Australian Austin Bautista fended off the challenge of the inform South African duo of Herman Loubser and Michael Hollick to claim his first win on the Sunshine Tour.
Heat. Heat. [Music] Sunshine Tour professionals have been coming to the expanse of Wild Coast Sun Country Club since 1984 and they made their way to the Sunsplashed coastline for the Sunbed Challenge hosted by Wild Coast Sun. It’s always great to be here. Everything is so beautiful about this place and I’m so happy to be part of uh the tournament which is being played here at Wild Coast. For the last few years, the golf course has been improving. The best players in the country are here and the challenge is wind. You know, it’s the wind can give you something else. But, uh when you walk off the golf course, you always feel like I can stay here for another 3 weeks. You know, that’s how beautiful this place is. It’s excitement to come here in Eastern Cape, especially in a beautiful golf course and a beautiful nature. When you’re playing at Wild Coast, you see the beach is next to golf course. Everything is exciting. It’s the wild coast. Anything can happen here. I think firstly coming down, I mean, the scenery is amazing. You never know what the weather’s going to do either. The course, it’s short, but it’s not short obviously depending on the wind. So, you know, whichever way the wind blows, holes play completely different. Um, and I think that’s what’s quite exciting about the golf course is it never really plays the same. Skill and patience were acquired at the start of the 54hole event. And Herman Lope Show snapped a three-year win. The season opened with a three under 67 in the wind. Wasn’t too worried about the score today. It was all just keeping it in play, hitting kind of shots with the wind. Uh the quite nice thing was with the wind, it kind of forces you to hit a certain shape because if you don’t get the shape wrong, it’s it’s you’re in big trouble. I started off a little bit shaky, but I hold a few nice putts in the in the beginning. Yeah. Then started playing a lot more solid from there. Confronted by the layout’s greatest defense and gusts of up to 51 km/h. Michael Hollik tapped into his potential on a brutal first morning and the season’s Ewatini winner shot 66. I’m not particularly good at playing the Wild Coast. Definitely not one of my courses I would say I’m I’m looking forward to going to play in terms of uh good golf, but very pleased with my round. I played really nicely. Um drove the ball nicely. I made my short putts. Um and you know, that’s where I think you can be a little bit unstuck here, especially in the wind. It’s it’s tough to read them when there’s so much wind and they are quite quick. So I managed to make a few, you know, nice short putts, you know, routine stuff that we would kind of do in Joberg. It’s just that much trickier at the coast. The elements eased up late in the afternoon, allowing Jacqu Devilius to take advantage and with a superb back n of 31, he signed for an impressive seven underpar 65. There’s still a lot a lot of golf left. So, but this certainly helps. I think the the conditions are meant to be calm the next two days. So, we’ll see. I mean it’s all it’s all so out there and really tough. We could easily have gone the other way and then the tournament is gone but yeah seven under. See what see what the week has left for us. Joe Nox also went four under on his inward half and the Englishman shared the first round lead with Dillius. Albert Fenta was two strokes back after his round of 65. Dadwa Nemoondiwa played college golf at Drexel University and in his full season as a pro. This exciting Zimbabwean is learning from the likes of his brother Robson Chenoi, a previous winner on tour. You know, finding my feet on the Sunshine Tour. Uh it’s it’s it’s big. It’s big. You know, I’m still obviously learning. Uh you got to be patient with yourself. It’s a lot. It’s a lot. It’s a lot. And I’m happy. You know, it’s good experience. You know, trying to get comfortable also. That’s also another huge thing because at the end of the day you can play the game. Uh you just got to make good decision be comfortable you know it’s been it’s good it’s good experience it’s awesome having a brother playing on the sunshine tour Robson Chinoi you know it’s been a great inspiration for me you know did Katy for him uh half of last season so that was awesome got a lot of experience from that and also just living with someone who has one on tour you know it’s a huge huge benefit you don’t realize it just you know we play practice rounds together you just see his thought process you see what he’s doing and you get a lot of lessons from that you know you’re also learning how to approach the game in a different angle. I mean from someone who won it’s a huge huge thing as my brother said you know trying to grow the game in Africa just because it’s so small and also you know Sunshine Tour is a great place which gives you a great platform to actually you know play compete grow the game and a lot of people out there you know when they see you playing out there they definitely know it’s possible and that’s also a good drive for them to just you know keep working on it keep chasing it and it’s very much possible you know being out there having a good character keeps in the game keeps you focused just because if you lose it out there, it’s it’s hard. It’s hard. So, trying to be the best version of yourself out there, keeping yourself calm, be as good as possible mentally, and then the physical aspect just takes place. A day after this Eastern Cape Classic bar its teeth, calmer skies brought much needed relief. Working his way back into form was Albert Fenta, whose last success on the main tour came in 2022. With the second round of 68, he took his tournament tally to seven under par. The last couple of months haven’t been particularly well for me or great golf wise, but you know, I’ve worked hard and try to get myself back into shape and and trying just to to do what a professional has to do. Um yeah, and it’s it’s been it’s had its challenges and I’m I’m pretty pleased with my performance up to this point. Um I think there’s a lot of positives to take out