Steve Surry ended his seven-year wait for a first victory on the Sunshine Tour as he claimed a four-shot triumph at the VOG final at Pinnacle Point on Saturday.
The Englishman, set to bolt up from 44th on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit after adding R134,725 to his account, held his nerve on a day that saw him share the lead on a number of occasions.
‘It’s brilliant to get the win after three second places on the tour,’ said Surry.
‘A few of my mates have won and it’s nice to join them. It’s great to get a victory here. It opens up a lot of opportunities for co-sanctioned events and stuff which I’ve not had before, so it’s brilliant.’
Taking a four-shot lead into the final round, he bogeyed the 3rd and 5th and was birdie-free on his outward nine to allow Derick Petersen and Jacques Blaauw into the equation.
In fact, Petersen narrowly missed a birdie on the 10th which would’ve seen him move past Surry at the top of the leaderboard. The next few holes saw Blaauw make three birdies in a row to join Surry and Petersen at the top with six holes to play.
A bogey at the 12th for Surry offset his birdie on the 10th bef0re he stamped his authority on matters with birdies at the 14th and 15th. That flurry, combined with Petersen making a triple at the 14th, left Blaauw as the only potential spoiler to Surry’s party.
Blaauw faltered at the 16th with a double drop of his own and when he repeated the mistake on the next, it sent Surry down the 18th with a four-shot lead.
The Englishman, who finished in a share of fifth in the Old Mutual Zimbabwe Open for his best performance in nine starts so far, lagged his birdie putt from 35 feet to tap-in range before composing himself and holing his final putt for par and his breakthrough victory.
Petersen, to his credit, birdied the last for a solo second finish.
