Louis de Jager ended his four-year winless run with a come-from-behind one-stroke victory over CJ du Plessis and Breyten Meyer in the Sibaya Challenge held at Mount Edgecombe on Friday.
‘It has been long,’ he exclaimed.
‘I think it’s about four years since my last win, so it’s a real relief to get it done.’
In a season where he has played solid golf, missing just one cut – at last week’s tournament in Parys – De Jager says he has been expecting to win for a while but will not complain about how long it took to win his fourth title now that it has finally come.
‘I’ve felt like it was coming for a long time,’ he said.
‘Even last week, I played quite well but the scores just didn’t reflect it. So, coming here my spirits was high and I was comfortable and confident in my game and it showed this week because I played some really good golf.”
Indeed, he played his heart out, especially in the final round where he came trailing overnight leader, Meyer, by four shots. While, for the better part of the round, Meyer and Du Plessis didn’t show any signs of slowing down, De Jager kept at it, making significant gains as he piled the pressure.
He admitted, however, that at some point, he thought he was out of the chase for the top position.
‘I hit it left into the water on number 11 and I had to take a drop and I made a bogey,’ he explained. ‘I was then about three or four shots behind and that when I thought that maybe I’ve lost my chances. But, I kept going, kept grinding and finished very strong, so unfortunately, it didn’t go their way, it went my way this time.’
His efforts finally paid dividends when Meyer dropped shots. When he eventually caught up with both Meyer and Du Plessis in the last two holes, he didn’t lose his composure, birdieing his last two holes while Meyer and Du Plessis picked up a birdie and par each on those holes.
De Jager’s five-under-par 65 final round which, put together with his first and second round scores gave him a total of 13-under-par 197, consisted of eight birdies and three bogeys. Three of those birdies which were accompanied by a single bogey came on the front nine while he made five birdies on the homeward stretch, with two more bogeys making it onto his card.
While Du Plessis and Meyer will be disappointed to have lost the tournament at the very end, they will both be pleased with their efforts in Durban. Du Plessis’ back-to-back 65s were no fluke and Meyer’s second-round 61 was yet another indicator of the potential he has.
But, at the end of it all, De Jager walks away victorious.
Final leaderboard:
197 – Louis de Jager 68 64 65
198 – CJ du Plessis 65 65 68, Breyten Meyer 67 61 70
199 – Luke Joy 66 68 65
200 – Keith Horne 74 64 62, Wallie Coetsee 69 66 65, Hennie Otto 66 66 68
201 – Adilson Da Silva 68 67 66
202 – Daniel van Tonder 68 69 65, Louis Albertse 65 68 69
203 – Neil Schietekat 69 68 66, Alex Haindl 69 68 66, Tyrone Ferreira 68 68 67, Ryan Cairns 67 69 67, Duane Keun 72 64 67, Merrick Bremner 67 69 67, Jake Redman 65 70 68, Peter Karmis 67 64 72
204 – Anton Haig 70 68 66, Ulrich van den Berg 68 66 70, Jake Roos 66 68 70, Jean Hugo 65 68 71
205 – Bryce Easton 72 67 66, Herman Loubser 68 70 67, Thriston Lawrence 67 71 67, Todd Clements 66 69 70
206 – Tyrone Ryan 71 68 67, Martin Rohwer 71 66 69, Ockie Strydom 67 70 69, Erhard Lambrechts 68 68 70, James Kamte 68 68 70, Doug McGuigan 72 63 71
207 – Jaco Prinsloo 69 70 68, Madalitso Muthiya 72 67 68, Luke Mayo 68 71 68, Scott Campbell 71 67 69, Jaco Ahlers 72 66 69
208 – Jacques Blaauw 70 69 69, Jonathan Agren 71 68 69, Pieter Moolman 69 69 70, Luke Jerling 72 66 70, Garth Mulroy 68 69 71, Michael Palmer 68 69 71
209 – Keenan Davidse 69 70 70, Marc Cayeux 70 69 70, Jean-Paul Strydom 69 69 71, Colin Nel 69 68 72, Rhys Enoch 69 68 72
