SA stars target silverware on Sunshine Ladies Tour

SA’s Sunshine Ladies Tour professionals are eager to grab the silverware after the overseas contingent’s conquest of the opening two tournaments this season when the new Fidelity ADT Ladies Challenge gets under way at Blue Valley Golf Estate from Wednesday. 

The R250,000 Fidelity ADT Ladies Challenge makes its debut on the Sunshine Ladies Tour this week and adds significantly to an impressive eight-tournament schedule.

A local champion will certainly go down nicely. The 2024 Ladies Tour has teed off on a strong note with Scotland’s Kylie Henry opening the season with victory in the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am at Fancourt and India’s Tvesa Malik then winning the SuperSport Ladies Challenge at the Lost City.

But SA’s Lejan Lewthwaite believes this week’s Challenge offers the perfect opportunity for the local golfers to break that international hold. 

“I believe it’s only a matter of time before we have a SA winner this season. There are a lot of really good local golfers and this is only the third event, so we are still getting into the season,” Lewthwaite said. 

“I’m definitely confident in the talent we have and any one of us can win this week. But there are a lot of European golfers in SA at the moment. We will have to keep our games on point.” 

Henry, who leads the order of merit, and Malik will be teeing it up, while Romy Meekers, Lauren Taylor, Ana Dawson and Helen Kreuzer are all in the top-10 of the standings and have entered this week. 

Lewthwaite finished 20th at Fancourt and Lost City and her review of her performance so far makes her feel confident a strong performance is around the corner. 

“I’m hitting the ball quite well but things have just not gone my way yet. That can be the difference between finishing 20th or top-10 and even contending. You need things to fall your way. But the game is there and I just need to build some momentum and I’ll be on my way.”