JP van der Watt celebrated his first national success in front of a jubilant home crowd when he lifted the Proudfoot Trophy as the winner the stroke play section of the South African Amateur Championship on Monday.
The home favourite fired an opening round of seven-under-par 65 to start the final round one off the pace, and his five-under 67 at Humewood Golf Club lifted Van der Watt to 12-under.
“It’s always, always nice to win but I have to say, this is special,” said Van der Watt, who plays out of Humewood. “I’m really honoured and proud to lift the Proudfoot Trophy.”
Bogey-free through all of the 36 holes, the Eastern Province golfer triumphed with a one-stroke edge over Dian Kruger, who chased hard but his closing eight-under 64 was just not enough.
Juan Coetzee, who led after the first round, was third on 10-under after his second-round two-under-par 70 and India’s Sukhman Singh shared fourth on nine-under with Jordan Wessels after rounds of 68 and 65 respectively.
Van der Watt said the advantage of his local knowledge was crucial to chiselling out his victory: “I think I just stuck to my game plan and executed it quite nicely. I do know the golf course like the back of my hand; it’s basically a second home. I know the misses, I know the winds and I know where to go. I relied on that knowledge to get around. And I did get a few favourable member’s bounces but in golf, you take it when it comes.”
After he made just two birdies on the front nine, just as he did in the first round when he started on the 10th, the 24-year-old made three in a row from the 15th and that was the stretch the reeled in the trophy for him. “The closing stretch is always quite important,” he said.
“In the first round, with the westerly wind, all the par-fives on the front nine and on the back nine were playing downwind, so I could try to attack them and make a move there.
“Today I played really solid. When I got to 15, I hit a good drive and a very solid second and two-putted the par-five. On 16, just executed the plan nicely. I laid up, wedged it close and made the putt. Took advantage of the wind on 17, hit it middle green and two-putted for another birdie. That stretch does open itself up to birdies if you can take advantage of a good tee shot.
“The outward nine is definitely the tougher nine, and you have to respect the par fours and the par-three sixth hole. You pluck your way around and if the birdie comes, it comes but nine pars will never hurt you. I was solid through the front, picked up birdies on five and nine and turned with no bogeys on the card. That’s always a win.”
Kruger’s 64 which took him so close consisted of 32 shots on each nine, with three birdies on the front and five on the homeward nine.
Coetzee stumbled out of the gate with a double bogey on the par-three 12th and a bogey on the tough par-four 13th but the 15-year-old bounced back incredibly well. He racked up five birdies from the 14th and got to within a shot of Van der Watt with his sixth gain on the par-four fourth before his chase was halted with a drop on the par-five seventh.
Singh made five birdies and a bogey in his 68 and Wessels had an eagle on the 17th, as well as seven birdies and two bogeys in his seven-under-par 65.
For Van der Watt, the victory, which is really just a precursor to the match play which begins on Tuesday, is vindication of a number of decisions.
In 2020, persuaded by former Inter-Provincial teammate Kyle de Beer, he opted to stay in South Africa to attend Nelson Mandela Bay University after contemplating taking up a scholarship to an American college. “Kyle set me up with an interview with Madibaz Golf Club President Karl de Preez, who said if I started doing well and got into the national rankings, he would be able to assist with funding and finding scholarships,” Van der Watt explained. “And it worked out for me.”
The Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation member twice represented South Africa at the FUSI World University Championships and in last April, he graduated with a BCom Information Systems and Business Management degree.
Named Madibaz Sportsman of the Year 2024, Van der Watt was inducted into the GolfRSA National Squad following his win in the Cape Province Open. He earned his first cap for the Africa Region 5 Golf Tournament in Zambia, where he led the team scoring, won the KZN Match Play Championship, finished third in the MCB Indian Ocean Open in Mauritius and helped Team South Africa to victory in the 2024 All Africa Golf Team Championship in Zimbabwe in October.
And now he’s the owner of one of the most coveted pieces of silverware in South African golf, the Proudfoot Trophy. It’s named after a man who won the South African Amateur Championship title eight times between 1893 and 1902. Four of those eight titles came in Port Elizabeth, Gqeberha as it is now, including the very first one.
Perhaps that’s an omen for Van der Watt as he sets off in search of victory in the match play.
Scores
All competitors RSA unless specified. Top 64 advance to Match Play stage.
