Moodley’s composure helps her win title

GALE force winds were no match for the petite Kaiyuree Moodley, above, as she romped to a come-from-behind victory at the Nomads SA Girls Rose Bowl Championship in Durban recently.

The Gauteng junior has been in good form this year, and after thirdplace finishes in the Western Province Women’s Amateur Championship and the Curro SA Juniors International, she was confident of putting together a telling performance at the Royal Durban Golf Club.

“I was thrilled to have won. The Rose Bowl is one of the biggest tournaments for under-19 girls. I was playing some good golf leading up to this tournament, mainly in the Cape, in rather windy conditions.”

The 15-year-old, one of the smallest players in the field, posted rounds of 80 and 82 and went into the final day three shots behind the leader and twotime defending champion, Catherine Lau from Gauteng North.

“Day 1 was extremely challenging with gusts up to 40km/h. I had to concentrate to keep the big numbers off the card,” she said.

More forgiving conditions greeted players on Day 3 and Moodley took advantage of it from the start and eventually stormed past the frontrunners.

The Bryanston golfer offset bogeys at eight and 15 with a trio of birdies at 10, 13 and 14 for a final round oneunder-par 71 to triumph on a winning score of 15-under 234.

Moodley edged out former champion Chiara Contomathios from Wanderers by one shot and finished two strokes clear of Ekurhuleni duo Kiera Floyd and Caitlyn Macnab.

“Conditions on Day 1 meant any lapse in concentration would result in a double bogey, at the very least. It was important to hit fairways and greens as chipping and putting for par was really very tough. I had to make sure I hit greens in regulation,” she said,

Elham Shaik from Royal Durban carded rounds of 88, 91 and 97 to win the B-division by two shots from Demi Lamp on 276, while Kamaya Moodliar of Umhlali took the C-division honour on 42 points.