Peter Karmis shot an inspired three-under-par 69 final round to win the Investec Royal Swazi Open with 49 points at the Royal Swazi Spa Country Club on Saturday.
Rounds of 67-70-62 and 69 earned him enough points to deliver a second title in less than ten months. His previous win was the Sun Sibaya Challenge.
This victory could not have come at a better place than Royal Swazi. Karmis, who has a deep affinity with Swaziland, has won twice on this course before in different events.
“I’m extremely excited and relieved at the same time,” he said after the win, “I was very stressful, but we obviously play for that stress. We don’t play golf to have it easy; it’s supposed to be difficult. But I am very pleased to come out of it with a victory.”
And it was not easy because for a moment there American Zach Byrd seemed to have clinched it when he overtook Herman Loubser on the scoreboard, while Lyle Rowe’s shot on 17 almost landed in for an albatross. Had that happened, Karmis’ chance of winning would have vanished in thin air.
“That was an awesome shot,” he said of Rowe’s shot, “It was magnificent, honestly. When I saw it land I thought it was in, but the crowd gave it away that it wasn’t.”
He admits though, that as with many other events he’s won, this was a team effort between himself and his caddie.
“He gives me the lines the whole time,” Karmis said, “I literally don’t hit a putt without him giving me the line. He’s been on my bag for a while; at Sibaya we won together.”
The duo of Byrd and Rowe was on 48 points, while Loubser and Ruan de Smidt shared fourth spot, three points behind Karmis.
Merrick Bremner and Jared Harvey also looked like they were in with a shot, but eventually had to settle in sixth position on 45 points.
Sharing eighth spot was Erik van Rooyen, Rookie of the Season Christiaan Bezuidenhout, and George Coetzee, with all players sitting on 43 points.
On the ladies front, Ashley Buhai showed some resilience en route to winning the ladies event.
Having landed on Tuesday from the United States for this event, she had to battle jetlag, fatigue and a strong field to claim success this week. However, a comfortable 15 points meant she was clear of second-placed Nobuhle Dlamini, while she finished 10 points clear of third-placed Nicole Garcia.
“I got the job done, so I’m really pleased with the results,” she said, “I swung it really good the last three days, but as the week went on I felt a little bit tired, but I dug deep to finish birdie-birdie.”
She will now be heading to the States where she will compete in the Ladies PGA Tour for the months ahead.
Final scores:
49 – Peter Karmis 12 6 22 9
48 – Zack Byrd 2 11 19 16, Lyle Rowe 11 11 17 9
46 – Herman Loubser 10 3 11 22, Ruan de Smidt 9 11 18 8
45 – Merrick Bremner 14 11 9 11, Jared Harvey 12 12 12 9
43 – Erik van Rooyen 3 8 12 20, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 12 10 7 14, George Coetzee 5 9 22 7
42 – Vaughn Groenewald 14 12 7 9
41 – Luke Jerling 15 3 12 11
40 – Wallie Coetsee 12 1 16 11, Neil Schietekat 14 11 8 7
39 – Jonathan Agren 12 4 12 11, Sipho Bujela 10 12 6 11, Hennie du Plessis 9 7 16 7, Jaco Prinsloo 11 10 7 11
38 – Anthony Michael 10 8 7 13, Jacques Kruyswijk 13 2 10 13, Ockie Strydom 6 14 10 8
37 – Titch Moore 6 13 9 9, Dean Burmester 5 17 11 4, Louis de Jager 12 11 11 3
36 – Justin Harding 2 12 9 13, Jaco Ahlers 6 9 12 9
35 – Toby Tree 5 10 9 11, Rourke van der Spuy 14 13 4 4, Christiaan Basson 13 4 11 7
34 – Oliver Bekker 12 10 11 1
33 – Andre de Decker 8 10 7 8, JJ Senekal 17 2 6 8, Keenan Davidse 4 10 11 8
32 – Rhys West 10 7 4 11, CJ du Plessis 14 1 11 6
31 – Colin Nel 9 8 6 8, Tyrone Ferreira 16 -2 9 8, Ulrich van den Berg 8 8 9 6, Ryan Tipping 7 10 9 5
30 – Bryce Easton 5 11 9 5
29 – Stefan Engell Andersen 12 1 8 8
28 – Andrew Curlewis 6 11 2 9
27 – Teaghan Gauche 16 11 6 -6
24 – Adilson Da Silva 9 3 10 2
21 – Jbe’ Kruger 1 11 5 4
20 – PH McIntyre 3 13 6 -2
16 – Theunis Spangenberg 5 10 3 -2
15 – Michael Hollick 9 4 7 -5
14 – Warrick Druian 6 7 2 -1, Matthew Spacey 7 9 -7 5
