31st January 2020 | Sunshine Ladies Tour
Pace seals Cape Town Ladies Open hat-trick in style
31 January 2020 – Lee-Anne Pace hopes her Cape Town Ladies Open hat-trick is a good omen as she begins to resuscitate her career on the Sunshine Ladies Tour in 2020.
Pace successfully wrapped up her 25th career victory with a five-shot victory on eight under par after closing with a five-under 67 on a blustery final day at King David Mowbray Golf Club on Friday.
Her last visit to the winner’s circle was in the same event two years ago at Royal Cape Golf Club and her first success was also at Royal Cape in 2016.
“I’m super, super happy,” said Pace as she hugged the trophy and flashed a big, white toothy smile at the applauding crowd during prize giving.
”I didn’t expect it this week. Last year was a write-off; I just didn’t enjoy it anymore. I missed two cuts and decided to take a total break from the game. The break did me the world of good, but I didn’t expect I played two events in the last six months and missed the cut in both, so I didn’t really expect to start this well. But time away from the game was really good for me. I am in a good place in my life and I felt very comfortable out there. I am enjoying it again. This is the perfect to start building form for the Ladies European Tour.”
Pace opened with an even-par 72 and dipped three shots below par in the second round to start the final day one shot behind Dlamini on four-under.
She reeled in three birdies over the first six holes, and managed to come through the second and fourth holes relatively unscathed. “I doubled the second hole and bogeyed the fourth in the first two rounds, so that cost me four shots,” Pace said. “I don’t know what it is about that second hole, but I bogeyed it again in the final round. Luckily the birdies on one, three and six gave me a boost.”
Lee-Anne Pace credited her young caddie, Jere Brits from Paarl, for her 13th Sunshine Ladies Tour title. The 16-year-old Bridge Fund Managers Junior Series finalist guided the former LPGA and Ladies European Tour winner to a hat-trick of wins in the Cape Town Ladies Open at King David Mowbray Golf Club.
Pace lauded her caddie, 16-year-old Bridge Fund Manager Junior Series finalist Jere Brits from Paarl, for guiding her to the winner’s circle.
“Jere had been absolutely brilliant all week and he deserves a lot of credit. He gave me all the right clubs, the lines and the pace and even an eagle at the 14th. I wanted to hit an 8-iron and he talked me into a seven, and we got the eagle.”
Two perfectly-timed shots on the ultimate hole set her up for a birdie finish and she nailed it.
With a record setting start to the 2020 season, how much would Pace like to finish it off with a record fourth triumph in the Investec South African Women’s Open in middle-March?
“It’s definitely in the back of my mind, as is winning the Investec Order of Merit,” she said. “I got so close last year, and I would love to get the win. That trophy comes with spots in the British Women’s Open and the Evian Championship and LET membership until the end of 2021. More than anything, it would be great to be the first four-time winner.
“It was a really great week with the putter and I was driving it better every day, so I am looking forward to the rest of the season, and to keep on building form. And hopefully Jere’s mom and dad will let me borrow him again for Westlake.”
While Pace was in blistering form, Dlamini struggled to recreate the magic of her second round 67.
The 2019 Investec Order of Merit winner paid the penalty of an errant drive at the par four second with a double bogey and had to settle for second on three-under.
Durbanville rookie Tara Griebenow played the final round with Pace and Dlamini and finished an impressive third on level par after rounds of 73, 71 and 72.
Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation member Larissa du Preez bagged the Leading Amateur honour.
The Silver Lakes golfer carded rounds of 73, 75 and 73 to tie American Jordy LaBarbera for eighth overall on five-over 221.
The Sunshine Ladies Tour travels to Sun City next for the R400 000 SuperSport Ladies Challenge presented by Sun International at the Gary Player and Lost City Courses from 4-6 February.
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Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the Sunshine Ladies Tour and WPGA.
29th January 2020 | Sunshine Ladies Tour
Classy Pace credits young caddie for Cape Town lead
29 January 2020 – Lee-Anne Pace was right where she loves to be when action wrapped up on day one of the Cape Town Ladies Open in the Mother City on Monday.