132 - JP van der Watt 65 67
133 - Dian Kruger 69 64
134 - Juan Coetzee 64 70
135 - Jordan Wessels 70 65; Sukhman Singh (IND) 67 68
136 - Minjun Heo (KOR) 68 68
137 - Morris Schiefner (GER) 70 67
138 - Devon Valentine 70 68; Rakshit Dahiya (IND) 70 68; Logan Leisher 67 71; Vian Jansen van Vuuren 67 71
139 - Vuyisani Makama 70 69; Luke Truter 70 69; Nathan Schuldt 71 68; Lourens Maritz 69 70; Liam Ross 70 69; Cameron Mukherjee (SCO) 71 68; Jamie Mann (SCO) 70 69; Charl Barnard 73 66
140 - Ruben van der Berg 67 73; Sean Paxton 70 70; Astin Arthur 70 70
141 - Mitch Phigeland 74 67; Emilio Meijer (NED) 71 70; Keegan Shutt (ZIM) 71 70; Damian Osner 74 67; Louka Morin (FRA) 65 76; Othimna Matiwana 66 75
142 - Johndre Ludick 73 69; Michael Holden 72 70; Ivan Verster 70 72; Dujuan Snyman 72 70; Kartik Singh (IND) 75 67; Harry Watkins (WAL) 72 70; Naldo Claassen 71 71
143 - Pieter Coetzee 74 69; Fabrizio de Abreu 72 71; Christiaan Heyman 70 73; Tristan Leonard 71 72
144 - Kyle Kistensamy 73 71; Benjamin Weber 71 73; Tylor Phillips 74 70; Arin Ahuja (IND) 73 71; Hannes Conradie 76 68
145 - Tawana Mangoma ZIM 70 75; Michael Dalton 74 71; Ben Willis (ENG) 72 73
146 - Luke Moore 73 73; Kyle van der Bergh 76 70; Ethan Govender 70 76; Lumkile Mantshiyo 74 72; Joshua Wiese 79 67; Shaun Viljoen 77 69; Keegan du Plessis 75 71
147 - Daniel Copeman 76 71; Anton Louw 77 70; Timothy Daniels 72 75; Amicus de Beer 76 71; Gregor Tait (SCO) 76 71; Chris Strydom 76 71
The following players will continue play-off for four spots ahead of round 1 of the match play.
148 - Keagan Crosbie 75 73; Jere Brits 78 70; Thobelan Blessing 74 74; Ruben Jansen van Rensburg 75 73; Gilbert Chalwe (ZAM) 76 72; Nicholas Schrieder 73 75
Missed the cut
148 - Nicholas Thompson 81 67; Jandre van Niekerk 76 72; Tiago Swart 77 71
149 - Josh Daniels 79 70; Boston Franks (AUS) 77 72; James Truter 77 72; Craig Jacobs 77 72; Michael Bezuidenhout 74 75
150 - Matthew Mortimer 76 74; Jeandre Hattingh 77 73; Michael Wallace (ZIM) 79 71; Oliver Scriven (ENG) 74 76; Werner Potgieter 76 74; Adrian Andrade (SEY) 76 74; Andreas Yiallouris 77 73; Harry Llewelly 79 71; Gerard Hartman 74 76; Pieter Zietsman 75 75; Janco Kruger 74 76; Jack McDonald (SCO) 76 74; Josh de Aguiar 75 75
151 - Tobias de Flamingh 80 71; Booye Walters 74 77; Joshua Edwards 79 72; Saul Moss 78 73
152 - Grant Labuschagne 82 70
153 - Janko van der Merwe 77 76; Matthew Leonard 79 74
154 - Johan Botha 79 75; Struan Currie 82 72; Nelis de Bruin 73 81
155 - Christopher Gelderblom 80 75; Ernest Luswazi 74 81; Zane Griesel 80 75
156 - Clinton Duncan 79 77; Lorenzo Sakota (ITA) 73 83; Matteo Rakotofiringa (MAD) 77 79; Bradley de Beer 79 77
157 - Josh Hirsch 84 73; Grant Stofberg 80 77
158 - Jean du Toit 78 80; Keegan Daws 85 73
159 - Peter Watt 80 79
160 - JC Mienie 82 78; Alec Stander 83 77; Jason Nesbitt 84 76; Siebert Wiid 85 75; Sebastian Greenan 82 78
161 - Dylan Mellville 83 78
162 - Declan Riddle (CAN) 90 72; Maurits Sasse (GER) 87 75
165 - Willem Lotriet 80 85
166 - Thomo Mokgatle (BOT) 84 82
176 - Kyle Roberts 92 84
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