Woollam impresses with 65, 64

THERE were two interesting names atop the leader board after two days of qualifying at the Sanlam SA Amateur Matchplay at Humewood Golf Club.

The one was Englishman Dan Brown, and we suspect, no relation to the famous author.

The other was Chris Woollam, a matric schoolboy at Hilton College, who is currently playing out of Gowrie Farm in the Midlands.

It was Woollam who subsequently triumphed in a four hole playoff to have the honour of being leading qualifier.

In some ways he has come out of the blue, in other ways not so much as he has been steadily improving over the past year or so.

At Humewood he started with a 65, his best tournament round of his life. The next day he went out and bettered that with 64.

Woollam has played some league for Maritzburg GC and was a member of the KZN junior team last year. But these two rounds have shown that he could be something special. It’s early days, time will tell. Now the hard work starts, with the matchplay rounds.

KZN players in the draw include Woollam, Malcolm Mitchell (T11 on -8), Gregory McKay (T26 on -5), Matt Saulez and Combrinck Smit (T40 on -4) and possibly Luke Mayo (T61 on -1).

Mayo has to wait overnight as not all the players in the playoff could finish in time.

There’s a surprise name in the draw for the KZN Invitational at Bluff National Park this Sunday, that of Bradley Davison of Royal Durban. He’s one of the province’s favourite sons, a past SA Amateur champ, and former pro who returned to the amateur ranks a few years ago, bolstering the mid-amateur ranks.

But he sustained an alarming stomach-related illness towards the end of 2015 and has been out of golfing action for over a year.

On the whole, he’s feeling fine and has had to introduce a few life changes after the illness and subsequent surgery.

He had his first game in December last year and another in January. “It’s still a journey to get my full fitness back,” he said.

While two laps around Bluff in February may be a daunting prospect for even the fittest golfer, Davison is ready to have a go.

“I’m going to try and play. It will be my third and fourth rounds in 14 months (!) so I’ll obviously go hit a couple of balls this week. And then we will see. No expectations whatsoever,” he said.

In news down south, Graham Fabricius of Port Shepstone CC managed to successfully defend his title at the Southern KwaZulu-Natal Closed at San Lameer CC on Sunday.

On a rainy, windy day he shot level par for 36 points over 18 holes. (The tournament will revert to a 36 hole strokeplay event next year most likely).

Fabricius’s biggest threat did not come from his playing partners. Instead it came from 8-handicap Jan Roos of Southbroom GC having one of the games of his life who shot 73.

Third place went to Jason Gilliver who carded 77 for 31 points.