from the last two days. I think um today on the green side I struggled a little bit and kind of seemed like the pace was a bit difficult for me to get compared to yesterday. But yeah, I’m looking forward to the challenge tomorrow. Joined first round leader Joe Knox backed up an opening 63 with a solid round of 69 and the big easy tour graduate remained in contention at 8 under par. I think it’s sometimes hard to to back a really good round up with a with another one. Just trying to keep it pretty steady. hit lots of fairways, greens, just give give yourself as many chances as you can really. And and and I did that for the most part. Hit I think 16 greens. Um gave myself a lot of looks inside 20 foot. I think I had 14 15 birdie putts inside 20 foot. Just a bit disappointed. I I missed a good number of them inside 8 foot, but it was still a good round and looking forward to tomorrow. Michael Hollik surfing with confidence at Wild Coast maintained his swag. Three straight birdies on the back nine and a round of 65 saw him move to nine underpar. I’d like to go back in the history books, but I honestly don’t think I’ve made a cut here for 10 years. I do know at one stage I had about six mis cuts by one shot in a row. So, you know, I’m happy to be, you know, leading the event and we’ll see how tomorrow goes. Pollock led by one over Knox and Jack Devils. Fenta and Lro were a further shot of drift while Austin Bautista and Sam Simpson were beginning to make their presence felt. Herman Lopshire playing with confidence came into the week as the courier guy automerit leader following a consistent run of form and a win in per race. Getting back into the winner circle after I think 3 years it’s quite a long time so it’s hard to kind of draw experience off off of a win if it’s that long ago. So it feels like you haven’t won. And um I had a close call couple weeks before and the week before. It didn’t quite get the job done. So to get over the line was massive and kind of just frees me up a bit more for the rest of the season. Gets me into those bigger events which I’m I’m super excited for. It may seem like I’m I’m quite relaxed out there on the golf course. Some rounds it definitely feels that way. Some rounds doesn’t feel that way so much, but uh just getting the win wind under my belt is definitely um taking a bit of pressure off. It’s one of the goals ticked off and quite early in the season. So, it definitely feels like there’s a little little more freedom to just go enjoy my golf a bit more and and and then see how see how well I can play. The biggest learning curve over the last uh 3 years before the win, it’s probably just kind of keeping the self-belief. A lot of my mates, they play well and then a lot of players that you know that you’re just as good as and you see them and they’re playing really well and and you just know you got to wait for your turn, stay patient and kind of wait for your breaks to come. Hopefully now um I can just carry on with this good momentum. The players were greeted by the best conditions of the week at Walco Sun Country Club, but the pressure of trying to win a golf tournament remained the same. Out early in the final round was Herman Lopshire and the current number one was able to maintain his grip at top the season long standings with a share of fifth position. This approach into the par five third set up one of six birdies in his sparkling round of 65. Flying up the leaderboard was Australia’s Austin Boutistaster who after beginning the day on six underpath three strokes drift carded a front half of 30 to charge into contention. Overnight leader Michael Hollik recovered brilliantly after a shaky start. The shot from the greenside bunker at the third resulted in an eagle. Hollik back in front by one was chasing a second Sunshine Tour title in four weeks and a third of the year. Sam Simpson who broke into the winner circle in June with his triumph at the Zambia Open followed up rounds of 66 and 68 with a closing 66. The Cape Town professional ended his 54hole bid on 10 under par and in a share of third position with Lyall Ro who went round in 67. A great display by the three-time sunshine tour who is trending in the right direction. Baltista though had been threatening a win this year with two top three finishes leading up to the week. A birdie at 10 was followed by another red number here at 12 and he was at that stage seven under for his round. Hollik was not deterred by the situation nor the fastm moving Australian and the experienced campaigner set up a second eagle of his outward half with a brilliant iron shot into the par five seventh. Sunshine to a rookie Joe Knox battled back from a disappointing front nine to shoot 69 for the second straight day and he finished up alongside Lopia and Jacqu Davilius on nine under a top five result for his efforts. A red hot boutaster meanwhile went on to set the clubhouse lead at 14 underpar with the week’s lowest round a sensational eight underpar 62. The man from Sydney now led by three and despite Hollik fighting back in the latter stages with a birdie at 15. And with this exquisite second into the powerful 18th hole. The man from Mount Edge came up agonizingly short of matching Bautista’s leading mark. [Music] Aleik finished one shot behind Bart Easter, who after knocking on the door for the past few tournaments following his victory on the Big Easy Tour, captured a deserved first title on the Sunshine Tour. It’s a nice feeling. Winning winning golf tournaments is is great. The the Sunshine Tour is a great tour. You know, we get to come to amazing places. This is uh Wild Coast is one of my uh favorite places to come to. This is my first cup made, actually. It’s a beautiful, beautiful layout and um it’s just so challenging and luckily I was able to come out with the uh the win this week. And with coastal glory at the Sunbet Challenge hosted by Wild Coast Sun, the 28-year-old Australian is now the closest challenger to Herman Lopshire in the Courier Guy Order of Mirror Standards. While Austin Boutista continues his rapid rise in the game, the Sunshine to NX travels to the Midlands for an exciting visit to Gary Farm. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]
