Garrick Higgo, another recent GolfRSA graduate, was denied a memorable Challenge Tour win after an impressive mid-round blitz by Anton Karlsson.
The Swede, who finished in the pack sharing second at the 2019 Qatar Masters, secured his biggest win of his career as he claimed the Cape Town Open by a single stroke.
With two hours to go, the picture was far from clear as Toby Tree, leader for the past three days Daniel van Tonder and first-round pace-setter Damien Perrier all in the mix. The challengers, though, began to fall by the wayside with Van Tonder turning in 39 and bogeying 13 and 15 to see his hopes of victory disappear.
As it stands as the back nine begins @CapeTownOpen pic.twitter.com/H0uuIqbnqL
— Compleat Golfer (@CompleatGolfer) February 9, 2020
That left Higgo to battle Karlsson for the title …
The South African left-hander turned two under and birdied two of his next three holes to keep the pressure on Karlsson, who was in the midst of a sensational run.
The Swede birdied the seventh and ninth to offset his opening bogey as well as his drop on the fifth. He then turned on the style with four birdies in a row to breeze clear in difficult conditions in the Mother City.
A bogey at 14 and two birdies to close by Higgo saw the lead cut to just one stroke. Karlsson held his nerve as he came home with four pars in a row to claim the win.
The winning putt.@AntonKarlsson91 is your 2020 @OfficialRAMsa Cape Town Open Champion!! #CapeTownOpen#RamHandToHand pic.twitter.com/L5kXe3Rl6b
— Cape Town Open (@CapeTownOpen) February 9, 2020
Like Wilco Nienaber last week, it was another statement of intent from the local youth as they pressed hard but fell just short.
‘To win here feels so good,’ the winner said.
‘For the first time, I was not really sure what score I was on for the day. I knew I was on top of the leaderboard but I couldn’t tell by how many shots I was leading and I saw Higgo finished well at 13-under so I had to play solid golf. It was pretty brutal out there but I’m very happy to have pulled it together like that. It’s always important to get the season off to a good start because you can really get going after that.’
Sunshine Tour Order of Merit leader JC Ritchie scraped home with a 77 to drop down to share 19th place. His place at the top will be in jeopardy after Van Tonder hung on to finish T4; a small consolation after failing to land the trophy after impressing for 63 holes.
The Tour heads to Fancourt and the Di-Data Pro Am for the final stop of the Challenge Tour’s SA swing.
