MICHAEL VLISMAS, Cape Town | Thursday 2.45pm.
BRADFORD Vaughan will be aiming to become the first player to win back-to-back titles on the Vodacom Tour this year when the R200000 Vodacom Series: Western Cape tees off at the Rondebosch Golf Club on Friday.
Vaughan claimed his first victory in two years when he won last week’s Royal Swazi Sun Classic by three strokes.
The last time the 24-year-old won a tournament, he finished second the following week.
“Hopefully I can go one better this time around and win,” said Vaughan, whose game is certainly solid enough to suggest another victory.
“I’ve been hitting the ball really well lately. If I can keep doing that, then I can putt badly and still shoot a good score,” he said.
The closest any player has come to winning two successive titles on the Vodacom Tour this year was when Hennie Otto won both the Pietersburg Classic and the Vodacom Series: KwaZulu-Natal on either side of Ashley Roestoff’s triumph in the Vodacom Series: Eastern Cape.
Vaughan also has an impressive record in the Western Cape tournament, with two top five finishes there in the last two years.
For the most part, this year’s winter portion of the Vodacom Tour has seen the more established professionals returning to their winning ways, such as Andre Cruse, Bobby Lincoln and Brett Liddle.
This is usually the time of year when most of the country’s overseas professionals return in preparation for the start of the main part of the Vodacom Tour in December.
Richard Kaplan, who finished second to Ernie Els in this year’s Alfred Dunhill PGA Championship, and Clinton Whitelaw, the 1993 South African Open champion, are amongst the field for the Western Cape tournament.
Chris Davison will also be using the event as a warm up for the defence of his Vodacom Players’ Championship title the week after the Million Dollar Challenge.
The Players’ Championship will be hosted by the Royal Cape Golf Course, so this week will give Davison the perfect opportunity to reacquaint himself with the Cape playing conditions.
Thursday’s pre-qualifying round will feature 42 players battling it out over the par-72 Rondebosch layout for nine spots in the main draw. –MWP