Krugersdorp’s Clinton Grobler claimed the biggest victory of his career when he won the PGA of South Africa National Championship, presented by Diners Club, at Ebotse Links on Thursday.
After an opening 76 in this 54-hole championship, Grobler worked his way into contention with a second round of 68 that pulled him back to level par overall. Then he closed with a five-under-par 67 on Thursday to win by two shots over Glendower’s Rudy Whitfield.
‘I like tight golf courses and courses where you don’t have to hit driver all the time. I used my 2-iron a lot off the tee all week, gave myself some short irons in and then just made the putts,’ said Grobler, who celebrated his 24th birthday in the second round of this championship.
‘This is one of the highlights of my career. I think I’m just going to have a quiet braai with my parents and my girlfriend to celebrate this win.’
Grobler finished third in this championship last year and said the victory is a big confidence boost in terms of his ultimate goal of playing on the Sunshine Tour.
‘I missed out at the tour’s qualifying school this year, but I got my first start on the Sunshine Big Easy Tour and finished fifth. So my game has been getting better from there. I’ve worked hard with my coach and my father motivates me a lot. I also play a lot with Sunshine Tour professional Ruan de Smidt and his brother Darren, and they push me to get better.
‘To win this title is amazing because I just love what the PGA of South Africa is doing for golf, and being around fellow PGA members is very inspiring. I take a lot of pride in this title.’
Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate’s Nicole Becker was the only female professional to make the cut and as such took the honours in the women’s division. Becker finished in a share of 24th place on a total of 14 over par.
‘I’m very happy with this finish because I stopped playing competitively about six years ago and have just been focused on teaching. This is such a great tournament and I’d really encourage more of our women PGA professionals to come and compete in it. There’s been huge growth in the number of women joining the PGA of South Africa and they are doing some great work, especially at a junior golf level,’ she said.
Benoni Country Club’s Rob van Velzen took the senior title with his finish of tied 16th on nine over par and was equally delighted to still be giving the younger professionals some solid competition.
‘That’s a great feeling. I’m very happy with my overall performance because I don’t play too much competitive golf. Ebotse is also a demanding course and the greens were fast. But the course set-up was very fair. It’s great to play a championship where the course is not just set up for the long hitters but actually involves some creative thought as well.’
Final scores from the PGA National Championship, presented by Diners Club, at the par-72 Ebotse Links:
211 – Clinton Grobler 76 68 67
213 – Rudy Whitfield 73 69 71
214 – Pieter Kruger 76 70 68; Christo Roos 75 71 68
218 – Michael Michell 73 74 71
219 – Michael Scholz 77 71 71; Dane Vosloo 71 74 74
220 – Kevin Edwards 75 70 75; Henk Alberts 70 77 73
221 – Kenneth Dube 72 73 76
223 – Robert Wiederkehr 74 75 74
224 – Jannie Botha 74 79 71; Gregg Upton 74 73 77; Sheldon Steyn 73 80 71; Gregory Jacobs 71 78 75
225 – Rob van Velzen 79 73 73; Altus Kapp 77 73 75; Dean Kupferman 74 79 72
228 – Dietrich Uys 76 76 76; Ian Eveleigh 75 74 79
229 – Conrad du Plooy 79 77 73; Christo Hattingh 78 78 73; Keagan Beyer 76 76 77
230 – Nicole Becker 77 79 74; Alan Michell 76 77 77; Jaun van Greunen 75 73 82
231 – Jared Burnard 82 71 78; Ruben Labuschagne 73 79 79
232 – Alrich Labuschagne 82 77 73; Sean Botha 79 81 72; William Lake ZIM 78 77 77; Morten Bredahl 73 79 80
233 – Rudy Mertz 81 78 74; Paul Marks 78 74 81
234 – Francois Spangenberg 78 78 78; Chris Clayton 77 76 81; Adam Baker 74 77 83
235 – Jaco Vermeulen 81 76 78
238 – Stephan Spies 84 76 78; Darrin Hedley 81 77 80
239 – Edwin Compton 83 75 81; Francois Viljoen 82 78 79; Sevey Links 74 82 83
240 – Tyrone Lorusso 81 81 78
241 – Hanko Bothma 81 83 77; Matthew Bird 81 80 80
242 – J C Coetzer 84 80 78
243 – Ben Fouchee 79 85 79
244 – Johan Engelbrecht 82 76 86; Michael Elson 79 78 87
245 – Michael Balderstone 82 82 81
246 – Reece Mayberry 81 79 86
Photo: Lauren Nolte
