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Cape Town - Sweden's Anton Karlsson joked on Saturday that he was going to claim a come-from-behind victory at the Cape Town Open and did just that on Sunday, winning it by one stroke over Garrick Higgo on 14-under-par 274 at Royal Cape.
He was three shots off the pace set by Daniel van Tonder at the start of the final round and a bogey on the first hole threatened to set him back even further. Another bogey, on the fourth, followed before he could make any gains. He brought it back to level-par with birdies on the seventh and ninth holes to give himself an opportunity at a win.
"It was tough out there and I wasn’t really in the best spots in those first few holes," he said.
"The wind was the worst I've seen in a long time. But I spoke to my caddie and I said it was going to be a tough day for everyone."
He took to the back nine with some flair, however, birdieing the next four holes one after the other to make it six birdies in seven holes and get it to 15-under par. A disappointing bogey on the 15th took from those gains and with Garrick Higgo sitting in the clubhouse at 13-under, Karlsson knew he could not afford to falter again. He kept it steady from there, making four straight pars highlighted by an impressive save on the last hole to finish at 14-under.
"To win here feels so good," he admits.
"For the first time, I was not really sure what score I was on for the day. I knew I was on top of the leaderboard but I couldn't tell by how many shots I was leading and I saw Higgo finished well at 13-under so I had to play solid golf. It was pretty brutal out there but I'm very happy to have pulled it together like that. It's always important to get the season off to a good start because you can really get going after that."
A third successive five-under 67 proved not enough to get Higgo into a playoff and give him an opportunity to make it two wins in his rookie season on the Sunshine Tour.
Scores:
274 - Anton Karlsson 72 69 64 69
275 - Garrick Higgo 74 67 67 67
278 - Toby Tree 67 69 71 71
279 - Jordan Wrisdale 73 69 67 70, Harry Ellis 69 68 70 72, Damien Perrier 68 73 66 72
280 - Allen John 72 68 73 67, Mitch Waite 69 66 73 72, Daniel van Tonder 66 67 69 78
281 - Robin Petersson 73 70 67 71, Thriston Lawrence 73 67 69 72, Daniel Young 72 66 69 74, Luke Jerling 74 66 64 77
282 - Eirik Tage Johansen 73 68 71 70, Adilson Da Silva 70 72 69 71, Jonathan Thomson 72 66 70 74, Jacques Kruyswijk 72 69 67 74, Wilco Nienaber 71 68 68 75
283 - Alex Haindl 74 68 71 70, Brandon Stone 71 69 72 71, Deon Germishuys 74 67 71 71, Clement Sordet 74 68 70 71, Todd Clements 76 67 67 73, Enrico Di Nitto 71 69 68 75, Pedro Oriol 71 69 68 75, JC Ritchie 68 68 70 77
284 - Bernd Ritthammer 70 70 74 70, Mathieu Fenasse 71 72 71 70, Euan Walker 75 68 70 71, Stephen Ferreira 73 68 70 73, Matthew Baldwin 74 69 68 73, Aron Zemmer 69 65 76 74, Neil Schietekat 71 68 71 74, Louis Albertse 73 68 69 74, Jean Hugo 70 69 70 75, Nicolai Kristensen 70 71 68 75
285 - Jacob Glennemo 74 69 72 70, Daan Huizing 73 67 73 72, Gavin Moynihan 74 67 72 72, Ruan de Smidt 73 70 70 72, Rhys Enoch 72 69 70 74
286 - Dylan Naidoo 71 70 74 71, Jens Fahrbring 73 69 73 71, Max Schmitt 70 67 77 72, Martin Simonsen 70 71 73 72, Chris Cannon 73 68 72 73, Jacques P de Villiers 72 69 71 74, Andrew van der Knaap 74 68 70 74, Jean-Paul Strydom 71 71 70 74, Lorenzo Scalise 70 72 69 75, Jonas Kolbing 71 70 69 76
287 - Ben Stow 76 67 71 73, Santiago Tarrio Ben 71 71 68 77
288 - Lyle Rowe 72 70 74 72, Marcel Siem 70 73 71 74, Tristen Strydom 71 72 70 75, James Hart du Preez 73 69 70 76, Daniel Greene 72 71 67 78
289 - Breyten Meyer 75 66 75 73, Daniel Gavins 73 70 73 73, Robin Dawson 77 66 71 75, Jason Diab 71 72 70 76
290 - Gudmundur Kristjansson 76 66 73 75, Federico Maccario 72 71 71 76, CJ du Plessis 74 69 71 76
291 - Alexander Knappe 73 70 70 78, Deyen Lawson 70 69 71 81
292 - Paul Boshoff 75 68 74 75
149 - Craig Howie 74 75, Keith Horne 77 72, Chase Hanna 75 74, Robbie Van West 77 72, JJ Senekal 78 71, Ryan Cairns 77 72, Joel Stalter 76 73, Martin Ovesen 82 67, Lauri Ruuska 79 70, Riekus Nortje 73 76, Titch Moore 76 73
150 - Ruan Conradie 82 68, Clancy Waugh 78 72, Daniel Brooks 76 74, Trevor Fisher Jnr 73 77, Richard Mansell 78 72, Ricardo Gouveia 76 74, Zander Lombard 73 77, Andre De Decker 73 77, Thomas Linard 74 76
151 - Martin Rohwer 78 73, Moritz Lampert 77 74, Hinrich Arkenau 73 78, David Borda 74 77
152 - Christopher Sahlstrom 78 74, Bryce Easton 79 73, Michael Hoey 79 73, Juran Dreyer 77 75, Rourke van der Spuy 78 74, Doug McGuigan 77 75
153 - David McIntyre 80 73, Ugo Coussaud 82 71, Kyle Barker 81 72, Emilio Cuartero Blanco 74 79, Marc Cayeux 78 75
154 - Christofer Blomstrand 81 73, Vaughn Groenewald 83 71, Callum Mowat 80 74, Chris Swanepoel 81 73, Pelle Edberg 74 80, Yubin Jung 79 75, Clinton Grobler 81 73
156 - Jake Redman 80 76
157 - Michael Palmer 81 76, Estiaan Conradie 79 78
163 - Pieter Moolman 82 81
WDN - Martin Wiegele 77 WDN, Bradley Neil 78 WDN, Nicolai Hojgaard 75 WDN
RTD - Timon Baltl RTD RTD, Haraldur Magnus RTD RTD, Hennie Otto 75 RTD
JUST IN: Anton Karlsson has won the @CapeTownOpen with one shot at the Royal Cape Golf Club pic.twitter.com/UXLHir5fAC
— Sport24 (@Sport24news) February 9, 2020
