Caudal ends winless streak
THE SLOGAN this week at the first Jabra Ladies Classic on the Sunshine Ladies Tour was “Make Life Sound Better”. Life is definitely sounding super sweet for Anne-lise Caudal after she edged out crowd favourite Nobuhle Dlamini to win the inaugural tournament yesterday.
The French golfer closed out a two-shot victory on four-under-par 212 with a one-over-par 73 at Glendower Golf Club, to end a seven-year drought.
Dlamini, from Swaziland, carded 75 to finish second, while 14-year-old GOLFRSA Elite Squad member Kiera Floyd from Ebotse returned a 73 to take the amateur honours with a thirdplace finish on level par.
Victory earned Caudal a winner’s cheque worth R28 000, 250 points that lifted her to fifth in the Investec Property Fund Order of Merit race and a start in the Jabra Ladies Open on the Ladies European Tour in May.
Sopping wet but smiling broadly after her fellow pros doused her on the 18th green, the Saint-jean de Luz native said: “This is my first win since I beat Laura Davies in the 2012 German Ladies Open and this is a really special moment for me. A win is a win, and it doesn’t matter if it is here or on the European Tour. You still have to play to win. I am so very, very happy to be a champion again.”
A recurring wrist injury hampered her comeback to the elite level in the sport, but Caudal believes she is back on an upward curve.
“I feel like a winner again,” she said.
“I’ve been competing on the Sunshine Tour for six years, but this year is the first time that I have played the full season. I built a lot of confidence here; I came second and I was in the leading group a few times in the past two months. I’ve always built good form when I play three or four weeks in a row and I knew I was heading for a good week.” z Meanwhile, Jean Hugo followed up on his opening round of five-under-par 67 with a 68 in the second round of the season-ending Tour Championship which gave him a one-shot lead on nine-under-par at Serengeti Estates.
Co-leading after round one, albeit by just one shot, Hugo started off slowly in round two, making four pars on the trot. He found joy on the parthree fifth, making a birdie there and followed that up with another on the sixth. A par on the seventh preceded another birdie but he gave back two shots as he made a double-bogey on the par-three ninth.
“I played well, slow start again but I made a few putts,” said Hugo, who is now the solo leader. “On five and six, those two good ones to get going. And then, on the green for two on eight, the first time ever that I have gone for it. I two-putted that for birdie so I was three-under and eight-under total, happy. Then, I kind of pulled my six-iron on nine, different kind of wind today, but I wasn’t overly dissatisfied.”
His back nine started the same his front did; with four straight pars but then Hugo made three consecutive birdies in what was a bogey-free back nine.
“I just kept it going,” he said. “I then made a big putt on 13 to save par and then a big one for birdie, and another on 15 for birdie. On 16, I went for the green, up-and-downed nicely for a birdie. But nine-under is good. I’m hitting it where I’m looking and I’m making the putts. It feels good.”
Closely behind Hugo comes Jeanpaul Strydom whose blemish-free five-under 67 pushed him right ahead of Keenan Davidse who shared the overnight lead with Hugo, and Sweden’s Philip Eriksson who are both seven-under par for the week. |