Phenoms
South African teen wins junior tournament by 21(!) shots
A South African teen won a prestigious junior tournament by 21 shots on Wednesday. And no, that's not a misprint. Twenty. One. Shots.
Introducing Daniel Bennett, who won the 2023 Nomads South Africa Boys Under 19 Stroke Play Championship in one of the game's most dominant victories on record. Oh, and by the way, the Durban High School star is only 17.
“It’s something special for me to win this way,” Bennett said after. “As soon as I teed off on the first day, I never looked back. There are some great names on this trophy, like Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman, Dylan Frittelli, Thriston Lawrence and Jayden Schaper. I’m thrilled that I get to add my name to the list. If I can continue playing some good golf, hopefully I can reach the levels they have reached in the game.”
Bennett shot rounds of 62, 61, 68 and 63 at Pecanwood Golf and Country Estate to finish with a four-round total of 34-under-par 254. He was 21 under through two rounds and made one bogey over 72 holes. And, again, he won by 21 shots!
And this came the week after Bennett won the Northern Amateur Open. By only seven shots, though, so it must have been an off week. He also previously won the country's U-17 title. Obviously.
Not surprisingly, Bennett's record-breaking performance turned some heads on Golf Twitter.
Bennett will next compete in the match-play portion of the U-19 event, which begins Thursday. The switch in format will give everyone else more of a chance, but still, good luck taking this guy down this week.