GOLF NEWS - It was a lot more work than he bargained on, but the result was still the one Ruan Conradie was hoping for. The Pretoria rookie squandered a comfortable lead early in the final round of the Wingate Challenge, but came back to win in a play-off over Tristen Strydom.

Conradie closed with a 75 to set the target at 10-under-par 206, but Strydom birdied the closing hole for a 71 to force the overnight leader into a play-off at the end of regulation play at Wingate Park Country Club.

However, a poor tee shot from Strydom at the first extra hole opened the door for Conradie, who ended a day packed with drama and emotion with his fourth IGT Challenge Tour victory – and second successive title as a professional.

“I am so happy it’s over,” said the relieved champion. “This day was a real battle of attrition. I had to overcome a few demons, including this course, but I’ve done it. I’m done in, but so happy.”

His four stroke lead over Strydom at the start of the round stretched to six after Strydom bogeyed the opening hole and he birdied the second.
“All I had to do was keep a clean card, but instead I made a quadruple bogey at the fifth and dropped the ninth to open the floodgates to a wave of challengers,” Conradie said.

“I hit a poor tee shot into the greenside bunker on the right at five and gummed the trap shot. The ball flew the green and I had to hit a flop-shot to the centre. Then I rammed the first putt well past the hole and needed three more putts to get the ball in the hole.

“Yes, I was angry and I to have a hard talk with myself. The pressure changed completely. I went from having a huge lead to leading by one. So, instead of protecting a lead, I had to change tactics and get aggressive to try to get a few shots between myself and the pack.”

Conradie made three solid pars, but surrendered another shot before the turn.
“Actually, that was a pretty good bogey,” said the Wanna Be A Champion Academy player. “My tee shot finished in a hazard, and I ended up holing a 10-footer for the bogey, so I actually walked off feeling good that I limited the damage.”

With nine holes to play, Conradie shared the lead at nine under with Ruan Korb and Maritz Wessels, while Strydom was three shots back after further bogeys at four and eight.

“I made a good two-putt birdie at 11 to pull one shot clear, but Tristen birdied three in a row from 11,” said Conradie. “While I made par after par, he birdied 15, had a double at 16, but finished birdie, birdie to tie me for the lead.”

Strydom’s birdie at the last sent the pair back to the 18th tee, where Conradie drove it straight down the middle, leaving himself 150 metres left to the pin. Strydom’s monster drive veered right. He had 100 metres left, but his ball nestled down in the second cut.

“I hit pitching wedge to the middle of the green, but I caught it a bit hard,” Conradie said. “The ball pitched next to the flag and rolled off the back of the green. Tristen duffed his second and it stopped 10 metres short of the green. His chip also trickled off the back of the green and after he three-putted for bogey, I had two putts left for the win. I lagged it to three inches and tapped in.”
The fourth win certainly did not come easy. It took overtime to end a taut struggle with Strydom, but the reward was pretty sweet.

“Two in a row is pretty fantastic,” said Conradie. “To sleep on the lead, almost lose it and coping with all that pressure to pull it through makes it even sweeter. But the sweetest thing is pulling level with my brother (Estiaan). Now we both have four IGT wins, so Estiaan better know, the race is on for the next one.”

Final Result
All competitors RSA unless otherwise specified and amateurs indicated as AMA
206 - Ruan Conradie 66 65 75
206 - Tristen Strydom 65 70 71
207 - Ruan Korb 68 71 68, Maritz Wessels 69 67 71
210 - Paul Boshoff 70 69 71
212 - Juan Pierre Cooper AMA 72 72 68, Estiaan Conradie 73 66 73
213 - Kyle Barker 72 71 70
215 - Quintin Crause 70 72 73, Theunis Bezuidenhout AMA 72 69 74
216 - Jason Roets 73 71 72, Keaton Slatter AMA 74 68 74, Jacques Cloete AMA 75 67 74
219 - Deon Bredenkamp 75 71 73, Ivanna Samu 67 79 73, Xander Basson AMA 71 73 75, Louis Albertse AMA 69 75 75
220 - Leon Visser AMA 73 74 73, Teboho Sefatsa 73 71 76
221 - Donald Thompson AMA 71 72 78
222 - Tertius Van Den Berg 73 73 76, Ruhan Van Dijk AMA 70 73 79
223 - Leon Vorster AMA 76 71 76, Arno Pretorius AMA 71 76 76
224 - Mpho Mafishe 75 69 80
227 - Dawid Opperman AMA 74 73 80, Luke Brown AMA 76 75 76, Edwin Stafford AMA 76 77 74, Ivan Mare AMA 77 76 74, David Mofokeng (LSO) 79 75 73
228 - Pieter Cooper AMA 75 71 82, Jade Buitendag 71 77 80, Matthew Vogel 80 73 75
229 - Shaun van Tonder 73 74 82, Peetie Van Der Merwe AMA 72 76 81, Michael Pienaar AMA 75 78 76
230 - Thabi Ngcobo 76 76 78, NJ Van Der Walt AMA 77 77 76
231 - Michael Schutz 73 78 80
234 - Martin Kraft AMA 78 74 82, Terry Smith 78 75 81
236 - Duan Nagel AMA 78 75 83
238 - Christopher Van der Merwe AMA 78 74 86
244 - Luke Kelly 76 76 92
WDN - Divan Marais 81 71 WDN

ARTICLE:  LALI STANDER ON BEHALF OF THE IGT CHALLENGE TOUR