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Cape Town - Branden Grace was certainly a favourite ahead of this week’s Dimension Data Pro-Am and on Sunday he produced the goods in a trying final round.
“The wind really blew out there today, sometimes it was up to three clubs. I knew it was going to be a grind and you needed to keep calm. I managed to do that today and I was fortunate to end up at the top of the leaderboard,” he said tosunshinetour.com.
The 25-year-old added the eagle trophy to his collection with a Sunday round of 70 and an 11-under-par total for the tournament, which stitched up his two-stroke victory over Keith Horne.
Darren Fichardt held a one-shot lead going into the last day, but a double bogey at the first hole marked the beginning of a tough 18 for the four-time European Tour winner.
Meanwhile, Grace had also doubled the first but at that stage he was an outside pick for the title. In the style of a true champion he went on to card birdies at the sixth and ninth to turn at level-par.
“That caught me off guard. Starting off with a double is not the easiest thing to get through your mind. You really want to start pushing it, but that’s what leads to bogeys. I knew it was going to be a tough day and you just had to stay patient out there,” he said.
The five-time Sunshine Tour winner plays out of Fancourt and that helped him to knuckle down when the going got tough. He dealt with the stretch in 34 blows, adding birdies at the 12th, 14th and 16thbefore setting the clubhouse target at 11-under.
“I made a couple of birdies before the turn and then a silly bogey on 11, but I came back strongly with a birdie on 12 and that just helped to keep the momentum going. I really started playing some nice golf and it carried on this week.”
“I love it down here. Fancourt has been a great supporter of myself and I think it’s one of the best resorts in the world. It really helped being a local, because you know where to hit the ball,” he said.
Horne went on to card 69 and finished sole second on nine-under-par.
Behind him Fichardt was struggling and double bogeyed the 16th, thereby eliminating his chances of winning. He reached the 72-hole mark on eight-under-par and shared third with Jaco van Zyl, Hennie Otto, Callum Mowat, Danie van Tonder, and Tjaart van der Walt.
SCORES (RSA unless otherwise specified):
278 - Branden Grace 71 68 69 70
280 - Keith Horne 71 72 68 69
281 - Jaco Van Zyl 70 71 69 71, Hennie Otto 68 70 73 70, Callum Mowat 73 71 69 68, Danie van Tonder 66 72 74 69, Tjaart van der Walt 68 68 71 74, Darren Fichardt 69 65 72 75
282 - Jordan Smith (ENG) 71 68 76 67, Jean Hugo 74 69 71 68, Justin Walters 72 66 71 73
283 - Dean Burmester 75 72 69 67, Jacques Blaauw 72 69 68 74
284 - Merrick Bremner 70 75 67 72
285 - Andrew Georgiou 71 67 73 74
286 - Jaco Ahlers 68 70 79 69, Andrew Marshall (ENG) 73 72 72 69, Garth Mulroy 70 73 77 66, Oliver Bekker 68 70 75 73, George Coetzee 66 73 77 70, Lyle Rowe 70 71 70 75
287 - Peter Karmis 74 66 76 71, Estanislao Goya (ARG) 69 71 74 73
288 - Heinrich Bruiners 74 72 72 70, Martin Rominger (SUI) 72 72 71 73, Pablo Martin Benavides (ESP) 72 74 70 72, Wallie Coetsee 69 74 70 75, Ruan de Smidt 68 76 72 72, Tyrone Mordt 72 68 75 73, Dawie Van der Walt 68 74 72 74
289 - JC Ritchie 71 70 79 69, Neil Schietekat 73 70 71 75
290 - PH McIntyre 74 72 72 72, Brandon Stone 75 66 77 72, Shaun Norris 75 70 71 74
291 - Ockie Strydom 70 70 81 70, Steven Ferreira 71 72 77 71, Ross McGowan (ENG) 70 73 76 72, Attie Schwartzel 71 75 72 73, Justin Harding 66 74 74 77
292 - Zander Lombard 72 72 78 70, Charl Coetzee 70 71 80 71, Anthony Michael 75 70 75 72, Grant Veenstra 74 72 74 72, CJ du Plessis 70 74 75 73, Tyrone Ryan 74 72 71 75, Sebastien Gros (FRA) 74 73 73 72, James Kamte 74 68 75 75
293 - Steve Surry (ENG) 73 75 74 71, Phillip Archer (ENG) 77 71 71 74, Ulrich van den Berg 69 74 76 74, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA) 72 71 76 74, Madalitso Muthiya (ZAM) 69 75 74 75
294 - Kevin Rundle 71 73 72 78
295 - Scott Henry (SCO) 71 78 72 74, JJ Senekal 75 67 78 75, Daan Huizing (NED) 70 77 72 76
296 - Jeff Inglis (ENG) 76 71 73 76, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 75 68 76 77, Divan van den Heever 72 70 76 78, Andrew McLardy 72 76 74 74, Derick Petersen 75 70 73 78
297 - Keenan Davidse 73 70 79 75, Trevor Fisher Jnr 74 69 78 76
298 - Kevin Stone 71 72 79 76, Calvin Caldeira 74 71 77 76, Vaughn Groenewald 74 71 73 80, Makhetha Mazibuko 76 70 71 81
300 - Andre Bossert (SUI) 77 73 72 78, Jacques Kruyswijk 75 70 77 78
306 - Rhys Enoch (WAL) 76 71 73 86
