Publications
Partners
Knysna - While George Coetzee didn’t catch any fish this week in Knysna, he was happy to walk away with his 10th Sunshine Tour title after dominant week in which he finished 20-under par to claim a three-stroke victory at Simola Golf and Country Club.
He took a three-shot lead into the final round following scores of 61 and 69 and got straight into business on the last day.
Two birdies in his first two holes settled him a bit as MJ Viljoen was making his own charge for the top spot. Coetzee made further gains on the fifth and ninth holes to turn in 32 and bogey-free.
Coetzee made two more birdies on the homeward stretch to sign for a blemish-free six-under 66 and ensure a three-shot victory, despite Viljoen’s gallant effort.
“I had a couple of goals I wanted to achieve this year and going wire-to-wire was one of them,” Coetzee revealed.
“I wasn’t going to say it. But I don’t think I’ve gone wire-to-wire in my career and it was one of my goals at the start of the year and I’m happy to have done it just before the end of the year.”
Despite his lack familiarity with the layout at Simola, Coetzee didn’t look out of place from the start of the tournament and his opening two rounds in which he never conceded his lead prove it. Solidly as he played and rather modest by Coetzee, the four-time European Tour winner says despite winning his 10th Sunshine Tour title, he is still in the learning process.
“We are just learning,” he said.
“This is good to build one’s confidence and it’s nice to have this armour in the back of my brain and just remembering how I pulled off those shots. Today I made the right choices pretty much the rest of the day. It was a good week.”
His last Sunshine Tour win before this was the now defunct Tshwane Open in March last year.
Final scores:
196 - George Coetzee 61 69 66
199 - MJ Viljoen 67 66 66
201 - Martin Rohwer 67 70 64, Keenan Davidse 67 69 65
202 - Jake Roos 72 68 62, Andre De Decker 68 67 67, Deon Germishuys 71 64 67
203 - Luke Jerling 69 69 65, Daniel van Tonder 68 67 68
204 - Fredrik From 67 66 71, Malcolm Mitchell 69 68 67, Hennie du Plessis 69 70 65, Jean Hugo 66 69 69
205 - Anton Haig 69 68 68, Garrick Higgo 71 65 69
206 - Doug McGuigan 69 68 69, Franklin Manchest 68 71 67, Hennie Otto 70 68 68, Combrinck Smit 68 70 68
207 - Breyten Meyer 67 73 67, Stefan Wears-Taylor 70 70 67, Jade Buitendag 71 68 68, James Hart du Preez 70 69 68, Jake Redman 64 71 72
208 - Hayden Griffiths 72 68 68, CJ du Plessis 68 72 68, Jaco Ahlers 71 68 69
209 - Kyle McClatchie 72 68 69, Garth Mulroy 70 69 70, Bennie van der Merwe 69 69 71, Ockie Strydom 71 67 71
210 - Kyle Barker 71 68 71, Thriston Lawrence 73 66 71, Ruan Conradie 71 65 74, Ryan Tipping 68 67 75
211 - Duane Keun 72 68 71, Riekus Nortje 71 68 72, Roberto Lupini 72 66 73
212 - Rhys West 75 65 72
213 - Andrew Curlewis 70 70 73
214 - Ruan Korb 73 67 74
217 - JJ Senekal 72 68 77
