SA’S TELFER ONE OFF THE LEAD

SOUTH AFRICA’S Kaleigh Telfer mixed it up with the world’s top-ranked amateur and the 2018 SCFA Women’s Amateur Championship runner-up in a dream start at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur on Wednesday.

The GolfRSA Elite Squad member fired four birdies in an opening round of three-under-par 69 at the Champions Retreat Golf Club to finish within one stroke of joint leaders, No 1- ranked Jennifer Kupcho and 16-year-old junior Zoe Campos.

“I am very happy with that 69,” said the second-year Auburn University student. “I started off nervous and missing greens, but making a lot of putts and then, towards the end of the first nine and on the back nine, I started hitting the greens and the putts kept dropping. It was a good round.”

The former Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation member was delighted to receive the unexpected call-up to Augusta and was pleased with a solid start.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the call,” she said. “The selections had gone out and I thought I had just missed it. I knew I was very close, so when I got the call about two weeks later, I was just over the moon. I received the phone call while I was walking to class and I was really excited.

“It was a huge motivation to come out here and I had a few college tournaments leading up to this week that helped me to build my confidence coming here. This is one of the best tournaments I’ve ever played in.

“This was definitely the kind of round that I was looking for. My goal was anything under par and it’s always nice to start with an under-par round. Going into Thursday, I’ll just do what I did today and see how it goes.”