First Grid Pro for the year
First up was Juan Nel vs Thorne van Zyl, current SA champion.
A cold and windy morning at the Grasslands driving range in Benoni started with the amateurs division hitting their first balls at 8.30am.
“Four sets to qualify and then the action started,” said Stephen van Zyl, owner of Grid Pro Longest Drive.
“We also had a new kid on the block, Damian Trollip, taking his first event win.
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“A close second was Mel van Vreeden. They both qualified to join the pros in the main event later in the day.”
The senior division was up next for the over 45s.
“What a great surprise to see the du Plessis brothers in the finals,” said van Zyl.
“Hennie du Plessis took home the cash over his brother Johan du Plessis, who got second, myself walking away in third and Anton Nel taking fourth place.”
The main event saw 10 long drivers taking to the tee with the two winning amateurs joining them in another five-set qualifying round to see who would be in the top eight double-elimination final round.
“What a close top eight it was,” said van Zyl
“Some of the top players lost the first bucket draw round and had to fight back to get into the quarter-finals.”
First up was Juan Nel versus Thorne van Zyl, the current SA champion.
“Juan, unfortunately, hit an OB set which sent Thorne into the next match against Jason Vickers, who hit the longest drive of the day and then lost against Thorne.
“The ever-consistent Marco das Neves won over Mel van Vreeden, leading him to advance into the final after not losing a single set all day.
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“Marco waited for the winner of the previous match to see who would join him in the finals of Grid no 1.”
Thorne clawed his way back out of the losers pool to join Marco in an exciting final and this time das Neves claimed his second tour win to be crowned the champion of the day.
Das Neves now leads the order of merit leader board for the race to Mesquite, Nevada, which will take place in September.
“Congratulations to all our winners on the day,” concluded van Zyl.
