SA golfers aim for Junior World Cup title

Back, left to right – Herman Loubser (Boland), Dylan Naidoo (Central Gauteng), Natasha Carlsson (Gauteng) and Kaleigh Telfer (Gauteng).

Front, left to right – Marco Steyn (Gauteng), Keegan de Lange (Gauteng North) and Ivanna Samu (Gauteng)

"This year marks the first occasion that Golf RSA will field both a boys and girls team in the world's premier junior golf international team championship," said Womens Golf South Africa (WGSA) president, Karen Olivant.

"It also marks the first time that WGSA and the South African Golf Association (SAGA) have travelled together to an event. This follows closely on our recent merge as Golf RSA; so it is truly a historic week for South African golf. We are really pleased to see our top ranked juniors compete in this world-class event and excited to see how they measure up against a top international field."

WGSA's number one ranked Ivanna Samu will lead the girls team and the reigning Sanlam SA Amateur and Stroke Play champion will be joined by fellow Gauteng players Kaleigh Telfer and Natasha Carlsson, respectively ranked second and fourth.

Boys team

SAGA's top ranked Dylan Naidoo will spearhead the four-man side in the boys competition. The 2014 Nomads SA Boys U-19 Stroke Play winner will line up alongside fellow Central Gauteng junior Marco Steyn, North Gauteng's Keegan de Lange and Herman Loubser from Boland.

Meanwhile Jack Allard, David Amm, Justin Kersten and Kiren Vincent will fly the flag for silver medallists Zimbabwe.

"International competition is paramount to the development of our juniors," SAGA president, Gerhard Conradie, said. "This is the only junior golf championship of its kind where so many top international teams compete at the highest level and it is really pleasing to our teams and Zimbabwe line-up in an event of this stature. We are extremely thankful to the organisers for affording all 11 juniors this unique opportunity."

Format of competition

The format for the boys competition will be four rounds of stroke play with three scores to count. South Africa and Zimbabwe represent Africa, while the European teams include Sweden, Italy, Scotland and Norway, who will mount their title defence in after securing their third victory in the championship with an impressive final round comeback last year.

The rest of the line-up include Asia's Japan, China and Korea, South America's Brazil, Chile, Mexico, as well as seven-time champions United States, Canada and New Zealand. Japan claimed a four-stroke victory in the inaugural girls competition; however, this year the field has increased from five to eight teams.

The host nation will launch their title defence against South Africa, Columbia, France, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand and the United States. Since the teams consist of three players each, the format will also be four rounds of stroke play, but only two scores count.