Somerset man Canter wins South African amateur title

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Somerset county player and England A Squad invitee Laurie Canter secured the biggest win of his career when he won the 108th South African Amateur Championship in East London. The 20-year-old from Bath beat Johannesburg’s Allan Versfeld 6 and 5 in the 36-hole final, having also topped the 36-hole stroke-play qualifying.
The final was played against a fierce wind, making for some demanding shot-making, but Canter was one under par for the morning round and two under for the 13 holes played in the afternoon, which was good scoring in the conditions.
“I can’t actually believe that I’ve won the South African Amateur,” he said. “I’m still nervous as hell; my stomach is still in a knot.” Over the course of the week, the Saltford club member had just seven bogeys in 10 rounds.
"I've won a few tournaments along the way but I never felt that type of ease on a golf course," he said. “I felt really uncomfortable on this course because of the grain on the greens and the slopes on the putting surfaces.
“A few days in, I felt very differently. I could see every shot no matter what it was. I wasn’t always playing at my best, but I managed to pull off the shots at the times it counted.”
Canter was one up on Versfeld at lunch, having won the second, seventh, 13th and 16th offset by Versfeld’s wins at the eighth, ninth and 18th. But Canter’s clutch putting and a superb stretch of ball-striking left Versfeld in a fight for survival over the next 13 holes.
“Laurie was just holing everything in sight and I had no answers,” said Versfeld. “I’m really happy with how far I came, but I certainly don’t think I lost. He played brilliantly and he thoroughly deserved to win.”
Canter went two up at the 20th hole and was six ahead through 27. Although Versfeld halved six holes, he won only one with a par at the short tenth against Canter, who claimed the first and second, the seventh to the ninth and the 12th.
In the earlier rounds, Canter wrapped up his matches in double time and was taken to the 18th for the first time when South Africa’s Dean O’Riley pushed him to the final hole in the semi-final. Otherwise he cantered home 7 and 6; 6 and 4; 3 and 2; and 5 and 4 on his way to the semis. “That sent me straight to the driving range,” said Canter. “The north-easterly wind was definitely going to blow again in the final and I needed to practise all my clubs and find a way to hit them low.”
Canter also paid tribute to caddie Lyle Rowe. “He was just brilliant at reading the greens,” said the Somerset man. “These greens were so true and just the best I’ve played in South Africa but I had a hard time reading them. I could trust Lyle 100% all the time to get the lines right.”
In the 36-hole stroke-play qualifier, Canter also came out on top against Versfeld, beating him at the first play-off hole after they had tied on 138, eight under par, Canter with a brace of 69s.