Meltham golfer Jamie Bower endured a hit and miss final two rounds as he finished tied in 17th place in the Cape Province Open in South Africa – but he achieved his aim of breaking into the world top 50 amateurs.
The 22-year-old went into the third round six under after shooting one under in the opening round of the tournament at the Kingswood Estate and George Golf Club, and then firing himself into contention with a five under par second round.
Round three started perfectly with a birdie to drop to seven under but the second hole brought a bogey.
The opening nine proved frustrating for Bower as birdies on the fourth and seventh holes were cancelled out by bogeys at six and eight – leaving him still six under at the turn.
However, Bower managed to starting climbing the leaderboard once more with a birdie at the 11th, but a bogey on the 18th left him back where he started the final day.
He went into the fourth and final round in joint tenth place, but with a long way to go to catch leader Albert Venter, who ended the third round 15 under.
Bower gave it a shot with birdies at the first, six, seven and eight, but dropped a shot at the 11th and 15th and two on the 17th to finish six under – sadly off the pace as Aubrey Beckley raced through to win on 20 under.
Bower has won two tournaments in South Africa adding the Southern Cape Strokeplay title, played at Mossel Bay last weekend, to the Gauteng North Open crown he had already won.
Bower will head for his final tournament on his six-week trip with the South African Amateur Championship starting on Sunday.
