GABRIELLE VENTER WINS STANDARD BANK LADIES OPEN TITLE IN CAPE TOWN
Bloemfontein’s Gabrielle Venter claimed her first Sunshine Ladies Tour title by winning the Standard Bank Ladies Open in Cape Town.
The 19-year-old held strong in a fiercely contested finish with France’s Emie Peronnin and Scottish golfer Kylie Henry at the Royal Cape Golf Club on 15 March 2024.
The Standard Bank Ladies Open had a strong field of 64 golfers from South Africa and 15 other countries who took part in the 10th edition of the tournament in Cape Town.
Venter, who finished finished tied-fifth in the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am and second in the SuperSport Ladies Challenge earlier this season, showed mettle by shooting a superb four-under-par 70 to finish on nine-under-par.
It was enough to overtake 37-year-old Henry, a two-time Ladies European Tour winner.
Henry had led after the first two rounds but could only post a level-par 74 on the final day, finishing on eight-under.
“Honestly I was not focusing on the win at all because if you do that too much then you lose focus on the actual golf,” Venter said.
“So I didn’t know what the scores were at all, I was just focused on my own game. I felt my game was in place to win, but if it didn’t happen then I would just wait for the next time. The first time I saw a scoreboard was when I was putting on 18, I missed the birdie putt and then you expect the best from your opponent and I was ready for a playoff with Kylie.”
RETURN TO THE MOTHER CITY
Venter’s good performance in the Sunshine Ladies Tour season has served her well and has second behind Henry for the Investec Order of Merit standings.
She will be hoping to have closed the gap between them by them as the season heads to conclusion.
The pair return to the Mother City next month for the season-closing Investec SA Women’s Open from 25 – 28 April 2024.
Hosted at the Erinvale Golf Club, the country’s oldest and most prestigious professional women’s golf tournament, the SA Women’s Open comes with an enticing reward.
The tournament carries the largest prize purse (over R6 million) for any professional women’s golf tournament in South Africa.
