SA junior golfer scores in Canada
7 August 2008
Dylan Frittelli, the current South African under-18 champion, recorded a final round of four-under-par 67 to finish with a seven-under-par 36-hole total of 135, one shot clear of his nearest challenger, to record a magnificent win in the Barrett Amateur Championship in St Andrews, Canada on Monday.
The event is Canada's highest ranked amateur tournament on the Royal and Ancient's World Amateur Golf Rankings.
Scheduled as a 54-hole strokeplay competition, played over the picturesque par-71 Algonquin Golf Course in the coastal town of St Andrews, New Brunswick, the event was reduced to 36 holes because of a number of delays caused by fog and thunderstorms. These eventually led to the cancellation of the second round.
Frittelli, of Irene Country Club in Gauteng North, started the final round one shot off the pace and responded brilliantly by recording five birdies and one bogey in his 67.
Best round of the day
He played steadily over the back nine, recording three birdies at holes 13, 15 and 17, to come home in 32. His round of four-under-par, which was matched by three others, was the best of the day.
Despite his excellent round, it was anything but a comfortable win for the South African. Canadian David Markle birdied three holes in succession, from the fifteenth to the seventeenth, to draw level with Frittelli. However, a bogey on the final hole prevented the Canadian from forcing a playoff and Frittelli hoisted the trophy aloft after a well deserved victory.
The 18-year-old's win qualified him for the 2008 Canadian Amateur this weekend, but he was forced to turn the invitation down due to "prior commitments".
Markle recorded his second successive 68, three-under-par, to finish with a 36-hole total of 136. He was three shots clear of a group of six players that tied for third.
Internationals victories
The victory was Frittelli's second international win and his first in a senior competition. Previously, in 2007, he won the Callaway World Junior Championship.
As a 16-year-old, Frittelli qualified to play in the South African Open, which made him the second youngest player ever to play in a professional European Tour event.
Frittelli is next headed for the USA on a golf scholarship at the University of Texas. He leaves with the knowledge that his victory in the Barrett Amateur Championships has most likely secured him a place in the South African World Amateur Teams Championship team (Eisenhower Trophy), which will be announced on 17 August in Plettenberg Bay, after the conclusion of the Southern Cape Open.
Other South Africans
Jacques Blaauw, the 22-year-old SA Amateur Stroke Play and Glacier SA Amateur champion, played regulation golf in his final round at the Barrett Amateur. Three bogeys, two of which were on par threes, and three birdies, on holes four, five, and thirteen, gave him a round of 71.
He finished with a 36-hole total of one-under-par 141, which was good for tenth place.
The only other South African in the field, 37-year-old Milnerton Golf Club member, Cameron Johnston, recorded a final round of 72, which included two bogey's and a solitary birdie. He finished on 146, four over par, in 25th place, tied with five other players.
Overnight leader, John Peterson, of Fort Worth, Texas, struggled through his final round, carding a 72, one over par, to finish well off the pace on 139.
LEADERBOARD
Algonquin Golf CourseSAinfo reporter
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