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Golf | Brown blitzes to GolfRSA International Amateur Championship lead

JOHANNESBURG, 29 January 2025 – Bobbi Brown converted her love of the Royal Johannesburg East Course into a fine six-under-par 66 on Wednesday in the second round of the GolfRSA International Amateur Championship to take a two-stroke lead after 36 holes.

Bobbi Brown

It was something of an up-and-down affair on the front nine as she started with a birdie, followed it with a bogey, and then did the same on the third and fourth holes. But a birdie on six got her back into red figures, and then she put the hammer down with an eagle-three on the par-five eighth. She dropped a shot on the 11th, but then came home with a flourish, making four birdies in the final seven holes to move to six-under-par for the tournament.

“I love it here,” she said of the Royal Johannesburg East Course. “I just recently became a member here. It’s one of my favourite places to come to. We were here for the SA Amateur like five years ago. I met my caddie Lovelace here, and he’s still caddying for me today. I really love it here. It’s one of my favourite places in Johannesburg.”

She expressed that love with a deadly driver off the tees, and then she was accurate in to the greens to give herself some chances. “I was really good from about 150 out,” said Brown, who teed it up in the first GolfRSA SA Swing event straight off a 10-shot victory in the Eastern Province | Border Women’s Stroke Play at Humewood.

“I was able to roll some putts in with a change in putter from the armlock one I was using. Now that I’m back to a normal putter, I don’t feel like I’m missing from two to three feet anymore.

“Getting in the right position off the tee is very important. There are lots of par-fours that are playing quite short, and I am playing them quite aggressively. As long as I could get my short game going, I thought I could get a low number today.”

Her eagle came from both local knowledge and getting things better after she made birdie on the eighth in the first round. “I kept the tee shot away from the fairway bunker I hit yesterday, and then I hit the approach perfectly to inside three feet and made the putt,” she said.

At six-under, the Western Province rising star was two strokes clear of Olivia Wood, who signed for a three-under-par 69 to move to four-under. The KwaZulu-Natal golfer made a bogey early on, made up for that with birdies on five and 12, and then underlined her solid play with a fine eagle-three on the tough closing 18th.

Two strokes behind Wood, Lourenda Steyn carded a second-successive one-under-par 71 to occupy third place.

Steyn is on a dizzying tear at the moment and is shaping up to add yet another notch to her belt this week. The 15-year-old Gauteng North teen catapulted to 10th in the GolfRSA Open Amateur and eighth in junior rankings in a breakthrough season last year that saw her notch her first provincial victory in the North West Women’s Open Championship and rack up seven more top 10 finishes.

The first-round leader, Reunion’s Melliyal Schmitt, battled to a five-over-par 77, and she was in fifth place on two-over through 36 holes.

In the men’s section, first-round leader Astin Arthur followed his seven-under-par 65 with a two-under-par 70 to move to nine-under-par at the halfway stage. That put him in a share of second with fellow-countryman Tristan Leonard, who followed his opening 69 with a six-under-par 66.

2025 GIAC Octave Bailo Round 2Octave Bailo

They were both two strokes behind the leader, Octave Bailo. The Frenchman was heading for a bogey-free round before dropping a shot on the closing 18th. But his eight birdies before that – four on each nine – were enough to take him to 11-under-par for the tournament.

Leonard’s 66 was also spoiled by just a single bogey, on the 16th, as he racked up seven birdies. Arthur also only dropped a single shot, but he worked much harder for his score in the second round and was able to make just three birdies.

Sean Paxton and Devon Valentine were in fourth and fifth after rounds of 66 and 67 respectively.

In the team competition, Team South Africa Men kept their 10-stroke lead over Team South Africa Juniors and sit comfortably at 18-under-par. Dian Kruger and Jordan Burnand chipped in with rounds of 69 and 71 to add to Arthur’s two-under. Johndre Ludick, Roelof Craig and Dewan de Bruin contributed 69, 70 and 71 to the Juniors’ tally.

The Golf RSA President Team was on five-under, well clear of Team Scotland on 12-over and Team Reunion on 35-over.

In the women’s team contest, Kesha Louw contributed a one-over 73 and Zane Kleynhans had a 74 to move them to three-over. The local favourites are 10 clear of Team Reunion, with the GolfRSA President Team on 25-over-par.

