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He carded a final round 68, his four-under-par finish taking him to 205, 11-under-par for the 54-hole tournament.
He saw off the challenge of Christiaan Basson, who signed for a three-under 69 in the final round, while Andrew Curelweis finished in third place thanks to his fine five-under-par 67.
Three players shared fourth on 210, six-under-par.
“I don’t normally like the Cape much,” joked Swanepoel afterwards, “but I quite like it now – especially after the weather held for all three days.”
He built his victory around his first nine in the second round, which he played in an astonishing 29 strokes. “That sets you up for a win,” said Swanepoel, “or at least a top 10.”
He won his maiden Sunshine Tour title in 2007 when he took the Eskom Power Cup, so top 10 was not going to be an option for the 26-year-old professional from Pretoria. “Before the final round, I just decided to play steadily and try and keep mistakes to a minimum,” said Swanepoel.
“It got a bit tight for me around the turn,” he said of the stretch from 10 to 14 where he made two bogeys, “but I just kept going and I managed to make some birdies when they were available to keep in front.”
He finally put daylight between himself and his challengers when he birdied the 16th and was able to play the 18th with some comfort: He swept a drive a long way down the fairway with the lagoon to his right and hit a short iron in to 25 feet – leaving him the luxury of having a putt for eagle, and a tap-in for birdie to win the title in style.
Divan van den Heever, Justin Harding and Vaughn Groenewald were the players in fourth, but they were unable to makeany impression on the lead after Swanepoel had carded that seven-under-par 65 in the second round.
The win lifted Swanepoel’s position on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit to 28th, and with some weeks off before the next event on the Tour, he was looking forward to some rest and recreation: “The only thing I’m like to shoot next week is a kudu,” said the hunting enthusiast.
SCORES (RSA unless specified):
205 - Chris Swanepoel 72 65 68
208 - Christiaan Basson 70 69 69
209 - Andrew Curlewis 73 69 67
210 - Divan van den Heever 70 72 68, Justin Harding 70 72 68, Vaughn Groenewald 71 69 70
212 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 73 70 69, Warren Abery 71 68 73
213 - Blanche Lamprecht 74 72 67, Jacques Blaauw 74 72 67, Adilson da Silva (BRA) 74 68 71, Merrick Bremner 71 71 71, Ulrich van den Berg 70 71 72
214 - Jean Hugo 74 70 70, Peter Karmis 76 70 68, Darren Fichardt 74 72 68, Justin Walters 69 72 73
215 - Oliver Bekker 72 73 70, David Hewan 72 71 72
216 - Jake Redman 75 70 71, Johan du Buisson 76 68 72, Albert Pistorius 77 69 70, Ryan Tipping 74 69 73, Bradford Vaughan 74 73 69
217 - Louis Moolman 72 74 71, Neil Schietekat 75 71 71, Lyle Rowe 75 72 70
218 - Jaco Ahlers 75 70 73, Irvin Mazibuko 71 72 75, Josh Cunliffe 73 69 76, Lindani Ndwandwe 78 69 71
219 - Doug McGuigan 71 74 74, Mark Fensham 72 71 76, PH McIntyre 74 73 72
220 - Teboho Sefatsa 72 73 75
221 - Bennie van der Merwe 71 74 76, Thabang Simon 72 73 76, Omar Sandys 73 73 75
225 - Ryan Strauss 73 73 79, Tyrone Ferreira 75 71 79, Willie van der Merwe 74 73 78
RTD - Keenan Davidse 74 73 RTD
