Galletti throws down gauntlet for Sanlam SA Women’s Amateur

Amateur Eleonora Galletti heads into this week’s Sanlam South Africa Women’s Amateur Championship even more confident of her chances following her victory in the 36-hole stroke play at Ruimsig Country Club on 3 August.

The stroke play serves as a seeding tournament for the main match play championship from 4 until 6 August. The 16-year-old Galletti secured the position of top seed with an impressive five-under-par 67 in her afternoon round, and following a three-over-par 75 in the morning.

That gave her a winning total of two under par, two strokes better than home favourite Ivanna Samu.

“That 67 surprised me as well,” said Galletti, who tied her lowest round this year.”I made some stupid mistakes in the morning round…Then in the afternoon I drove it a whole lot better and my overall game improved. After the morning, I told myself I have done this before and I can do it again,” she said of her six birdies and one bogey in the afternoon.

Galletti has been building to this kind of performance with a level of consistency that eventually earned her a title in the Nomads Gauteng Stroke Play Championship last month.”I have never won a tournament as big as this, and I feel confident coming into this. I think my chances in the match play are very good,” she said.

Her improved putting in the afternoon will also be a key factor in her title bid, with the Ruimsig greens running fast for this championship. “I holed some long birdie putts so I’m happy with my putting. But the greens are incredibly fast, so you have to putt well.”