Gia Raad went back-to-back in the South African Women’s Amateur Championship when she outlasted Lisa Coetzer 7&6 in the 36-hole final, while England’s Tess Samuels edged Isabella Orray 1-up for the Flight Division title at PE Golf Club – The Hill on Friday.
Raad produced a steady performance which simply ground the life out of the challenge of her younger opponent, who had started brightly by winning the first hole of the morning.
Her lead lasted two holes, and, although she fought hard to keep things all tied up until the 11th, Raad was relentless.
“It feels just as good as last year,” said Raad of her victory. “A win is a win, and it doesn’t get old. But it definitely doesn’t get easier, either, like waking up at five every morning. But I’m really proud of myself and I’m glad I could pull things together after starting not so strong with the stroke play.”
After the bright start for Coetzer, who finished second in the preceding South African Women’s Stroke Play Championship, Raad levelled things with a win in the third hole and went ahead for the first time with another win on the fifth.
Fourteen-year-old Coetzer levelled things on the seventh, and although she won two more holes in the match – on the 17th in the morning, and on the 24th in the afternoon – the rest of the day was all about Raad marching to victory.
'LEARNT TO KEEP CALM'
“The first nine was tight, but I won three in a row and put all the pressure on Lisa,” said Raad.
“I wasn’t really focusing on her too much. I think I was just playing really good, positional golfand putting myself in good places. I think it was unfortunate for her that she missed a lot of putts today, and I seemed to two-putt everywhere, so I just kept that going.”
Raad took the 19th, 25th and 27th to turn 5-up, and when she won on the 29th hole, the writing was on the wall, and Raad never wavered in what she did all day.
“I think I was just trying to do what I was doing the whole day: just get from tee to fairway, fairway to green, and two-putt,” she said. “It was working for me in the morning, so I just tried to keep it going.
“I tried to tell myself before we started that I had a long day today, and I wasn’t going to get too excited about it, or emotional today, because there was a lot of holes to play. I think that helped.
“I didn’t change much for the final round. I think towards the end, I was trying to play a lot safer, trying to avoid any big mistakes.
“I’ve learnt to keep calm from my experience of past tournaments. It helps not getting too excited if you hit a good shot or a bad shot. I just stay positive, because there’s a lot of golf to be played.”
It all worked perfectly as she won the 30th hole to seal the deal, despite what had been a patchy performance in the stroke play event, which culled the field to the 32 championship and 32 flight division players for the knockout rounds of the Championship.
Raad admitted that since she triumphed in the Africa Amateur Women’s Invitational, she hadn’t even unpacked her travel bag.
“I think the stroke play was kind of a warm-up for me,” she said. “I hadn’t played much golf before coming here, but I found some momentum in my swing and my putting, and I found a rhythm that worked.”
It’s another impressive notch on her belt for Raad, and now she can gear up for the next big step in her life: “My goal is now to focus on my school,” she said.
“I’m pretty happy with how I’ve done golf-wise, and I’m looking forward to going to the United States and studying there.”
Congratulations to our 2025 #SAWomensAmateur champions!
— GolfRSA (@GolfRSA) February 28, 2025
Back-to-back wins for Gia Raad in the Champions Division 🏆🏆& come-from-behind glory for 14-year-old Tess Samuels from England in the Flight Division 🏆 at PE Golf Club - The Hill.#golfrsa #itstartshere #matchplay pic.twitter.com/bN9hJe86hP
'CELEBRATE WITH A MILKSHAKE'
South African-born Samuels, who emigrated to England with her family three years ago, was delighted after winning the Flight Division after a very tight match against Eastern Province’s Isabella Obray.
The 14-year-old squeaked past Obray by winning the final three holes to eke out a 1-up victory.
That was after the St Francis Links member had won the first hole and never trailed in the match until Samuels made birdie on the last hole.
“It’s a great achievement, and I’m really happy with myself,” said Samuels.
“This is a huge step forward for me. I’m going to celebrate with a milkshake!”
Although Obray never led by more than 2-up at any stage, the win for her on the 15th must have felt like the moment when she could have gone on and won the title.
But it only served to inspire Samuels to redouble her efforts under the intense pressure.
“Honestly, I handled the by just focusing on one shot at a time, trying to hit it as good as I can,” she said. “I tried to forget about the score.”
Despite trying to blank the details of her predicament out, Samuels was clearly well aware of what she needed to do.
She got within one with the win on 16 and then came the point at which she drew level for the first time in the match: “The turning point was probably on 17, the putt,” she said.
“It was about 10 feet, maybe. I really had to drain that or, yeah, it would have been over.”
On 18, she needed all of her three-wood from over 200 metres out to get to the green of the par-five hole.
In the end, she had a must-make birdie to win the match, and she holed it with great confidence.
“On that final putt, I was just thinking, just don’t miss,” she said. “I had to think that it was just like I practice. It’s not any different.”
Other than thinking about a milkshake, Samuels has clear goals for the future. “I want to get my swing speed up and make as many cuts as possible,” she said.