AICHI-PREFECTURE, Japan (16 June 2015) – South Africa celebrated a productive Youth Day in Japan as both the boys and girls teams placed inside the top five in the first round of the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup at the Chukyo Golf Club in Aichi-Prefecture on Tuesday.
Japan and Sweden set the first round target in the Boys Competition at seven-under-par 206. The United States lag two off the pace in third, while South Africa tied for fourth with Korea and Canada on three under 210.
Keegan de Lange fired a two under 69 to tie for 10th in the Boys Individual Standings.
Dylan Naidoo opened with a 70, Herman Loubser returned a 71 and Marco Steyn posted a non-counting 80.
In the Girls Competition, defending champions Japan opened with a four-under-par 140 to finish three strokes clear of Korea and six shots ahead of South Africa, who finished in a three-way tie for third on 146 with Colombia and France.
Kaleigh Telfer opened with an even-par 72 for a share of fourth in the Girls Individual Standings, Ivanna Samu registered a 74 and Natasha Carlsson signed for a non-counting 76.
TuksSport Golf Club and Academies head coach Llewellyn van Leeuwen said the boys did extremely well to rally after a fairly average start.
“We were four over after eight holes, but the boys showed a lot of fight and determination to finish at three under,” Van Leeuwen said.
“Keegan was two over after seven holes, but ended the bogey run with birdies at 10, 11, 15 and 17. He played solid golf and was burning the edges early on, so he probably feels like he left a few out there. I really like his attitude in the course.
“Dylan had a ding dong battle all day. He missed easy up-and-downs at eight and 12, but hit back with birdies at 15 and 17. Herman also played great and had some real momentum stoppers.
“He had a three-putt at seven for par and followed with bogey at eight. At 11, he boxed a tap-in birdie after nearly holing out, but then gave it back with a bogey at 12.
“He had some brilliant iron shots and made the putts again on 13 and 15. Unfortunately he got a flyer out of the rough on 16 and signed for another bogey.
“Marco got off to a solid start and was level through three holes, but had one of those days I prefer to get out of the way early in the championship.
“He had three flyers, some poor luck and was badly punished for average putting and slightly off-line shots. I’m really glad he got this round out the way as he will play a crucial hole in this team’s performance this week.”
Van Leeuwen said the team enjoyed the course overall, but the wet rough left them puzzled.
“It was an overcast day, warm but with a gentle drizzle to cool you down,” he said.
“The wet rough really has us scratching our heads. We had at five least shots – pitching wedges and eight-irons – that flew 30 yards further than expected and a lot of flyers out the wet wiry rough. We will have to come up with the solution for this going forward.”
BOYS TEAM STANDINGS
206 (-7) Japan; Sweden
208 (-5) United States
210 (-3) South Africa; Canada; Korea
211 (-2) Norway
212 (-1) Chile
215 (+2) China; Italy
216 (+3) New Zealand
217 (+4) Mexico; Scotland
218 (+5) Brazil
220 (+7) Zimbabwe
GIRLS TEAM STANDINGS
140 Japan (-4)
143 (-1) Korea
146 (+2) South Africa; Colombia; France
147 (+3) United States
149 (+5) New Zealand
152 (+8) Mexico
BOYS INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS (top 10)
67 Zenjiro Matsui ITA; Joaquin Niemann CHILE; Ren Okazaki JAP; Tim Widing SWE
68 Takumi Kanaya JAP; Mason Overstreet USA; Chandler Phillips USA; Marcus Svensson SWE; Jang Taehyeong KOR
69 Keegan de Lange RSA; Im Sungjae KOR
GIRLS INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS (top 10)
68 Yumi Matsubara JAP
71 Jo Hyunkyung KOR; Lauren Stephenson USA
72 Kaleigh Telfer RSA; Isabella Cardenas COL; Minami Hiruta JAP; Heo Hyeonju KOR
73 Elisabeth Codet FRA; Agathe Laisne FRA
Daily draws and scores available at http://www.wjgtc.org/english/score/index.html