Confirming the old adage that form is temporary, but class is permanent, Pace went around King David Mowbray’s 5,622 metre course in level par 72 to open up a one-shot lead in the Sunshine Ladies Tour 2020 season-opener.
The former LPGA Tour winner and nine-time Ladies European Tour champion was delighted to lay down a marker in the 2020 Sunshine Ladies Tour season-opener.
“I played maybe four competitive rounds in the last six months and I haven’t played the course before, so my expectations was pretty low,” Pace said. “I made a really bad start with a double on the second hole and a quick bogey after on the fourth.
“I got one shot back on the sixth and had a pair of birdies coming home to get it back to level. But really, my caddie was the hero of the day. He was absolutely brilliant.”
Lee-Anne Pace credited her 16-year-old caddie, Durbanville amateur Jere Brits, for guiding her to the first round lead in the 2020 Sunshine Ladies Tour season-opening Cape Town Ladies Open at King David Mowbray Golf Club; credit Sunshine Ladies Tour.
Sixteen-year-old Jere Brits, a Bridge Fund Managers Junior Series winner who plays out of Durbanville Golf Club, is the son of one of Pace’s close friends.
“Jere knows the course really well and I asked him to take the bag. The course is definitely interesting. It is heavily tree-lined and with the wind gusting at 45 km per hour, it was playing very tight. He was brilliant with clubbing, the lines and the greens. I couldn’t have done it without him. Jere wanted to get a little taste of the pro circuit, and it’s nice that he is learning a little bit from me, but really, it’s the other way around. He is teaching me a great deal.”
Pace leads by one shot from a group of four players, including last year’s Investec Order of Merit winner Nobuhle Dlamini.
Fresh from securing her card for the 2020 Ladies European Tour season, the Dlamini lived up to her billing as the pre-tournament favourite when she turned two-under, but fatigue caught up with the big-hitting eSwatini golfer on the homeward stretch.
A series bogeys coming home will see Dlamini start the second round in joint second on one-over with Astrid Vayson De Pradenne from France, Durbanville rookie Tara Griebenow and Silver Lakes amateur Larissa du Preez.
“I was driving the ball really well at the start of the round, but definitely felt myself fading on the back nine,” she said. “I hit some bad shots, including the 7-iron that landed me in the water on 18. I am not too unhappy with the score, though.
“I arrived back from Spain on yesterday morning and only checked into the hotel here in Cape Town close to midnight after some delays with my flight. I could feel my focus slipping on the back nine, but I love this course. It really suits my eye and my game. Hopefully I get a really good night’s sleep and I can give Lee-Anne a run for her money in the second round.”
Reigning SA Women’s Masters champion Lejan Lewthwaite and 2019 SuperSport Ladies Challenge winner Jane Turner from Scotland – who both broke through for maiden titles on the windy KwaZulu-Natal south coast last year – carded matching 74s to tie seventh.
Catherine Lau from Woodhill, 2019 Jabra Ladies Classic winner Anne-Lise Caudal from France and American Jordy LaBarbera, making her debut on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, rounded out the top 10 on three-over 75.
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HASHTAG – #CapeTownLadiesOpen / #sunshineladiestour
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For more schedule information or to follow the live scoring, log on to www.sunshineladiestour.com
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the Sunshine Ladies Tour and WPGA.
20th January 2020 | Sunshine Ladies Tour
Friendship put aside for Cape Town showdown
CAPE TOWN, 20 January 2020 – South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace and popular French golfer Anne-Lise Caudal will put their long-lasting friendship aside when they tee it up in the Cape Town Ladies Open at King David Mowbray Golf Club from 29-31 January.
Pace and Caudal struck up a friendship when the South African first started competing on the Ladies European Tour in 2008 and they have been fast friends since.
“Anne-Lise and I always support each other; in fact, I’m even going to caddy for her next week in the final stage of the LET Q-School, but we have both set ourselves goals for this season,” Pace said. “We will still be travelling together, but once we get on the course, the gloves will come off, starting at the Cape Town Ladies Open. With the incentives on offer this year, it’s every woman for herself.”
