Daniel van Tonder hadn’t won in nearly five years until he pulled off a one-stroke victory on Sunday in the Mopani Redpath Greendoor Logistics Zambia Open at Nkana Golf Club.
On a course which yielded just four 72-hole totals under par, he closed with a two-under 70 to move to five-under for the week and a one-stroke victory over Callum Mowat.
Neil Schietekat and Jacques Blaauw shared third on one-under, three shots further back.
‘It feels great,’ said Van Tonder. ‘I was close a few times last year. I’ve been up and down, and inconsistent here and there, but I changed balls and since then I’ve become more consistent.’
He started the final round as if he meant to put daylight between himself and his challengers with three birdies in the first four holes, but bogeys on eight, 10 and 11 brought him back to the field.
He birdied 12, but Mowat was always within striking distance and it wasn’t until he birdied 16 that he felt he could breathe easy.
‘Once I got the final birdie on 16, I felt I could relax,’ he said. ‘On 17, I wanted to make a birdie to have a two-shot cushion. I knew 18 was driveable, but after seeing Mowat making par there, I knew I didn’t have to go for the green.’
He put his approach just over the green into the fringe, and elected to putt from there. ‘That putt from off the green on 18 was straight into the grain. I felt I could chip it in, but I knew I could make an easy two-putt and it would be fine.’
Final leaderboard:
283 – Daniel van Tonder 72 73 68 70
284 – Callum Mowat 73 75 68 68
287 – Neil Schietekat 71 72 74 70, Jacques Blaauw 69 75 71 72
288 – Rhys Enoch 71 74 72 71
289 – Ross McGowan 77 69 76 67, Christiaan Basson 73 72 75 69, Jaco Ahlers 73 74 72 70, JJ Senekal 73 73 69 74
290 – Jacques P de Villiers 73 71 77 69, Doug McGuigan 74 70 75 71, Jaco Prinsloo 72 72 74 72, Lyle Rowe 73 72 73 72
291 – Pieter Moolman 73 77 72 69, Jonathan Agren 77 70 74 70, Merrick Bremner 73 72 73 73, Steve Surry 73 73 70 75
292 – Ruan Conradie 78 71 72 71
293 – Hennie Otto 74 74 73 72, Kyle Pilgrim 71 74 75 73
294 – Daniel Greene 75 69 80 70, Anthony Michael 74 75 74 71, Fredrik From 72 74 75 73, Juran Dreyer 71 71 76 76, Thriston Lawrence 71 75 71 77
295 – CJ du Plessis 75 75 75 70, Jade Buitendag 73 73 77 72
296 – Michael Palmer 73 73 79 71, Andrew van der Knaap 73 77 75 71, Rhys West 73 75 76 72, Trevor Fisher Jnr 77 73 73 73, Dylan Naidoo 75 71 76 74, JC Ritchie 70 75 76 75, Rourke van der Spuy 71 76 74 75
297 – Madalitso Muthiya 77 74 71 75, Luke Jerling 77 71 73 76
298 – Chris Cannon 71 73 80 74, Kyle Barker 73 76 75 74, Stefan Wears-Taylor 77 73 72 76, Stephen Ferreira 69 73 79 77, Philip Eriksson 77 72 72 77
299 – Makhetha Mazibuko 77 73 78 71, Wynand Dingle 75 75 74 75, Benjamin Follett-Smith 71 74 78 76
301 – Derick Petersen 74 74 81 72, Dayne Moore 77 74 76 74
302 – Teaghan Gauche 72 78 80 72, Keenan Davidse 75 75 77 75, Ryan Cairns 74 77 73 78
303 – Luke Mayo 76 73 75 79
304 – Scott Campbell 78 72 80 74, Andrew Odoh 76 73 80 75, Ruan de Smidt 76 74 75 79, Thanda Mavundla 77 74 74 79
307 – Dylan Mostert 73 78 80 76
309 – Hayden Griffiths 72 75 81 81, Damon Stephenson 80 71 77 81
312 – Wallie Coetsee 76 70 89 77, Andre Nel 78 73 83 78, Michael Hollick 74 75 79 84
Photo: Shaun Roy/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
