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Hugo holds off De Jager

Mookgophong - Jean Hugo put his foot to the floor round the turn on Friday to cruise to a two-stroke victory in the R600,000 Vodacom Origins of Golf Final at Legend Golf & Safari Estate.

The 35-year-old took his third title in the 2011 series, becoming the third player to do it after Thomas Aiken in 2004 and Brandon Pieters in 2009, holding off Louis de Jager and Lyle Row with his eight-under-par total of 208 for the 54 holes.

He made four consecutive birdies around the turn to sweep past the faltering 36-hole leader Trevor Fisher Jnr and turn the tournament into a two-horse race between himself and De Jager.

De Jager had launched a charge of his own with three birdies in the four holes around the turn, but, in the end, after he and Hugo traded bogeys on the homeward nine – De
Jager at 12 and Hugo at 13 – it was Hugo’s experience that kicked in and two more birdies on his way home saw him card a six-under-par 66.

That turned the five-shot deficit he had on Fisher overnight to his 13 Sunshine Tour victory.

“It was certainly a deliberate decision to get a move on around the turn,” said Hugo. “Sometimes, even if the people chasing can catch you, it’s important to put a score up there that might feel a little intimidating.”

The decision came after he had nearly squandered the early progress he had made with two birdies in the notoriously difficult opening five holes.

“I made a silly bogey at six,” he said, “and then I knew I had to do something different.”

He birdied the stretch from eight to 11, and that pretty well sealed things for a player of his calibre.

For the second year in a row, he has won three tournaments on the Sunshine Tour, and with plenty of other opportunities still ahead of him, he should do even better before he leaves for Europe to try his hand in the Final Stage of the Qualifying School at the end of November.

“I want to do better this year than I did last year,” said Hugo. “And it’s nice for me that I have won three of the Vodacom Origins series – the courses they are played on just seem to suit me.

“They are long and fairly open, but they still require shot-making, which is great for my game,” he added.

Rowe got his third top 10 of the season with his closing 69, and his share of second place was better than his share of 10th in last week’s Northern Cape Classic and his sixth in May’s Nashua Golf Challenge.

Fisher ballooned out to four-over through 12 holes, but he pulled two shots back with birdies on 17 and 18 to finish in a share of fourth with Charl Coetzee.

Rookie Dean O’Riley and Ockie Strydom shared sixth on four-under-par.

Scores (RSA unless specified):
208 - Jean Hugo 70 72 66
210 - Louis de Jager 69 72 69, Lyle Rowe 70 71 69
211 - Charl Coetzee 69 73 69, Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 66 74
212 - Dean O'Riley 69 74 69, Ockie Strydom 68 73 71
213 - Ulrich van den Berg 70 73 70, Justin Harding 71 72 70, Des Terblanche 70 73 70, Bradford Vaughan 71 71 71, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 67 75 71
214 - Josh Cunliffe 75 69 70, James Kamte 71 73 70, Irvin Mazibuko 69 74 71, Desvonde Botes 68 74 72, Darren Fichardt 71 71 72
215 - Jaco Ahlers 74 73 68, Albert Pistorius 69 74 72
216 - Callie Swart 75 71 70, Warren Abery 72 72 72
217 - Jake Roos 73 75 69, Johan du Buisson 74 74 69, Jake Redman 75 71 71, Clinton Whitelaw 74 71 72, Divan van den Heever 73 70 74
218 - David Hewan 71 76 71, Mark Williams 73 74 71, Oliver Bekker 74 70 74, Steven Ferreira 69 74 75
219 - Justin Walters 74 72 73, Hendrik Buhrmann 73 72 74
221 - Grant Muller 74 73 74, Wallie Coetsee 72 72 77, Tyrone Ryan 73 70 78
222 - Daniel Greene 72 75 75
223 - Omar Sandys 72 75 76, Nic Henning 72 75 76
226 - JJ Senekal 76 72 78
227 - Doug McGuigan 72 75 80
 
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