Porteous seals third Glacier Junior win
South Africa’s top ranked junior golfer Haydn Porteous scored a runaway victory at the Larry Nestadt Tournament at Randpark Golf Club on Sunday, confirming that he could be the player to beat at this year’s Glacier Junior Series National Final.
Porteous fired a four-under-par 68 to beat Dean Martin and Juan Carlo Ritchie by three shots and joined Pretoria’s Zander Lombard and Eshowe’s Combrinck Smit as only the third player to win a tournament in the popular series sponsored by Glacier by Sanlam for a third successive year.
Given his recent form in Europe, though, his conquest came as no surprise.
In June, the country’s No 2 ranked golfer joined five of South Africa’s top amateurs on a tour to Scotland and, in his first competitive outing, the teenager outplayed some of Europe’s top amateurs to tie for second at the Carrick Neill Scottish Stroke Play Championship at Kilmarnock.
A week later, Porteous claimed a top 20 finish against another stellar line-up at the St Andrews Links Trophy and delivered a standout performance at No 1 in the South African line-up to see the local side beat a strong Scottish Golf Union National Men’s Squad team in a two day test in their own backyard at the prestigious Prestwick Links in South Ayrshire.
Still, the 17-year-old teenager from Kyalami knows that challenging for what is arguably the biggest prize in South African junior golf later this year will be no mean task.
“I’ve qualified for the National Final twice and I can tell you, the final is intense,” he said.
“The Orange Bowl Junior Invitational in the United States is the most prestigious junior golf tournament in the world. It draws the top juniors from around the world. It’s the one tournament every top junior golfer wants to play and win.
“Like me, every one of the other 24 finalists will arrive with just one goal in mind; to win the that all-expenses paid trip to the Orange Bowl. But I love competing against the top golfers in the country. I won’t take anything for granted, because I’ve come up short before. I’ll keep working hard and I’ll be ready. Who knows, maybe it will be third time lucky for me?”
Meanwhile Western Province junior Tristan Galant, who travelled to Gauteng with his dad, SAGDB coach Martin Galant, also struck it lucky.
Just a week after winning the B-Division Best Nett prize at the Sally Little Tournament at Royal Cape, the 11-year-old from Belhar carded an 82 to edge out Luke Brown and Wian Breedt for his first victory in the series.
“My dad had to come to Johannesburg for business, so he used his Voyager Miles to bring me along and give me a chance to play in this tournament,” he explained. “It was great to play a course like Randpark and I enjoyed going up against juniors I wouldn’t normally compete against.
“The competition was just as tough as at home, so I’m thrilled to have won. It really makes the trip worthwhile.”
LARRY NESTADT RESULTS (Randpark Golf Club, 1 July 2012)
A-Division (1-6 Handicap)
1. Haydn Porteous 68 gross
2. Dean Martin 71 gross (on count out)
3. Juan Carlo Ritchie 71 gross
Best Nett – Julian Samu 70
B-Division (7-18 Handicap)
1. Tristan Galant 82 gross
2. Luke Brown 83 gross (on count out)
3. Wian Breedt 83 gross
Best Nett – Keiron Van Wyk 72 (on count out)
C-Division (19-36 Handicap)
1. Hanno de Wet 41 points
2. Alex van der Merwe 41 points (on count out)
3. Dylan Groenwald 39 points
