Young Guns Jared and Grant shine in Graduate, Junior Champs

Randpark’s 2024 Graduate and Junior Championships saw Young Guns Jared Botha and Grant Labuschagne impressively shooting under par over 36 holes on Sunday to lift the silverware.

In the Graduate shootout, for players aged 19 to 30, 24-year-old Botha followed up a fine four-under-par morning 68 on Bushwillow with a level-par afternoon 72 on Firethorn for a 140 aggregate to win by six shots from Fabio Ferrari.

“I went three under on the front nine on Bushwillow, then came back in one under on the inward loop,” said Botha. “That was great, but then I started out my afternoon round with a wobble on Firethorn and was four over par through the first four holes, mainly because of a triple-bogey eight at the par-5 fourth.” But Jared then hit back superbly, and indeed quickly, with birdies at holes 5, 7, 8, and 9 before picking up further shots at 15 and 16. “I did bogey 17 and 18 to end the round but after that, eight early in the afternoon to shoot 72 was quite satisfying and enough to get the job done.”

Botha is now in his second year of a three-year PGA Diploma right here at Randpark, under the expert G.E.T.S Golf tutelage of Darren Witter, Stuart Blackie and Jose Da Mota. “So thanks to those guys and also my classmates, as we all support each other. And a special thanks to my caddie for today, Keith. I wasn’t feeling at all well today and decided at the last minute to hire him and he proved to be a demon on the greens and with his advice the putts were going in all over the place!”

Impressively, Grant Labuschagne is the club’s Junior Champion for the fourth straight year. This time a 70 on Bushwillow and a 72 on Firethorn saw him sign for a 142 total, and victory by no less than 11 shots from runner-up Yusuf Dadoo on 153. Big, strong and confident, Grant hits the ball a long way. Booming tee-shots over 320 metres? No problem. He is able to reach all of Randpark’s par-5s in two shots and on Sunday was up in two on Bushwillow’s par-5 17,th with a huge drive and no less than a seven-iron over the water and onto the putting surface. The 17th  is a long, scary hole for many of Randpark’s members. To get up in three is considered quite an achievement. On for two is just a pipedream! No sweat for Grant Labuschagne though!

Currently home-schooled, Grant sees his future as college golf in the US from 2026 and then, at some stage, turning pro and heading for the big time. Jared hasn’t ruled out the pro tour either, but with a PGA Diploma in his possession he will have several other alternatives in the industry open to him.

New Club Director Daniel Gouws said 63 players had taken part on Sunday and, noting the good golf played by Botha and Labuschagne, reckons they could both well be factors in the main Club Championships later this year.

Written by Randpark member Grant Winter.