10th July – The 2023 edition of the history laden JAW Prentice Memorial competition, possibly the oldest junior event still being played in South Africa, ended with local member, 16-year-old, Jaydon Galant winning with a fine gross 71 in good golfing weather at KD Mowbray Golf Club.

A triple bogey 8 at the par 5 6th could easily have derailed Jaydon’s round but an eagle 3 at the par 5 9th completely rejuvenated his round. An excellent 33 coming home – with birdies at the 11th, 12th and 14th – saw Jaydon clinch this special title by a single shot.

13-year-old Junkai Zhu (Bellville), playing his first local event after recently arriving from China, had an opportunity of making it into a play-off, after a fine eagle 3 at the par 5 14th, but a drop shot at the final testing hole saw him finish runner-up on a level par 72.

The JAW Prentice Memorial was first played in 1921, and was even competed for during World War 2, when everything else came to a standstill!

The history of today’s tournament goes back to the turn of the last century. J.A.W. Prentice was killed in action in the first few months of World War 1 but before going on active service he bequeathed 60 pounds to the SA Golf Union for the purpose of encouraging the youth of South Africa to play golf. An amount of 10 pounds was given to the WP Golf Union and it was decided that the most suitable way to carry out Prentice’s wishes was to purchase a floating trophy.

Besides the scores posted by Jaydon and Junkai, other good rounds were recorded by another 13-year-old Evan Marais (Clovelly) as well as Luke-Daniel Pillay (Atlantic Beach Links), both recording 74s.

The B division was comfortably won by local member Taite Sauls on a gross 83 whilst another local member, Zahra Kahn secured the C division with 36 stableford points.

The Under 13s produced some fine golf with 10-year-old Louw Schoeman (Bellville) pipping Luke Jacobs (Royal Cape) by 2 shots, after carding a solid 79 gross – the highlight being the birdie 2 at the 16th! Gabriella Dolan (KD Mowbray) won the U13B division on 35 stableford points.

Results (17)PRENTICE MEMORIAL Trophy 2023

Report by Peter Little