NATIONAL NEWS - Kempton Park pro Ockie Strydom produced a pair of eagles on the back nine at Centurion Country Club to chase down an IGT Tour hat-trick in the Centurion Championship on Thursday.
Strydom fired a superb six-under-par 66 to overhaul overnight leader Danie van Tonder and claim a two-stroke victory over his Sunshine Tour peer on 14 under 275.
With the win, the GFG Academy player matched Van Tonder with a 10th career victory and became the third player to visit the winner’s enclosure three times this season after Anton Haig and Pretoria amateur Estiaan Conradie, although he is the first to make it three in a row.
Van Tonder closed with a 70 and finished two strokes ahead of 2016 Zwartkop Match Play champion Damian Naicker, who took sole third on nine under with a 67.
Former IGT tour champions Jacques Kruyswijk and Juan Swart rounded out the top five at six under after posted respective rounds of 68 and 72.
Strydom began the final round two shots off the pace and slipped three back after he bogeyed the opening 10th hole for a third time this week.
“There is a spot left of the green at 10 reserved just for me,” he laughed. “Don’t ask me why I keep missing the approach to the green; it’s a mystery that I might solve when we come here again.”
He reversed the unfortunate start with back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12, and was back within two shots after Van Tonder followed successive birdies at 11 and 12 with a drop at 14.
Strydom caught up to the leader with another brace of birdies at 15 and 16 and took the outright lead at the turn after Van Tonder dropped the par four 18th.
“When we walked to the first hole, my caddie – Armando Botes – told me we had to go big to put pressure on the pack,” Strydom said. ”So I striped driver down the middle, hit a nine-iron into the green and boxed the eagle putt to move three shots clear.
“I have to admit I had a little help from the golfing gods with my eagles. The approach at the first pitched right next to the flag, hit the pin and spun to six feet. I three-putted the third hole after I left the first putt short and misread the second, but I got another eagle at five.
“My tee shot landed just right of the fairway. I hit a knock-down sand-wedge into the wind from 177 metres and the ball pitched just past the pin and spun back into the hole.”
Strydom hit sand-wedge from 88 metres to six foot at the sixth and holed the birdie putt to pull four shots clear of Van Tonder, who followed a birdie at the second with a string of pars.
“When we got to 18, I had four shots in hand and I needed them, because I hit driver straight over the top right into the middle of the dam,” said Strydom.
“At the drop zone, I told Armando that I was aiming for the middle of the green. Take the two-putt bogey and walk. Danie made a great birdie to close the gap to two shots, so those eagles really did the trick.
FINAL RESULT
All competitors RSA unless otherwise specified and amateurs are indicated as AMA:
277 - Danie Van Tonder 68 71 68 70
279 - Damian Naicker 75 68 69 67
282 - Jacques Kruyswijk 72 73 69 68, Juan Swart 68 71 71 72
286 - Gary Daoust AMA (BEL) 75 72 72 67, Shaun Bernstein AMA 70 74 71 71, JC Ritchie 71 69 69 77
287 - Matthew Spacey 73 69 76 69, Alex Van Heerden AMA 71 73 72 71, Warren Pretorius AMA 66 76 70 75, Carlos Arroyo AMA 69 73 70 75
288 - Nobuhle Dlamini (SWA) 73 72 73 70
289 - Ruan Conradie AMA 72 70 73 74, Christopher Van der Merwe AMA 71 73 71 74
290 - Dylan Docherty 77 71 71 71, Hayden Griffiths AMA 75 72 70 73
291 - Gregg Blainey (ENG) 74 72 75 70, Chris Van Tonder AMA 74 71 72 74, Garth Wolter 71 76 70 74
292 - Paul De Beer 74 76 69 73
293 - Dean Martin AMA 67 79 73 74, Stephan Erasmus AMA 72 75 73 73, Brendan Britten (NAM) 77 69 72 75, Duane Keun 71 74 77 71
294 - Hendrikus Stoop AMA 69 78 73 74, Andrew Carlsson AMA 74 73 71 76, Michael Schutz 79 72 73 70
295 - Cameron Nesmith AMA 69 77 73 76, Johary Raveloarison (MDG) 73 75 76 71
296 - Matt Bright 73 73 74 76, Ruan Korb AMA 71 75 77 73, Kyle Barker AMA 76 75 74 71
297 - Stephan De Beer 70 77 72 78, Quintin Crause AMA 76 73 71 77, Matthew Vogel 72 78 68 79, Michelle Leigh 71 74 76 76, Ricky Hendler AMA 75 72 75 75, Dwayne Coetzee 71 73 71 82, Francesca Cuturi 74 75 77 71
298 - Ruhan Van Dijk AMA 73 79 73 73
299 - Patrick O'Brien 73 75 74 77
300 - Hilton Hughes AMA 70 76 74 80, Marco De Beer AMA 83 75 68 74
301 - Matthew Hands AMA 78 75 73 75
302 - Mark Bright 73 76 73 80, Thabi Ngcobo AMA 78 71 73 80, Keegan Steyn AMA 80 70 74 78
304 - Tumelo Molloyi AMA 76 75 74 79, David Rebelo AMA 80 69 77 78
305 - Dean Schonegevel AMA 75 75 76 79
ARTICLE: LALI STANDER
