She didn’t need to, but Casandra Alexander signed off in style on Friday with a closing birdie on the 18th at Gary Player Country Club to cruise to a six-stroke victory in the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s season-opener, the SuperSport Ladies Challenge presented by Sun International.
“I really didn’t want to miss the birdie putt in front of all those people,” laughed Alexander afterwards. “I only had eight-iron in, but when the pin is tucked left and there’s water all around, anywhere on the green is good. I had 45 metres for the eagle, and I still left it short after hitting it as hard as I could.”
The victory starts her 2023 season in the best way possible after a solid 30th place on the Ladies European Tour’s Race to Costa del Sol last year, and her Joburg Ladies Open victory in 2021 on the Sunshine Ladies Tour. “I just wanted to play well,” she said. “Sometimes winning is out of your hands, so I wanted to start out with a strong showing so that I can feel good about going into Europe and the co-sanctioned tournaments later on in the season here in South Africa.”
It was a solid shout-out by a player who is becoming more and more difficult to beat. After her second-round five-under-par 67, catching her was always going to be a problem for her pursuers as she took a five-stroke lead into the final round. An early birdie on the par-five first – the course is started from what television fans will know as the 10th – underlined just how difficult it would be to hunt her down.
And so it proved, as she kept mistakes to a minimum on the challenging Gary Player Country Club layout, with just one dropped shot on each of the nines. One bogey came on the par-four sixth and the other on the par-three 16th. “The bogeys were very soft drops,” said Alexander. “I’d rather make a good bogey than a soft one because they hurt a little lessBut with two birdies on each nine, she in fact extended her lead and won by six from Norway’s Dorthea Forbrigd.
Forbrigd made the most impressive attempt to haul Alexander in with a five-under-par 67 – six birdies and a bogey – lifting her a shot clear of third-placed Lily May Humphreys of England who was on two-under after a closing level-par 72.
Camile Chevalier of France and South African Cara Gorlei shared fourth on one-under, and five-time Investec South African Women’s Open champion Lee-Anne Pace slipped to a closing one-over 73 to finish in a share of seventh on one-over.
“I’m glad I could keep it tidy today and walk off with the win,” said Alexander. “It felt kind of slow out there. I think I made a lot fewer drops than I usually do, but I made a lot fewer birdies too.
“But it’s all about staying in the moment, and my caddie and I made good choices all week this week, and I feel good about what that is doing for my game going forward.”
