Top amateurs named for international action this February

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South African number two, Zander Lombard, and sixth ranked Louis Taylor will lead the senior team in the country’s title defence at the annual Leopard Trophy against members of the Scottish Golf Union’s Mens National Squad at Leopard Creek in Mpumalanga from February 18-19.

A deadly combination last year, Lombard and Taylor will combine with six newcomers in the 36-hole Test, including current number one Christiaan Bezuidenhout, reigning Sanlam SA Amateur champion Thriston Lawrence, NJ Arnoldi, Philip Kruse, Matthew Spacey and Werner van Niekerk.

While Kruse, Spacey and Van Niekerk will don the national colours for the first time, the remaining players all enjoyed a taste of international success last year.

Lawrence was a member of the victorious side that claimed South Africa’s 13th consecutive victory at the Africa Zone VI Golf Championship, and a member of the junior team that sealed the country’s 15th consecutive All-Africa Junior Golf Championship title in April.

Arnoldi was a member of the SA team that extended the country’s dominance at the African Amateur Golf Teams Championship in October, while Bezuidenhout accompanied Taylor to the biennial Spirit Invitational in November, where the South Africans took fifth.

Lombard and Van Niekerk also represented the University of Pretoria in Scotland against teams from St Andrews University, the Scottish Golf Union (SGU) and the Scandinavian School of Golf.

Meanwhile, a formidable eight-man junior side will face the Scots and a team from the South African Development Board’s Elite Squad at Randpark on 18 February.

Current number one Kyle McClatchie leads the way alongside numbers two to five Jovan Rebula, Hennie du Plessis, Altin van der Merwe and Keegan de Lange, while David Meyers, Paul Boshoff and Jason Froneman, ranked seventh, eighth and ninth respectively, complete the team.