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Cape Town - Vaughn Groenewald clinched a one-shot victory at the Sun Wild Coast Sun Challenge on Friday after shooting 32 on the back nine to finish the week on 12-under-par.
“It’s an amazing feeling to win. I started well and kept on going today, playing for greens in regulation and relying on my putter, which is hot at the moment. I’m really happy that I pulled it off,” he said.
Groenewald went nine years without a trophy until he won the Zambia Sugar Open in April. This week at Wild Coast Sun Country Club he added another piece of silverware and proved that he’s still got it.
The big man became a four-time winner on tour with a final round of 67 that put him one stroke ahead of runner-up Mark Williams.
The weather was unusually calm throughout the 54 holes and that led to low scoring. On Friday Williams made a serious charge and carded 62 to set the clubhouse total at 11-under.
“Today I got off to a great start and told myself to keep going. I hit every fairway and missed one green…and the putter was hot, so it felt like I could make everything,” he said.
Groenewald first saw the score when he reached the ninth green and knew there was work to be done. He put his head down and made three consecutive birdies at the start of the stretch for a move to 12-under.
“I only saw that guys were 11-under when I got to the ninth. At least then I knew what I had to shoot, and it got me going on the back nine. I felt good all the way, but when I birdied 10, 11, and 12 it made the difference,” he said.
At the 15th he found himself against the lip of a bunker and went on to make bogey, but he regained the shot with a birdie at the 16th, which was the deciding hole of the tournament.
“On 16 I decided to go big or go home. I had 236 metres straight into the wind and had to give it everything I had with my three-wood. I was a little bit suspect at going for the flag, but luckily it ended on the green and I had two putts to make a birdie and get back on top,” he said.
The future looked bright for Groenewald, who rose to second in the Chase to the Investec Cup.
“For the Investec Cup it means a lot of points and I want to try to win it this year. I’ve also decided to try for the European Tour at the end of the year, but my goal is to make it by playing well at co-sanctioned tournaments,” he said.
SCORES (RSA unless otherwise specified):
198 - Vaughn Groenewald 64 67 67
199 - Mark Williams (ZIM) 68 69 62
200 - Jaco Van Zyl 66 68 66
201 - Jake Redman 66 70 65, Keith Horne 70 66 65, Shaun Norris 67 69 65, Jacques Blaauw 67 67 67
202 - Jean Hugo 71 67 64, Andrew Georgiou (CYP) 64 72 66
203 - Chris Swanepoel 69 68 66, Callum Mowat 68 68 67, Adilson Da Silva (BRA) 68 67 68, Jared Harvey 66 68 69, Justin Harding 68 66 69
204 - Heinrich Bruiners 68 68 68, Erik van Rooyen 65 67 72, Ulrich van den Berg 66 64 74
205 - Hennie du Plessis 68 69 68, Desvonde Botes 64 70 71
206 - Jacquin Hess 68 70 68, Stuart Smith (BOT) 71 65 70, Peter Karmis 70 66 70, Anthony Michael 70 66 70, Andrew Curlewis 70 65 71, Steven Ferreira 72 63 71, Theunis Spangenberg 67 68 71
207 - Zander Lombard 68 70 69, Eddie Taylor 69 69 69, JJ Senekal 71 67 69, Christiaan Basson 67 69 71
208 - Daniel Greene 66 72 70, PH McIntyre 67 67 74
209 - Roberto Lupini 67 71 71, Lindani Ndwandwe 66 72 71, Doug McGuigan 68 69 72, Justin Turner 67 70 72, Lyle Rowe 67 68 74
211 - Divan van den Heever 71 67 73, Francesco Laporta (ITA) 66 72 73, Callie Swart 71 66 74
213 - Le Roux Ferreira 70 66 77
