King David Mowbray Golf Club, 13 November 2023: The curtain came down on another tremendously successful Cape Town Disabled Golf Open with four incredibly deserving winners crowned at King David Mowbray Golf Club on Monday.
Watts rides wind to 10-shot win
David Watts put on a masterful 36-hole performance, firing scores of 72 and 75 despite winds reaching gale-force speeds at various stages throughout the event.
Beginning the final round with a six-shot lead over Kelvin Van Baalen, Watts offset a bogey-5 at the 5th with a birdie-4 at the always-challenging par-5 9th to turn in even-par.
The inward nine was not without its challenges, however, as Watts relinquished shots at the 10th, 13th and 15th but all that realistically was to be decided at that stage was Watts’ margin of victory with nearest challenger Kelvin Van Baalen ultimately signing for a round of 79. In the end three closing pars meant Watts wound up winning by an eye-popping 10 shots.
But it was the manner in which he managed the wind rather than the win itself which pleased the Durbanite.
“Conditions were certainly tougher than round one and it was a day on which you needed to grind out pars and keep big scores off the card and I did that pretty well,” said Watts.
“When I was in a spot of trouble I managed to get out pretty quickly and while it’s always nice to win, it’s even nicer to do so when you have played well so it was a great tournament played in tough conditions which gives me a nice bit of momentum heading into the G4D Tour @ DP World Tour Championship event later this week in Dubai.”
Steenkamp saunters to Physically-Disabled Stableford triumph
The Northern Cape is renowned for its diamond production and the SADGA uncovered a diamond of its own from the North in the form of arm-amputee Roux Steenkamp.
Steenkamp bettered his impressive opening-round haul of 41 points by some three-points powered by a four-pointer at the 5th and an astonishing 9 three-pointers.
After a dominant two-day display, it was fitting that Steenkamp signed off with three consecutive three-pointers to complete a 5-point win over Kenyan Jimmy Semenye.
Semenye can be proud of his effort though: Sometimes in golf other players produce performances that are simply too good on the day but with a win and runner-up in his first two SADGA Opens, the future is bright for the young Kenyan.
Williams earns 4-stroke Deaf Medal win
His ever-present smile belies his extreme competitiveness and after two solid rounds of 80 and 83, the smiling assassin Charles Williams can now call himself the 2023 Cape Town Disabled Golf Open Deaf Medal champion, prevailing by four-strokes over Jay-Jay Botha.
As was the case in the first round, Williams began slowly and found himself five-over after as many holes. Another dropped shot at the 8th meanwhile saw Williams carding a front-nine 42.
A first red-number of the day at the 11th was immediately offset by bogeys at the 12th, 13th and 14th. Though another bogey at the 17th followed, Williams closed with a par at the 18th which must’ve felt like a birdie as wind continued to batter the course and competitors.
Despite being three strokes worse on day two than day one, Williams still managed the round of the day among the Deaf Medal contingent, a terrific way to cap off his final SADGA Open of the year.
Asia wins Deaf Stableford
Consistency was the order of not just the day but of Aiden Asia’s entire tournament as back-to-back rounds of 34 points earned him a four-point victory over Zubenathi Kroti.
Trailing Kroti by four overnight, Asia’s front-nine consisted of a three-pointer at the 6th along with six two-pointers which helped him turn with 17 points to his name.
It was more of the same coming home, a three-pointer at his penultimate hole the highlight of an inward-half which also featured six two-pointers and, by day’s end, a winner’s medal and trophy!
Final Scores
Cape Town Disabled Open PD Medal
Cape Town Disabled Open PD IPS
Cape Town Disabled Open Deaf Medal
Cape Town Disabled Open Deaf IPS
Photos: Nic Bothma/Matrix Images