Christofer Blomstrand carded the round of the tournament on Sunday, firing a 10-under-par 63 to win the Zambia Sugar Open. His round included one bogey, nine birdies and an eagle-two at the par-four eighth hole.
‘It started on hole eight. I had 130 to the pin and I holed it. So I made an eagle there. I also made birdie on nine so I went to five-under and I just tried to keep calm. I played really well today,’ he said.
Blomstrand started the final day eight shots adrift of James Kamte, and his 10-under-par 63 is his lowest tournament score to date.
‘I’ve actually done it once before, but not this low. This is my lowest round in my career. I’m really happy to do it like this. I’m really happy, for sure,’ he said.
Remaining composed during his round was crucial and he said speaking to his mental coach yesterday was a defining factor in his display. ‘I spoke to my mental coach yesterday, back home in Sweden, and she has helped me with so many things in the last two years. But I actually didn’t look at the leaderboard until I came to the 17th and I saw I was five shots in the lead. I just tried to keep calm and follow my game plan. I did it and I’m really happy,’ he said.
Blomstrand has been on a steady rise since finishing tied-eighth at Sunshine Tour Qualifying School, with a tied-60th finish at the Dimension Data Pro-Am, a tied-27th finish at the Eye of Africa PGA Championships and a tied-19th finish at last week’s Golden Pilsener Zimbabwe Open.
In only his fourth start on the Sunshine Tour, Blomstrand says he is looking forward to the year ahead.
‘I think that I need to play a few more tournaments. My biggest goal when I came down here was to finish top 50 so I can get into those events with the European Tour next year. It’s a good way to do it and hopefully I can keep it going,’ he said.
With the win, Blomstrad says he will take confidence into the year ahead. ‘Mentally it’s very big and it’s very important. This game is all about the mentality. If you have a good tournament and you can keep on going from that it’s very important. You have to be yourself and understand how everything works.” He jokingly added, “If I’m a nice guy, we’ll see what happens,’ he said.
Blomstrand was made to wait to see his fate having finished more than an hour before the final pairing, which was made up of Ruan de Smit and James Kamte. However, his closest challenger came in the form of CJ du Plessis who carded a two-under-par 71 to finish in sole possession of second place.
Kamte finished in a share of third alongside J.P. Strydom after shooting a two-over-par 75, with de Smit carding a five-over-par 78.
From sunshinetour.com
