The Ladies European Tour rolls into town in South Africa as the ninth edition of the Joburg Ladies Open kicks off the first of two weeks in SA. A co-sanctioned event with the Sunshine Tour will see a 120-strong field take to the Modderfontein Golf Course in the centre of Guateng province.
Lauren Walsh and Olivia Mehaffey are both set to tee it up in the 37-nation field, the duo coming off the two-week break following the rain disrupted and subsequently cancelled Australian Women’s Classic. A rest and reset with the break in the schedule could be just the tonic as both are looking to make impressions on this South African leg of the tour.
England’s Lily May Humphreys heads into the week as defending champion, having come from six shots back in a fantastic final day at last year’s tournament to win by two. She will be joined by fellow previous winners Casandra Alexander and 11-time LET winner, Lee-Ann Pace as well as a clutch of players from the Sunshine Ladies Tour. Notably among these is local favourite Cara Gorlei, who comes into the week hot on the heels of her maiden victory on the Sunshine Ladies Tour just last weekend at the Jabra Ladies Classic.
Built in an early 20th century mining town, and with thanks to the Modderfontein Dynamite Factory responsible for mining 40% of the world’s gold, the par-73 has seven dams and 12 streams which give challenges throughout the round. The parkland course with tree-lined fairways has five par-5s and four par-3s to navigate with plenty of water to avoid all the way around.
Mehaffey is 36 tournaments deep into her LET career coming into the week and will look to add to her two top-tens and to push her up from her current 78th on the order of merit. Frustrated by the weather on her last outing, the conditions look to be more favourable this week at altitude in the Rainbow Nation.
Walsh, meanwhile, is still finding her feet on Tour, this just her sixth LET event as she settles into the hectic life on Tour. Given all the travelling involved recently, the break last week will have brought some welcome respite. Sitting a creditable 35th on the order of merit in the early knockings of her rookie season, Walsh had her first opportunity to have a look at the Modderfontein Course this week. Speaking to Irish golfer she gave her first impressions of the course and how to approach the week.
“I like the golf course. I think it’s set up well,” she said. “The greens have been nice, which is a positive thing, so yeah, looking forward to the weekend”.”You know, I think if you keep the ball in the fairway, you know, you get yourself a lot of chances. There’s three par-5s on the front nine, so I think five par-5s in total. So, I think if you can play the par-5s nicely, and you know, keep the rest of it tidy, I think that’s a good place to start. ”
Altitude comes into play and, depending on the conditions, club selection can be a further challenge to the field taking on the course.
Temperatures are expected to rise over the course of the weekend with up to 30 degrees expected on Sunday. This will see the altitude add to the level of strategy needed on the final day in what could be an intriguing concluding round.
Thursday kicks off proceedings at 7.00am local time with split tees. First out on the par-5 first hole are Sanna Nuutinen, England’s Florentyna Parker and South African Legan Lethwaite.
8.39am sees Walsh start her round with India’s Ridhima Dilawari and American Katherine Musi. Meanwhile, Mehaffey begins her tilt at the week on the 10th, which is also a par-5. She starts among the afternoon groups at 12.26 local time with Spain’s Paz Marfa Sans and France’s Camille Chevalier and will be looking to show some dynamite golf in the mining town.
Leave a comment