Pace is undoubtedly South Africa’s most successful golfer since Major champion Sally Little with nine LET wins and a LPGA victory under her belt. She also leads the Sunshine Ladies Tour champions’ list with 12 victories since the women’s professional circuit launched in 2014, including a Cape Town Ladies Open double.
And she will be looking to revenge two agonisingly close missed calls last year.
Pace looked on course to make it a hat-trick of wins at Royal Cape Golf Club after sharing the 36-hole lead with amateur Kajal Mistry. However, the Paarl golfer was beaten to the winner’s circle by former SA Women’s Masters champion Carrie Park and overhauled by Caudal and Mistry, who tied for second, in a mammoth final round tussle.
A week later, she was hunting a record fourth Investec South African Women’s Open crown, but once again the South African was denied when Indian rookie Diksha Dagar beat her by one shot for a maiden Ladies European Tour victory at Westlake Golf Club.
“It was still hugely disappointing to come so close and for the first time, not lift a single trophy,” Pace said. “I am keen to get back on the winning track and it would be great to start off with a win in Cape Town and to then come full circle at the end of the season and win the Investec South African Women’s Open a fourth time.”
Cape Town has certainly been kind to Pace in the past and if she does triumph in the season-finale Investec South African Women’s Open, she not only own the tournament record for most victories, but also bank exemption into two Majors – the Evian Championship and the AIG British Women’s Open – and playing privileges on the Ladies European Tour for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
“Those are huge incentives to play for and I also have my eye on the R100 000 bonus for the Investec Order of Merit. It all starts in Cape Town at the end of January and I’m really determined to start the Sunshine Ladies Tour with a strong start and to build from there.”
Caudal, who enjoyed her first taste of success on the Sunshine Ladies Tour in the inaugural Jabra Ladies Classic at Glendower Golf Club, also has a score to settle in the Mother City.
“I was a runner-up the last two years in the Cape Town Ladies Open, so I am hoping a new year and a new course brings me some good luck,” Caudal said. “It was really great to win last year after so many close calls over the first six seasons. It definitely boosted my confidence and I would love nothing more than to make a winning start in 2020 in Cape Town.”
The City of Cape Town is not only hosting the season-finale at Westlake for a third successive year, but backing the Cape Town Ladies Open for a sixth year running.
“We are pleased to extend our long-standing relationship with the Cape Town Ladies Open as part of the Sunshine Ladies Tour series,” said Dan Plato, Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town.
“Teeing off at one of the country’s top golf courses, the King David Mowbray Golf Club – with its impressive manicured fairways and beautiful greens – this year’s competitors are again in for a spectacular experience in the Mother City.
“As the supporter of the tournament for the last six years, the City of Cape Town has sought to partner with events aimed at developing the women’s game while also nurturing the next generation of the country’s top golfers. We believe sport development programmes play a vital role in development and tournaments such as these provide a chance for young talent to be nurtured to their full potential. The Cape Town Ladies Open is now one of the most anticipated tournaments on the golf circuit and, in a short period, it has become a significant feature on Cape Town’s annual events calendar.
“As the City administration, we also welcome the economic opportunities which arise through events such as these and the increased spend at our world-famous attractions.
“Our city is renowned as an outdoor adventure destination with beautiful mountains, rivers, streams and beaches that complement our world-class infrastructure and we hope the competitors will take the opportunity to explore some of these and see more of what Cape Town has to offer. We look forward to another exciting and successful edition of the Cape Town Ladies Open.”
Former champion Stacy Bregman, 2019 Investec Order of Merit winner Nobuhle Dlamini, Sunshine Ladies Tour winners Nicole Garcia, Lejan Lewthwaite, Kim Williams and Jane Turner from Wales will also be joining the action at King David Mowbray Golf Club alongside up-and-coming rising stars Brittney-Fay Berger, Shawnelle de Lange, former SA Women’s Amateur champion Cara Gorlei and former GolfRSA Protea Zethu Myeki, who will make her professional debut from 29 – 31 January 2020.
SOCIAL MEDIA
HASHTAG – #CapeTownLadiesOpen / #sunshineladiestour
TWITTER – @SLadiesTour
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OTHER – #itstartshere #buildingwomenchampions
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the Sunshine Ladies Tour and WPGA.