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Coetzer keeps pole in the SA Women’s Amateur Stroke Play

golf24 February 2025 21:00
By:Lali Stander
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Lisa Coetzer © GolfRSA

Lisa Coetzer carded the second-lowest round of the day when her two-under-par 70 took her to a three-stroke lead after the second round of the South African Women’s Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Port Elizabeth Golf Club.

Once again, the front nine proved challenging, but Coetzer got her scoring done early after she started her round on the 10th: she birdied the opening hole, and two more on 14 and 17 ahead of the turn.

She birdied the first, but bogeys on three and four put paid to her hopes of a strong finish and she just made sure that she limited the damage.

In the end, she was three shots clear of second-placed Kesha Louw, who had a one-under-par 71 in the second round, and will start the final round on five-under-par for the tournament.

Olivia Wood, Lourenda Steyn and Casey Twidale shared third on one-under par through 36 holes, after rounds of 70, 70 and 72 respectively.

“I was really excited and proud of myself that I turned three-under,” said Coetzer, who led by two after an opening round of 66. “I just wanted to go level-par and keep the lead, and those three birdies on the front nine extended the lead. On our back nine, the wind picked up quite a bit. I read it as a three-club wind, and it was really tough. I was hitting a five-iron from like 150 metres. I managed to hang on, though. I come from a links course (Ebotse), so I know how to play in the wind.

“After the two bogeys, I just wanted to get par for the rest of the round… just limit the damage, and if the birdies came, then so be it. I had quite a few lip-outs. I had three lip-outs on our first nine, where I walked off with pars. But I know that if I stay patient, the birdies will drop. And if it wasn’t today, then it will be tomorrow.”

GolfRSA’s No 1, Louw, kept things on track on her front nine after starting on the 10th, making two birdies and two bogeys ahead of the turn. “Starting off, I was a bit nervous,” she said. “I started off par-birdie, and that gave me a bit of positivity. But my putter was a bit cold throughout the rest of the first nine. I had a few missed greens and had two bogeys.

“On the back nine, I managed to catch up and got birdies on holes one and two. On the eighth, I hit the trees, and it came straight down. I went for the green and just flew it. I knew my distance really well and the lie was actually really good. I used my seven-wood and that’s one of my favourite clubs in the bag. I hit a great chip and then just lipped my putt out. That was really frustrating.”

She walked off with a good bogey there. “I managed to get par on the last hole,” she said, after a round which sets her up for a charge for the lead in the third round.

Wood dropped three shots in her second round, and her two-under-par 70 matched Coetzer’s score for the day, which means she made a bunch of birdies – five to be precise. A closing round without so many dropped shots could give her a chance at the top spot.

Steyn made three birdies and dropped just one stroke on her way to matching that second-lowest round of the day.

Behind Steyn, Bobbi Brown and Isabella Ferreira were in a share of sixth on level-par. Brown had a two-under 70, and Ferreira had the low round of the day with her three-under-par 69.

In the contest for the Abe Bailey Trophy for players with handicap indexes from 6.6 to 15.3, 25-year-old Mogomotsi Sebata, a second-year Unisa student studying for a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, got all her counting right in the second round with a 10-over-par 82.

That took her to 23-over-par for the tournament, which gave her a one-stroke lead over Christan Booysen, who had a second round of 83.

In a share of third on 26-over-par were Chantaylee Visser, who had an 82 in the second round, and Mexico’s Ana Catarina Weber Albaitero, who signed for an 84.

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