Durbanville Golf Club junior Jordan Rothman confirmed her
status as one of South Africa’s future golfing stars when she knocked out two
of the country’s top amateurs for the Sanlam South African Amateur Championship
title at Umhlali Country Club.
The 15-year-old Western Province golfer made it to the final
on Wednesday afternoon with a 2 and 1 victory over Michaela Fletcher in the
semi-finals and faced former number one Kaleigh Telfer, who edged out reigning
Sanlam SA Women’s Stroke Play champion Casandra Hall.
Rothman sealed victory with a birdie putt at 18 to beat
Telfer 2-up.
“I’m over the moon. It hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Rothman,
the youngest winner of women’s amateur golf’s flagship event since Ashleigh
Simon, who was two months shy of 15 when she won her first title at Strand Golf
Club in 2004.
“Kaleigh and Michaela were definitely the favourites, and I
was quite happy to come into the last day as the underdog. It took all the
pressure off me. Even my dad told me after the quarter-finals to just go out
there and enjoy myself. My dad said I’d already done enough to make him burst
with pride and that helped, plus I had the best caddie in the world to keep my
head in the game.”
Rothman had Talent Development Squad player Kim Turgutt from
Randpark on the bag for the two biggest matches of her short career.
“I only had enough money to pay for a caddie for the
qualifying round,” she explained. “When Kim got knocked out by Michaela in the
second round, she volunteered to take my bag because she had to stay for the
duration of the championship. She really helped me to stay focussed and it was
great to share this experience with her.”
Rothman started strong against Fletcher and was 3-up after
four holes.
Fletcher started to find her stroke on the greens. The
Maritzburg golfer won the next two holes to close the gap to 1-down and squared
the match with a birdie at 10.
“I really had to work hard to win,” said Rothman, who edged
ahead with a birdie at 12 and closed out the victory with another gain at the
par five 17th.
“My heart was all over the place on the back nine, but she
stayed very calm and she didn’t show any emotion. That was definitely the
toughest match of my life, but it prepared me well mentally to face Kaleigh in
the final.”
Telfer drew first blood with a birdie at the first, but
Rothman squared with a birdie at the third hole.
“I bogeyed six and seven, but I won the ninth with a par to
level the match again,” said Rothman. “I have to applaud Kaleigh for her sportsmanship
at the 13th hole.
“Her ball moved when she tried to remove a twig and she came
up to me on the green and told me about the penalty. She could have waited
until after I had putted, but I think it says a lot about her character that
she told me straight away. That left me with two putts for par to win the hole.
“Kaleigh won the next hole, but I went 1-up again at 15.
Kaleigh had hit her drive behind this silly tree and all she could do was punch
out. I knew I could win the hole with par, so I lagged my first putt close and
tapped in for the win.”
The pair halved 16 in pars and 17 in bogeys, but the closing
hole belonged to Rothman.
“I wasn’t thinking too much about leading because I just
wanted to keep playing my own game, but when I stood with the 6-iron in my hand
on the 18th tee, my heart was hammering in my chest,” she said. “I could feel
myself trembling and I told myself to just get it on the green.”
Rothman’s tee shot pitched a foot from the pin, leaving her
an easy birdie putt for the win.
“I can’t describe what this means,” said Rothman, a member
of the GolfRSA B Squad and the Womens Golf Western Province High Performance
Squad.
“I’m incredibly grateful to GolfRSA and Womens Golf South
Africa and to Womens Golf Western Province for the all opportunities they have
given me. Playing for Western Province in the IPT and 72-Hole Teams
Championship and competing in the Himbara World Junior Golf Championships in
Indonesia last month definitely built my experience and my self-assurance.
“That’s what gave me the confidence to face two really tough
opponents and wear them down. I still can’t believe that I’ve done it; this is
a dream come true.”
In an all KwaZulu-Natal Plate Final, seasoned campaigner
Lizzie Currie took on 15-year-old Senayah Moodliar from Umhlali.
Currie from Port Shepstone beat Elsune Roode 4 and 3 to
reach the final two, while Moodliar gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about
when she beat Kim Strauss 1-up in her semi-final. Over 17 holes, both players
won five holes, but Currie broke the stalemate when she defeated the local
favourite 1-up at the final hole.
