Gregor Graham rounds off South African trip with another strong performance

Blairgowrie's Gregor Graham in action during the GolfRSA International Amateur in Johannesburg. Picture: GolfRSA

Blairgowrie player makes presence felt in all four tournaments on warm weather trip

Blairgowrie’s Gregor Graham is heading home to Scotland with a real spring in his step after producing a string of strong performances on his trip to South Africa.

In his fourth and final event on the warm weather trip as part of a Scottish Golf squad, the 20-year-old finished third in the GolfRSA International Amateur at Houghton Golf Club in Johannesburg.

One off the lead heading into the final round, Graham had victory in his sights setting out and wasted no time stepping up his title challenge in what was formerly the African Amateur by picking up two shots in the first three holes.

However, he then found himself two shots off the pace after giving those gains back with bogeys at the seventh and eighth and, though showing real grit and determination to the bitter end, it wasn’t to be for Graham on this occasion.

In signing off with a two-under 70, he finished third on ten under, two shots outside a play-off that saw home player Altin van der Merwe beat Dutchman Jack Ingham to land the title after closing with rounds of 64 and 68 respectively.

The solid effort came just seven days after Graham was crowned as the South African Amateur champion at Royal Johannesburg after becoming the fifth Scot to land that title since 2011.

That performance came after he’d finished second in the Gauteng North Open at The Els Club in Centurion then secured a share of eighth spot in the South African Stroke-Play Championship at Mount Edgecombe in Durban.

Also in South Africa, Craig Howe is the leading Scot at the halfway stage in the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt, sitting joint-48th on level par after signing for a second-round 73.

Meanwhile, Scottish No 1 Gemma Dryburgh suffered an early exit in the $5 million Saudi Ladies International in Riyadh following two 75s and was joined in missing the cut by compatriot Kelsey MacDonald, who ran up a 12 at the par-5 fifth in her second round.