Daniel van Tonder claimed his second victory on the Sunshine Tour’s Rise-Up Series when he won the Vodacom Championship Unlocked at ERPM Golf Club on Friday.
Van Tonder shot a final-round 67 to finish the week on 13 under par as he edged overnight leader MJ Viljoen by a single shot.
Viljoen made for an exciting conclusion to the week, though, as he had a birdie putt on the final hole to force a playoff with Van Tonder, who was sat as the leader in the clubhouse.
But, unfortunately for Viljoen, he had to settle for a par on the 18th, which handed Van Tonder another victory after he won the African Bank Sunshine Tour Championship at Glendower three weeks ago.
‘It feels awesome. I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work and just doing my own thing. My whole game from tee to green feels good, and I think that just comes from the all the practice I’ve been doing,’ said Van Tonder, who said he would like to use his victory to raise awareness for mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that his wife’s grandfather has recently been diagnosed with.
‘It was fun out there. The wind was blowing quite a bit, but I had checked the weather the night before so I expected it to blow. In a way I was looking forward to it because I knew that in the wind, five shots back wouldn’t be too much to make up. My game is suited to the wind and I play quite aggressively when it’s blowing,’ he said.
In the end Viljoen finished in second place on 12 under par, while Pieter Moolman, who made a late surge on Friday secured third place on 11 under.
