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Johannesburg - Johannesburg - Jaco van Zyl fired a final-round 69 to win the Telkom PGA Championship, a Sunshine Tour event at Country Club Johannesburg, in Woodmead, on Sunday.
Van Zyl's 20-under 268 total was enough to finish one stroke ahead of Dylan Frittelli, who settled for second place on 19 under.
Frittelli, a former world No 1 amateur, shot a five-under 67 in the fourth round.
VIDEO: Telkom PGA Championship Day 4, highlights
Chris Swanepoel held the lead on the front nine but dropped four shots in his last five holes to fall out of contention and eventually finished third on 18 under.
"After nine holes, I honestly thought it was pretty much over and done with,” Van Zyl said.
“He (Swanepoel) was playing very nicely, and he looked really solid out there.
"My caddie just kept me motivated, and kept telling me it boils down to the last nine holes.”
Playing in the final group with Jean Hugo and Swanepoel, Van Zyl was left four shots behind Swanepoel after nine holes.
The turning point came on the 12th where Van Zyl missed the green to the right, leaving a difficult chip down the hill. After a few languid practice swings, he took a big swing and the ball landed softly on the putting surface before rolling into the hole for a birdie.
“Things swung a little bit with the chip on 12. I made a nice 30-foot right to left putt (for birdie) on 13,” Van Zyl said.
"Chris made a couple of unfortunate errors on 14 and 15 and just swung the momentum the other way."
Swanepoel made his putt to maintain his four-shot lead, but the advantage was short-lived as he dropped shots on 14, 15, 17 and 18.
Van Zyl, meanwhile, struck a towering long iron shot at the par-five 16th to set up an eagle chance from the fringe. He missed the attempt but tapped in for birdie to move to 20 under.
Van Zyl, who secured his 12th Sunshine Tour victory, parred the last two holes to bag the win.
He was pleased to add another victory to his growing list of titles.
“It's always nice winning, but it's never nice seeing someone else battling on the last nine holes," Van Zyl said.
“I think I've won one summer tour event, four years ago, and it was nice winning the Dimension Data about a month ago and then to back it up with this.”
Scores after the final round of the Telkom PGA Championship at Country Club Johannesburg on Sunday (RSA unless otherwise specified):
268 - Jaco Van Zyl 67 65 67 69
269 - Dylan Frittelli 67 65 70 67
270 - Chris Swanepoel 65 71 63 71
271 - Jean Hugo 67 67 66 71
272 - Ulrich van den Berg 64 72 67 69
275 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 69 69 69 68, Merrick Bremner 68 65 72 70, Steve Surry (ENG) 66 68 69 72, Brandon Pieters 69 68 64 74
276 - Hennie Otto 68 70 68 70, Louis de Jager 68 68 69 71, Thabo Maseko 67 69 69 71, Bryce Easton 68 71 66 71, Danie van Tonder 70 64 70 72, Vaughn Groenewald 69 67 68 72, Matthew Carvell 69 70 65 72, Oliver Bekker 68 70 65 73
277 - Le Roux Ferreira 65 72 73 67, Justin Harding 70 71 65 71
278 - Grant Muller 68 72 70 68, Charl Coetzee 67 68 74 69, Tjaart van der Walt 68 69 71 70, Andrew Georgiou 68 72 67 71, Jeff Inglis (ENG) 68 68 68 74
279 - Johan Bekker 67 71 72 69, Christiaan Basson 67 73 69 70, Jean-Paul Strydom 64 70 73 72
280 - Bryan Martin (USA) 68 72 71 69, Justin Walters 70 67 72 71, Ruan de Smidt 67 68 71 74
281 - Desvonde Botes 68 72 74 67, Lyle Rowe 72 71 69 69, Bradford Vaughan 74 68 69 70, Jacques Kruyswijk 75 68 67 71, Colin Nel 71 71 67 72, Jake Roos 70 72 67 72, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 70 71 67 73
282 - Chris Erasmus 68 73 71 70, Richard Sterne 72 71 68 71, Des Terblanche 69 73 69 71, Tyrone Ferreira 70 69 71 72, Steven Ferreira 72 69 67 74, James Kingston 70 67 69 76
283 - Neil Schietekat 70 69 74 70, Kevin Stone 72 70 71 70, Darren Fichardt 73 69 70 71, Keith Horne 72 71 68 72, Brett Liddle 70 68 73 72, Dean Burmester 72 67 70 74, Derik Ferreira 69 71 69 74, Ockie Strydom 68 74 66 75, Attie Schwartzel 69 72 66 76
284 - Tyrone Ryan 71 72 75 66, Darryn Lloyd 74 68 72 70, Allan Versfeld 70 72 70 72, Ross McGowan (ENG) 70 69 70 75
285 - Divan van den Heever 68 75 73 69, Jacques van Tonder 73 69 73 70, Bradley Sinnett 73 69 72 71, Brandon Detweiler (USA) 68 72 70 75
286 - PH McIntyre 71 68 73 74
287 - Mark Murless 74 69 71 73, Michiel Bothma 73 69 72 73, Bennie van der Merwe 72 71 67 77
288 - Louis Moolman 69 74 74 71, Michael du Toit 70 69 76 73, Alex Haindl 76 65 73 74, Albert Pistorius 71 71 69 77, Keenan Davidse 66 73 72 77
289 - Daniel Hammond 71 72 71 75
290 - Titch Moore 73 67 78 72, Kyle Stevens 70 72 75 73, Wynand Dingle 70 73 72 75
291 - Micky Hough (ZIM) 73 70 72 76, Johan du Buisson 72 69 74 76
292 - James Kamte 68 75 71 78, Ben Mannix (ENG) 69 70 73 80
