish alongside Canada in the Boys Competition at the Ishino Course at Chukyo Golf Club.

Germany edged one stroke clear of Sweden to top the standings at nine under 204, while the United States, Thailand and defending champions Japan share third at seven under.

Naidoo from Central Gauteng was level par through 12 holes, but he caught fire on the back nine and birdied five of the last six holes to return a five-under-par 65. The hot finish moved Naidoo to joint second with Germany’s Marc Hammer in the Boys Individual Competition.

Naidoo and Hammer finished one stroke behind first round leader Tony Gill from Canada, while four players – Thailand’s Kousuke Hamamoto, Takumi Kanaya from Japan, 2015 Boys Amateur champion Marcus Svensson from Sweden and Germany’s Timo Vahlenkamp – tied for fourth on four under 67.

Loubser from Boland had a bogey and double bogey on the front nine, but erased the damage with a trio of birdies from the 12th and added gains at 15 and 16 for a two under 69.

Central Gauteng’s Steyn turned level par, but had four bogeys down the home straight for a 75, while debutant Dylan Mostert from Ekurhuleni returned a non-counting 86.

“It was not plain sailing out there,” said SAGA Golf Integration Manager Eden Thompson.

“It is tough to score if you are missing fairways, because you simply cannot control the ball out of the rough and the greens are firm. Dylan (Naidoo) and Herman were both able to turn around a slow start, but Marco succumbed to the frustration on the back nine and Dylan (Mostert) had a tough day at the office. Still, the team made quite a decent, if distant start, and they are determined to make up ground on the leaders on Wednesday.”

BOYS TEAM STANDINGS
204 (-9) Germany 71-67-66
205 (-8) Sweden 67-68-70
206 (-7) Japan 67-69-70; Thailand 68-71-67; United States 69-69-68 = 206 (-7)
210 (-3) South Africa 66-69-75; Canada 65-74-71
211 (-2) Korea 70-70-71
212 (-1) Norway 70-72-70
214 (+1) Chile 68-74-72
216 (+3) Mexico 73-73-70
220 (+7) Netherlands 74-75-71; Zimbabwe 72-75-73
222 (+9) New Zealand 73-72-77
223 (+10) Brazil 77-75-71

BOYS INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS (top 10 plus SA players)
65 Tony Gil CAN
66 Dylan Naidoo RSA; Marc Hammer GER
67 Kousuke Hamamoto THAI; Takumi Kanaya JAP; Marcus Svensson SWE; Timo Vahlenkamp GER
68 Joaquin Niemann CHL; Pontus Nyholm SWE; Atiruj Winaicharoenchai THA; Matthew Wolff USA
69 Herman Loubser RSA
75 Marco Steyn RSA
86 Dylan Mostert RSA

GIRLS TEAM STANDINGS
135 (-9) Japan 67-68
137 (-7) United States 71-66
139 (-5) Argentina 68-71; Spain 70-69
141 (-3) Korea 72-69
145 (+1) Italy 68-77
148 (+4) South Africa 71-77; Mexico 75-73
152 (+8) Australia 77-75

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS (top 10 plus SA players)
66 Kristen Gillman USA
67 Riri Sadoyama JAP
68 Mone Inami JAP; Angelica Moresco ITA; Agustina Zeballos ARG
69 Ana Pelaez ESP; Kim Sojung KOR
70 Maria Parra ESP
71 Ivanna Samu RSA; Alyaa Abdulghany USA; Ela Anacona ARG; Kaitlyn Papp USA
77 Kaleigh Telfer RSA; Danielle du Toit RSA

Girls Competition Scoring: Click HERE

Boys Competition Scoring: Click HERE

Photo – Danielle du Toit; credit WGSA