6th October – In a dominant performance at a windswept Clovelly Country Club 16-year-old Atlantic Beach Links member, Tristan Boise, showed everybody a clean pair of heels with a fine level par 72 in severe testing weather conditions. A perfect start by Tristan to the CLOVELLY Junior Championship – 3 birdies on the first 3 holes – certainly helped, but a lot of work still needed to be done.

Turning in 36 strokes, Tristan birdied the par 5 10th and then added another birdie at the par 5 15th, although dropping shots at the 16th and 17th, this still saw him romp home by a comfortable 6 strokes. This follows his runner up spot at the Vernon Dickson Memorial Trophy earlier in the week.

Results (30)CLOVELLY Junior Championship 2023

At national level Jack Buchanan (Milnerton) did WP Golf proud again by adding the Dimension Data Junior Open title – this event took place in the Southern Cape from the 4th to the 6th of October – to his long list of triumphs. A commanding 5 stroke win, from his nearest challenger, after rounds of 68 65 and 72. During 2023 Jack also won the NOMADS Coastal NOoM at St Francis Links GC (72 69 70) by 7 strokes and finished 2nd at the NOMADS Inland NOoM at ERPM GC (70 74 70).

A brief overview of 2023:

Other notable performances by Western Province representatives at national level during 2023, was the win by Milnerton member Matthew Lotz at the NOMADS SA Junior International at Rondebosch GC (70 67 70) and a 2nd place in the SA Boys U19 Strokeplay at Pecanwood Golf & Country Club (70 67 71 67). Steenberg member Pearce Lewin finished runner up to Matthew at the NOMADS SA Junior International (69 68 71) in March and was crowned SA Boys U19 Matchplay champion with his splendid win at Pecanwood in April.

On the local front during 2023 there have been some outstanding performances – Jack Buchanan winning at BELLVILLE (65 gross) as well as at ATLANTIC BEACH (70) in tough windy conditions. And then Josh Daniels has had an outstanding year – of the 16 highlighted local junior events Josh has won 3 (SOMERSET WEST, DURBANVILLE & the VERNON DICKSON Memorial), finished runner up in the WP Boys U19 Matchplay and finished 3rd three times (PAROW, KUILS RIVER & the WP Boys U19 Strokeplay). A truly consistent year by Josh, only achievable by putting in all the hard work.

Some low tournament scores were accomplished during 2023 –

• 65s by Jack Buchanan at Bellville and Dylan Kayne at Milnerton.
• 67s by Henru Walters at KD Mowbray and Josh Daniels at Kuils River (Vernon Dickson Memorial)
• 67 & 69 (136) by Jaydon Galant in the WP Junior Boys Strokeplay at Somerset West

Although only the top performers are mentioned here, a huge compliment to the commitment, dedication and enthusiasm shown by the hundreds of junior golfers that participate in the local events – these are the up and coming juniors, too many to mention, that will be the future champions!

Report by Peter Little!