2025 GolfRSA International Amateur Championships Round Two Results

MEN’S INDIVIDUAL

133 Octave Bailo FRA 68 65

135 Tristan Leonard 69 66; Astin Wade Arthur 65 70

136 Sean Paxton 70 66

137 Devon Valentine 70 67

138 Juan Coetzee 73 65

139 Charl Barnard 73 66; Minjun Heo KOR 71 68; Johndre Ludick 70 69; Jordan Burnand 68 71

140 Dian Kruger 71 69

141 Janko van der Merwe 73 68; Nathan Schuldt 70 71; Michael Wallace ZIM 71 70

142 Damian Osner 75 67; Darren Strachan 73 69; Roelof Craig 72 70

143 Tristan Fichardt 71 72; Oliver Scriven ENG 72 71; Dewan de Bruin 72 71

144 Benjamin Weber 71 73; Morris Schiefner GER 76 68

145 Liam McKenna 74 71; Vian Jansen van Vuuren 69 76; Keegan Shutt ZIM 73 72; Tanaka Chatora ZIM 74 71; Jean-Pierre van der Watt 75 70

146 Werner Potgieter 73 73; Thomo Mokgatle BOT 71 75; Kaiden Chetty 74 72; Bradley de Beer 73 73; Max Hopkins WAL 72 74; Andries van der Vyver 73 73; Harry Watkins WAL 71 75; James Truter 71 75; Matthew Mortimer 71 75; Vuyisani Makama 75 71

147 Craig Jacobs 69 78; Christiaan Heyman 71 76; Marno Lange 72 75; Logan Leisher 68 79; Keegan du Plessis 72 75; Jeré Brits 69 78; Bryan Newman 74 73; Jack McDonald SCO 74 73; Gregor Tait SCO 70 77; Travis Procter 75 72; Samuel Aiach REU 75 72

148 Fabrizio de Abreu 74 74; Cilliers Craig 73 75; Dujuan Snyman 77 71; Daniel Copeman 73 75; Kyle Kistensamy 74 74; Timothy Daniels 72 76; Ivan Verster 74 74

149 Emilio Meijer NED 80 69; Josh de Aguiar 70 79; Mitch Phigeland 77 72

150 Keagan Crosbie 73 77; Jandré van Niekerk 76 74; Tylor Phillips 77 73; Gerard Hartman 73 77; Jamie Mann SCO 74 76

151 Liam Ross 74 77; Noa Auch-Roy FRA 78 73

152 Lorenzo Sakota ITA 73 79; Nicolaas Weber 76 76; Jean du Toit 75 77

154 Andreas Yiallouris 76 78; Andrew Wahome KEN 78 76; Saul Moss 79 75; Gilbert Chalwe ZAM 78 76; Sebastian Greenan 78 76; Pieter Coetzee 78 76; Stefano Marchetti 76 78; Kamoza Longwe MAL 72 82; Gerhard Botha 75 79

155 Andrew Curlewis 77 78

157 Ben Willis 76 81; Harry Llewellyn ENG 75 82; Nicholas Lewis 76 81; Willem Lotriet 79 78

158 Camille Taillefer-Wolf REU 74 84

162 Francois Alexandre REU 81 81

164 Ben Jacobs 81 83

169 Edwin Kutara 84 85 NAM

171 Mongiwetfu Masuku 87 84 SWZ

WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL

138 Bobbi Brown 72 66

140 Olivia Wood 71 69

142 Lourenda Steyn 71 71

143 Shannon Butler 73 70

146 Melliyal Schmitt REU 69 77

147 Kesha Louw 74 73

150 Megan Marais 76 74

151 Maegan Webster 75 76; Lisa Coetzer 70 81

154 Zayaan Hendricks 78 76; Casey Twidale 72 82; Gia Raad 79 75

155 Liezl Smit 78 77; Zané Kleynhans 81 74; Kamaya Moodliar 78 77; Ophelie Odin REU 76 79

156 Bea Breedt 81 75; Jasmine Furstenburg 78 78

158 Celeste Darloy 83 75

159 Charlotte Millard 82 77

160 Lucia Mhlabane 81 79

161 Kaylee Webster 83 78; Phenyo Sebata 79 82

164 Danielle Chong 77 87; Odette Booysen 76 88

165 Paola Sakota 81 84

166 Hanne Rademeyer 82 84

167 Kaitlyn van de Vyver 79 88

168 Valentina Sakota 80 88

169 Tze Ning Chang 84 85

170 Keisha Wiltshire UGA 86 84

175 Holly Duddy 87 88

178 Danielle van der Merwe 87 91

179 Ellandri van Heerden 94 85

TEAM COMPETITION – MEN (54 holes; best 3 scores to count)

414 Team South Africa 204 210

424 Team South Africa Juniors

214 210 427 GolfRSA President Team

217 210 444 Team Scotland 218 226

467 Team Réunion 230 237

TEAM COMPETITION – WOMEN (54 holes; best 2 scores to count)

291 Team South Africa 144 147

301 Team Réunion 145 156

313 GolfRSA President Team 154 159

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Golf, 2025, GolfRSA International Amateur Championship, Royal Johannesburg East Course, Bobbi Brown, Octave Bailo