Oliver Bekker sealed his second HotelPlanner Tour victory on home soil after carding a five-under 67 on the third and final day of the Jonsson Workwear Open, but it was a disappointing end to the week for the Irish.
Following the cancellation of Saturday’s play due to flooding on South Africa’s east coast, Liam Nolan and Gary Hurley’s chances of pushing their way into contention were effectively over, but valuable Road to Mallorca rankings points were still up for grabs.
Nolan, who fired a five-under 67 to make his way to the head of the Irish contingent on Friday prior to Saturday’s washout, started brightly in the final round with two birdies in his first three holes.
Unfortunately, that was the end of the birdie haul, and three dropped shots on the back nine saw him slip to T49 at -4 overall.
Hurley, who birdied his 36th hole to make the cut on the number, found himself two-over though six after making three bogeys and a birdie in a four-hole stretch on the front nine. He managed to claw his way back to level-par for the day after making two birdies in the final six holes, and he ended the week tied for 54th at -3.
Bekker, who started the final round five strokes back of the lead, mixed seven birdies with two bogeys to finish on a 54-hole total of 16 under par, two strokes clear of Swede Christofer Blomstrand, who ended the week in solo second.
“It’s a little bit surreal,” he said. “I came into the week having not played too much golf after moving to Australia. I came here with low expectations and that’s sometimes when you play your best golf.
“I’ve been working on small things in my game which have been making a difference. I’ve played well lately and haven’t changed too much.
“I’ve been putting nicely, hitting quality shots and staying in play most of the time. I’ve got a wealth of experience behind me too so that also helps.”
Bekker started the final round slowly with a dropped shot on the second but responded well with three front nine gains to turn in 34 strokes. After registering pars on ten and eleven, the 41-year-old birdied three of his next five to sit one shot back of Spaniard Pablo Ereno.
And after the 22-year-old’s challenge ended following a quadruple bogey on the testing par four 17th, Bekker found himself clear at the top and closed out his round with a birdie to secure a second HotelPlanner Tour triumph following his victory at the Dimension Data Pro-Am three years ago.
“I actually got off to a slow start after missing a short putt on two,” he added.
“I hit a couple of quality shots and made some nice putts to cap it off. I turned in two under par and thought if I can get to 17 under, I’ve got a shot. The guys were going early with some good scores in the clubhouse.
“Pablo was going well and making a few putts, and we were going back and forth. It unravelled a little bit for him on 17 and a little bit for me. I got to 18 thinking I needed to make birdie to have a chance.
“I didn’t look at the scoreboard and after I made birdie, I looked at the scoreboard and realised 13 under was in second place and it looked like I might have done it, which was nice. It’s special to go on and win when in contention.”
Ereno, Peru’s Julian Perico, Scot Calum Fyfe, South African Luke Brown, England’s John Gough and Pedro Figueiredo from Portugal all share third position on 13 under par.
The top five of the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings remain the same with MJ Viljoen holding the Number One spot, while Englishman Will Enefer sits in second place. Blomstrand climbs 117 spots to sixth, one place ahead of Ereno, who rises eight spots to seventh.
The Road to Mallorca now takes a three-week break before heading to India for back-to-back events, starting with the Indorama Ventures Open Golf Championship at Kalhaar Blues & Greens Golf Club in Ahmedabad.
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