• Porteous finishes as the top Saffa

    Haydn Porteous
    Porteous was SA's best

    Haydn Porteous was the only South African to finish in red numbers for the day on Sunday to end as the top-performing Saffa at the NBO Oman Open.

    Porteous fired a final round 70 to finish at -4 for the tournament at Al Mouj.

    The 2017 D+D Real Czech Masters winner moved past Richard Sterne on Sunday with none of the four remaining South Africans able to make a real move due to the consistent dropped shots. Porteous birdied the 2nd hole for the third day running but immediately gave a shot back on the par-five that followed – not quite as bad as his triple bogey in the second round.

    The 23-year-old got another shot back with a four on the 7th and moved to -2 for the day with a birdie to start his inward nine. A bogey on the 12th summed up his up-and-down week before his fourth and final birdie of the day at the 16th to end with a Sunday 70.

    Porteous’ effort was three better than Sterne, who dropped two shots in his final four holes to finish with a 73 and drop to -2 and a share of 37th place. One shot further back was Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who was -4 through 21 holes but slid back every day.

    Bezuidenhout made his first gain at the 7th but turned level after a bogey at the 9th before finishing with nine straight pars to end the Muscat event at level par.

    It was a final round to forget for Zander Lombard, who was slow out of the blocks. He tripled the 1st and made a double on the 4th, and dropped to six over with another drop on the 5th.

    Lombard got some respectability back with three birdies in a row from the 6th, but closed the nine with another drop for a 40. The birdies had dried up completely and he made two more drops to finish with a 78 – three worse than yesterday’s round.

    At the time of writing, Chris Wood and Joost Luiten were at the top of the pile on -14 with seven holes to play.

    Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

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