The 17-year-old Serengeti golfer carded rounds of 69, 65, 66 and 70 win the KwaZulu-Natal Open Championship title on 18-under-par 270.
He finished five strokes clear of Western Province’s Sean Bradley, while Gauteng North’s Jason Smith claimed third place on 277.
Matthew Spacey from Central Gauteng finished a further stroke adrift in fourth and rising SAGDB star Siyanda Mwandla from Mount Edgecombe led the local challenge with a tie for 11th on two under 286.
“I definitely have my game back where it was last year, thanks to my coach, Grant Hepburn,” said Strydom, who was one off the pace after the first round, but surged five strokes clear of the field after his second trip around the South Coast layout and never looked back.
“Through the first three rounds, I only dropped four shots and I was 16 under. I got it to four under in the final round through 11 holes, but I double-bogeyed the 12th. I made birdies at 13 and 15 to go eight strokes clear again, but I dropped two shots at the 16th when I plugged in the lip of a bunker.
Strydom has moved to 237 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and he has made the number one spot his aim over the next two years.
“You have to work towards something in this game, otherwise there is no point,” he said.
Strydom enjoyed a breakthrough season on the Open Amateur circuit and surged through the rankings to take the number one spot in the South African Golf Association (SAGA) Open amateur rankings late last year.
The 2014 Nomads SA Boys U-19 Stroke Play champion underlined his status as one of South Africa’s future champions with victories in the 2014 KZN Amateur Match Play Championships, the Harry Oppenheimer Trophy and the International Team’s Championship and he put an exclamation mark on his rising status when he blasted to a top five finish in his debut at the 51st Junior Orange Bowl International in Coral Gables, Florida on New Year’s Eve.
After a stuttering start to his 2015 season, there was no denying his budding talent and signature resolve when he came from behind and romped to a five-stroke victory in the Western Province Amateur Championship last month.
Just a week after the podium finish at Rondebosch Golf Club, Strydom edged out Clayton Mansfield by one stroke to lift the Boland Amateur Stroke Play Championship title at Hermanus Golf Club.
FINAL RESULT – TOP 10
270 Tristen Strydom 69 65 66 70
275 Sean Bradley 71 68 70 66
277 Jason Smith 73 67 71 66
278 Matthew Spacey 72 67 69 70
281 Andre Nel 73 72 67 69
283 Kyle McClatchie 75 67 73 68; Neal Herman 73 70 71 69; Reinhardt Blaauw 72 71 69 71; Ian Snyman 68 71 71 73
285 Aubrey Beckley 78 71 68 68
Article by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.
