To the great list of South African national champions, both men and women, you can add in the name of a Mossel Bay product. Right up there with Bobby Locke, Gary Player, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Sally Little, there is another to be added to the pantheon of golfing legends.
Lee-Anne Pace fairly romped her way to a third straight South African Women’s Open on Saturday, at San Lameer Country Club on the KZN South Coast.
There is almost a sense of inevitability these days when Pace tees it up in South Africa, and she completed her hat-trick of titles with precious little in the way of hiccups on Saturday, closing with a level par 72 for an eight under total of 208, to win by seven from Ashleigh Buhai (* ée Simon) on 215. Stacy Bregman and England's Rebecca Hudson tied for third on 217.
As she had done on the back nine on day two, Pace very quickly went into business mode during Saturday’s procession. As expected, she quickly settled into her work and avoided any drama, which was really the only way that she could have been usurped.
There was just one bogey on her card, as she dropped a shot on the sixth hole, after a comfortable start. She then got back into her rhythm, going on to a trail of pars until the 12th, when she rewarded the decent crowd that had arrived to see her coronation and confirmation as a South African golfing legend.
Pace, still very much in her prime, has her sights on much bigger things, but the relevance that home champions give to their national crown when they participate and then dominate it cannot be overstated.
A glance across to her competition reveals that she is stretching the gap between her and them, ominously, but that is through sheer quality.
While the plaudits and headlines rightly went to Pace, a mention must be made of the leading amateur. Fifteen-year-old Woo-Ju Son completed a most satisfactory week by finishing inside the top 10. At an age when most of her peers are concerning themselves with academic subject choices and shoe sizes, she is clearly stating her case as the future of South African golf.
Indeed, her most awkward moment on Saturday was when she had to pick up her trophy for being the best amateur, as she was suddenly overcome by a slight case of bashfulness. Remember the name.
But, long before Son comes fully into the picture, we may have to get accustomed to hearing Lee-Anne Pace being toasted as South African champion.
The question now is how many more times she can continue a run that shows no sign of slowing down. Five times on the trot, even a double hat-trick all look like possibilities, given the ease with which the imperious Pace plots her way to national titles on an annual basis. Those who are employed to etch names into trophies around the South Coast have probably already been commissioned to copy and paste in the same name that they have used since 2015.
It is a frenetic Pace that Lee-Anne is setting.