Riekus Nortje kept a cool head at Nkana Golf Club to shoot a flawless four-under-par 68 final round of the Mopani Redpath Zambia Open and win his maiden Sunshine Tour title with a total 18-under-par on Sunday.
In a tightly contested affair which looked like it would like it might go into a play-off between himself and Ockie Strydom – whom he beat by two strokes – at some stage, Nortje showed maturity and refused to let the magnitude of the event overwhelm him. Two birdies on the front nine ensured he tightened his grip atop the leaderboard, and another on 12 followed before he made another one on 17 to clinch the title.’
‘It hasn’t sunk in yet.’ he said after his win. ‘I think tomorrow I will definitely feel it. About two or three years ago I was nowhere with my golf. I had a (Sunshine Tour) card at one stage; lost the card, played Big Easy Tour. Playing the Big Easy was important for me.’
For a player who had not won on the Sunshine Tour before, Nortje said he was quite comfortable in Kitwe and felt no pressure. ‘Coming down the home stretch I was actually very comfortable hitting the ball. I actually had no nerves,’ he said.
‘On 13 there I got a bit of a flyer,’ he said of the up-and-down he made there to save par, ‘and I hit it long and hit a pretty good chip from where I was and made a good putt. 14, I thought the wind was in to me, so I hit it straight into the wind; hit it long again; got a bad lie and again the putter saved me.
He admits though, that even as he was leading from the second round, he never thought he would run away with it. “Not really,” he said when quizzed about it in Kitwe. ‘You have to take it shot by shot because anything can happen, you can still lose it. You can’t just relax and think it’s done.’
Strydom also looked like he would snatch it away from Nortje, but the three bogeys he made on six, nine and 10 took from the five birdies he made in the round. He eventually signed for two-under 70 to take his total to 16-under, two shots behind.
Sharing third spot was Alex Haindl and Oliver Bekker. The latter has been impressive lately, but his 11-under for the tournament was not enough to earn him a third title this year.
But for Nortje a first victory is the sweetest he will ever have.
Photo: Sunshine Tour
