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Limpopo - Dean Burmester on Saturday roared to his fourth win of the year with a five-shot victory at the Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Koro Creek Golf Estate.
“I can’t really put it into words,” he told sunshinetour.com. “To be standing here with four wins and leading the Chase to the Investec Cup is difficult to get my head around.”
“I can’t really put it into words,” he said. “To be standing here with four wins and leading the Chase to the Investec Cup is difficult to get my head around.”
The 26-year-old’s pure ball striking led to plenty of birdie opportunities, which he converted into a final round of 67. The decisive moment on Saturday was his birdie at the par-four 13th, which signalled the start of his march to the trophy.
“My iron play was pretty good today and I found myself hitting a lot of them close. I controlled my ball flight well and got a lot of yardages right, so I was really happy with that.
“It became a two-shot game with nine holes to go, so I needed to make a couple of good birdies coming in. That birdie at the 13th sort-of got me going,” he said.
By the end of the 54-hole tournament he was 19-under-par and claimed the lion’s share of the R700 000 prize fund with a five-shot win over Vaughn Groenewald.
“I was a little nervy when I woke up this morning, but luckily I’ve won a couple this year and it played into my good favour. Every win is special, there’s no feeling like it,” he said.
“It’s been a special year,” he added. “I got married last November, settled down with the wife, and we had our first child. My family moved back to South Africa a couple of years ago, so they’re a phone call away, and I had my dad on the bag this week, so the support has been endless.”
The win also gave Burmester 130 points in the Chase to the Investec Cup, which put him even further ahead in the standings.
“That’s a pretty special event and I’ve been lucky enough to play two of the three years. An Investec Brand Ambassador hasn’t won the tournament, so I hope to keep pushing on and maintain this form through the co-sanctioned events of summer and give myself a real chance,” he said.
The future certainly looked bright for Burmester, whose next stop is in the Mediterranean.
“We’ve got two weeks in Spain for European Tour Qualifying School and then we’ll come back for the Alfred Dunhill Championship and continue to play through the co-sanctioned tournaments. Between those two platforms I’m looking to earn my European card,” he said.
Scores (RSA unless otherwise specified):
197 - Dean Burmester 64 66 67
202 - Vaughn Groenewald 66 66 70
203 - Toto Thimba (Jnr) 68 67 68
205 - Anthony Michael 70 71 64
206 - Neil Schietekat 71 71 64, Jean Hugo 73 67 66, Christiaan Basson 68 67 71
207 - Andrew Georgiou (CYP) 71 68 68, Theunis Spangenberg 71 67 69
208 - Callie Swart 73 67 68, Drikus Bruyns 71 65 72
209 - Rhys West 68 73 68, Gert Myburgh 70 71 68, Jaco Ahlers 72 67 70, Louis de Jager 66 73 70, Jacques Blaauw 70 68 71
210 - Roberto Lupini 73 67 70
211 - Ulrich van den Berg 69 73 69, MJ Viljoen 73 68 70, Rourke van der Spuy 72 69 70, Andre Cruse 69 72 70, Jacques Kruyswijk 69 69 73
212 - Chris Swanepoel 73 69 70, Russel Franz 75 67 70, Ruan de Smidt 75 67 70, Andrew Curlewis 70 72 70, Tyrone Ryan 72 69 71, Dylan Frittelli 72 69 71, Charl Coetzee 70 71 71, Tyrone Ferreira 71 69 72, Dayne Moore (ZAM) 72 67 73, Zander Lombard 71 68 73, Coert Groenewald 66 70 76
213 - Stuart Smith (BOT) 71 71 71, JJ Senekal 70 71 72, Steven Ferreira 71 70 72, Dongkwan Kim (KOR) 70 70 73, Lyle Rowe 69 71 73, Glen de Waal (NAM) 70 68 75
214 - Jared Harvey 70 72 72, Hennie du Plessis 70 72 72
215 - Le Roux Ferreira 74 68 73, Michiel Bothma 74 67 74, Justin Harding 70 68 77
217 - Mark Fensham 74 68 75, Ryan Tipping 69 72 76
218 - Mark Williams (ZIM) 70 70 78
219 - PH McIntyre 67 72 80
222 - Ockie Strydom 70 69 83
