Three of South Africa’s most elite amateur golfers, Caitlyn Macnab, Kajal Mistry and Megan Streicher, will represent the country in the upcoming World Amateur Team Championships in Abu Dhabi October from 25 to 28.
Three snipers who are miles ahead of the rest of the pack, is what could be said to describe Macnab, Mistry and Streicher, who have all exhibited professional golfing qualities from a tender age, according to GolfRSA’s Lali Stander.
All three women currently study in the US, with the youngest of the lot, Streicher, 20, playing in her debut amateur tournament.
Macnab and Mistry will be playing for the third consecutive time.
The journey to the front of the pack started in South Africa, where they dominated before heading to the US.
Caitlyn Macnab is one of the rarest golfers around, Stander explained, as she won on the Sunshine Tour professional event as an amateur while she was a still teenager.
Currently at 34th in the world amateur golf rankings, Macnab began her rise in the US and became the number one player at Texas Christian University before moving to the University of Mississippi on the Ole Miss golf team.
During the 2022/23 season, at the Schooner Fall Classic in Oklahoma, Macnab shot a composed 10 under par 200 and broke the school record for the lowest 54-hole score.
The young golfer has received numerous accolades and praises in the US for her game.
Mistry, who is called a birdie machine in the University of Arkansas, also began dominating the US golf scene upon arrival.
Both Macnab and Mistry achieved the SA Women’s Match Play and Stroke Play double in the same calendar year.
Mistry, 23, graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing degree, according to the University of Arkansas website, and is the only golfer on the team to have played in over 100 rounds with 107 and has logged a 73.79 career scoring average.
During the 2022/23 season, she led her team, the Razorbacks, and shot 83 birdies in 10 events.
The season prior, she carded 112 birdies in 11 tournaments.
Mistry’s hot hands earned her a second successive start on the LPGA Tour’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship this year.
After playing in her first season at the University of North Carolina, Megan Streicher led the NC Heels with 14 rounds under par – six more than any other player on the team.
Streicher had a stroke average of 73.33, the lowest ever posted by a first year student.
Also a SA Women’s Stroke Play champion like teammates Mistry and Macnab, Streicher returned to South Africa to win the GolfRSA 72-Hole Women’s Team Championship in May.
The three women will take on the best amateur golfers from 36 countries at the Abu Dhabi National Golf Course for the 30th edition of the World Amateur Team Championships.
“This trio has excelled on the US collegiate circuit in the past 12 months and worked exceptionally hard to earn the honour of representing South Africa. They have the skills, mindset and experience required to go up against the best in the Espirito Santo Trophy to do South Africa proud,” said Susan Andrew, Womens Golf South Africa president and team manager.
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