Herman Loubser won the Sunshine Tour Final Stage Qualifying School with a total 20-under-par 360 at Randpark Golf Club to earn his playing privileges and lead 34 players on to the main professional golf circuit in Southern Africa.
A three-under-par final round on the final day took him two strokes clear of the chasing Martin Rohwer, who came to Randpark via his win at Killarney Country Club in the first stage.
‘I’m over the moon. It’s such a good feeling. To walk away with the trophy is such a good feeling,’ he said. ‘It was a gruelling challenge out there.’
He said he was glad to have conquered his nemesis hole, the 16th, following days of struggle on that stretch from 16 to 18. ‘I stood on the 16th green today and thought “Oh, Herman, just two-putt this, please,” and I managed to do it. I finally conquered it,’ he quipped.
Q-School is probably one of the most gruelling golfing challenges for amateurs and professionals players alike, but this edition saw eight amateurs, including Loubser, secure their cards for next season.
Behind Loubser, England’s duo of Chris Lloyd and Scot Campbell finished in third and fourth position respectively and raised to nine the number of new foreign nationals who will compete on the Sunshine Tour in the forthcoming season.
Robertson’s Jacquin Hess is the only member of the Gary Player Class of 2017 who managed to reclaim his card, after Trevor Mahoney, Teboho Sefatsa, Mpho Mafishe, Irvin Mzibuko, Thabang Simon and Neezy Thibisi all failed to do so.
Scores:
340 – Herman Loubser 68 66 71 66 69
342 – Martin Rohwer 72 69 69 65 67
343 – Chris Lloyd 68 68 70 67 70
344 – Scott Campbell 72 67 66 67 72
345 – Wynand Dingle 69 69 69 70 68
346 – Andrew Van der Knaap 73 74 65 68 66
348 – Coert Groenewald 68 73 71 67 69
349 – Aubrey Beckley 67 70 73 70 69, Luke Jerling 70 66 70 72 71, Andre Nel 70 67 70 70 72, Cody Martin 69 70 69 69 72
350 – Quintin Wilsnach 75 70 70 69 66, Chris Cannon 77 69 70 65 69, Jason Smith 69 73 68 69 71, Dayne Moore 70 70 71 68 71, Combrinck Smit 70 72 68 68 72
351 – Matthew Spacey 71 70 70 71 69, Stuart Smith 74 63 67 71 76
352 – Damon Stephenson 69 71 74 72 66, N.J. Arnoldi 67 71 71 73 70, Dongkwan Kim 72 66 73 70 71
353 – Jacquin Hess 68 75 70 71 69, Gert Myburgh 67 73 77 69 67, Neil O’Briain 71 72 74 65 71, Antonio Rosado 71 69 69 73 71, Zack Byrd 73 69 69 68 74
354 – Matias Calderon 72 72 69 70 71, Kyle Pilgrim 72 69 73 69 71
355 – Thriston Lawrence 68 75 69 72 71, Francois Coetzee 71 73 73 67 71, Damian Naicker 73 68 75 68 71, Jaco Mouton 68 70 69 78 70, Sean Bradley 69 74 70 71 71, Danie Van Niekerk 69 69 71 74 72
356 – Paul Colditz 71 73 72 71 69, Trevor Mahoney 69 74 71 74 68
357 – Duane Keun 73 70 71 74 69, Dean O’Riley 75 75 69 69 69, Brandon Cloete 75 70 75 69 68
358 – David Ashley 72 68 71 76 71, Jacques P de Villiers 68 73 70 76 71, Kevin Rundle 75 68 68 70 77
359 – Gregg Blainey 69 71 71 74 74, Bryce Bibby 74 69 73 71 72, Joe Heraty 72 74 70 72 71, Bennie van der Merwe 71 73 73 71 71, Teagan Moore 71 72 74 72 70, Conway Kunneke 71 71 75 73 69
360 – Dylan Docherty 71 69 71 72 77, Albert Venter 72 72 71 72 73, Michael Pfeifer 68 69 71 73 79, Tyron McComb 75 74 69 70 72
361 – Teboho Sefatsa 67 72 72 75 75, Fredrik Lindblom 76 67 73 72 73, Marco de Beer 74 71 70 73 73, Matthew Jennings 68 74 72 76 71
362 – Greg Bentley 73 72 72 71 74, Paul de Beer 75 73 71 71 72
363 – Anton Haig 77 72 74 66 74
364 – TB Mathebula 72 72 71 73 76, Ruan Huysamen 72 78 72 68 74, Jonathan Waschefort 74 70 69 77 74
365 – John Mc Clean 71 69 71 77 77, Richie O’Donovan 72 75 71 72 75
366 – Roux Jeffery 73 75 73 69 76
