by Jan Fabricius-Bjerre
It was a beautiful summer morning when we met in the parking lot at Kokkedals Golf Club, where the KGK ladies were going to play against Asserbo's best women's team.
The team had been badly beaten the day before by Furesø, a team we should have won against if we had had a little luck on our side.
This morning, in the starting lineup, we had chosen to include our debutant from yesterday's game against Furesø on the team, and put her through a full program – 2×18 holes!
A bit of a mouthful to be exposed to when you had lost the 4th singles the day before with 5/3. And Asserbo was a much stronger team….
The talented debutant player was Benedicte Brent-Buchholz, 13 years old and with a handicap of 7.7 – impressive.
The foursomes game against Asserbo started off fantastically. Benedicte was paired with Julia Talvela and they set off at full steam against Karen Fredgaard (handicap +4.1) and Daniella Rønn Gyoni (handicap 3.5). 3 holes played and Asserbo was on his knees, 3 down.
I have rarely seen such an exuberant and entertaining game. The two KGK juniors went for it and Benedicte definitely had her share of a rarely seen start against some of Denmark's best adult amateur players.
But you don't rank 77th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, as Karen Fredgaard does, without having a bigger chainring to put the chain on when problems arise. But before that happened, reinforcements had arrived. Asserbo had been given a fore-caddie.
And then the predictable happened – Asserbo started splitting and then winning holes. And when the match was over, Asserbo had won 6/5.
But Benedicte was not broken.
Benedicte would then play 3rd singles, again against Daniella. With great authority and playing without many mistakes, Benedicte fought for the victory she still believed she deserved on the Women's Division Team. And during their game, several "funny" episodes occurred that tell of a huge talent with a fantastic personal psyche.
On the 3rd hole, Daniella asks if Benedicte will give a 40 cm putt. NO – it was said back, and Daniella's eyes lit up. What did such a connection imagine…- no respect for an older, experienced division player.. Daniella did her routines, concentrated and sent the ball hard to the back to establish her superiority. And then the part of the golf game that only comes with experience began, the psychological. But Benedicte was ice-cold, she did not let herself be influenced by Daniella's "banter", and insisted on almost all the following holes that the opponent's ball had to be in the cup before the score could be settled.
And Benedicte was allowed to fight, because Daniella wanted to win this match at any cost. But it didn't work out that way. Benedicte kept her tongue in her mouth, didn't let herself be influenced by her opponent and the challenges the game presented, and didn't give in to the pressure she felt was on her. SHE WON deservedly 3/2 over Daniella who eventually had to bow in the dust to the young comet.
A KGK star is born.
A proud captain, Jan Fabricius-Bjerre
