Franklin Manchest claimed his first victory as a professional player by two shots at the Vusi Ngubeni Qualifying School after carding a level-par final round to finish 10-under-par 278 at Modderfontein Golf Club on Friday.
Manchest beat Gerrit Foster, with whom he was paired, by two shots, with Teboho Sefatsa, who clinched the victory from Manchest last year, three shots off the pace. Keelan Africa, who climbed to the top of the leaderboard during the final round, finished fourth on six-under 282. The players led the way for the 18 players who got their Sunshine Tour cards.
The 21-year-old Manchest managed to keep calm after making a double bogey on the par-four second. He quickly made a birdie on the third and made another one on eight. After the turn, he made more gains on 12th and 14th, but then undid that good work with two more bogeys on the 15th and 18th.
‘Today, it wasn’t as easy as the other days,’ he said. ‘It was the toughest of them all because the wind blew for most of the round, but I stuck to it. I managed to keep my mindset clear and just stuck to my basics. Last year I was leading going into the last round. Today I was going against Sefatsa again. He asked me if it felt like deja vu to me and I said it did not, because this year I am the one who is going to take it.’
The George Golf Club representative said the double on the second was caused by some confusion between him and his caddy, Carlo Heunis. ‘We had the right club in hand and then we decided just before we hit the shot that the wind was blowing a bit harder. I took more club and planned to hit it soft, but I hit it too hard, and it just went on the left of the green and got into the hazard,’ he said.
Now that he has got his card back for the 2019-20 Sunshine Tour season, he said he is planning to do things differently this time around to avoid finding himself in a similar situation where he had to fight for his card.
‘The reason I found myself in this situation again as last year is that everything was just disorganised. I did not have enough money to play certain tournaments and it was always a rush to tournaments. I had to go a day or two before the time because I could not afford to go a few days ahead. But this year, obviously, with my golf looking up again, I will try and have a better schedule and plan my stuff better. I will not play week after week just to make the cut, but I will plan the tournaments. This time I am going for it all out,’ he said.
The leading 15 players and ties were eligible for membership in category nine on the Sunshine Tour for the 2019-20 season. Players finishing in positions 16-30 (and ties) will be granted entry into the Final Stage of the Sunshine Tour’s Qualifying School. Players who finish in positions one to 40 and ties will also be eligible to play the Big Easy Tour.
FINAL SCORES
278 – Franklin Manchest 68 68 70 72
280 – Gerrit Foster 71 68 69 72
281 – Teboho Sefatsa 67 72 69 73
282 – Keelan Africa 71 67 70 74
284 – Keelan van Wyk 69 70 71 74
286 – Jacquin Hess 74 66 73 73, Altaaf Bux 70 71 71 74
287 – Makhetha Mazibuko 71 69 74 73
288 – Thanda Mavundla 70 69 75 74
289 – Allister de Kock 71 70 77 71
291 – Adriel Poonan 76 71 73 71, Sipho Bujela 72 75 70 74
292 – Cameron Esau 76 73 72 71, Dylan Naidoo 70 74 76 72, Jason Diab 79 75 66 72, Yubin Jung 74 72 72 74, Mike Maile 71 77 70 74, Neswill Croy 70 73 74 75
293 – Lindani Ndwandwe 74 68 74 77, Irvin Mazibuko 74 71 68 80
294 – Fritz Orren 71 76 77 70, Pequestro Dyssel 74 72 76 72
295 – Thabiso Ngcobo 72 74 75 74, Terence Mogapi 73 75 73 74, Gerard du Plooy 74 76 70 75, Omar Sandys 71 73 75 76
296 – Lwazi Gqira 73 73 75 75
298 – Kenneth Dube 74 75 73 76, Alpheus Kelapile 75 73 72 78, Eugen Marugi 73 71 75 79
299 – Evance Vukeya 77 74 73 75
300 – Jabulane Mabilane 70 81 73 76, Idrees Saban 74 74 75 77
301 – Cedric Rooi 71 79 79 72, Byron van der Merwe 75 76 75 75, Teddy Mathebula 74 72 77 78
302 – Dennis Williams 77 76 74 75
303 – Joe Dlamini 77 73 73 80
304 – Khaya Jika 80 70 76 78, Jastice Mashego 70 73 79 82
305 – Jack Kutumane 71 80 81 73, Dwayne Basson 72 78 79 76, Phumlani Maluka 77 74 76 78, Chabala Mbao 73 75 77 80
306 – Tumelo Molloyi 72 79 78 77
307 – SP Mthethwa 78 71 82 76, Thabang Simon 70 84 77 76, Thabo Moraba 76 74 79 78
309 – Rocky Tlhabanyane 73 77 77 82, John Sangqu 75 78 74 82
310 – Fezekile Kana 74 80 82 74, Johannes Mokoena 81 73 74 82
311 – Brian Ntuli 76 77 76 82
314 – Chandler Shaw 77 75 83 79, Don Makhafola 79 72 80 83
317 – Krelen Govender 75 78 82 82, Ace Andile Adam 72 79 79 87
320 – Neo Mokgatle 78 74 88 80
DSQ – Mlamuli Sithebe 76 75 DSQ DSQ, George Brown 77 73 79 DSQ
Photo: Franklin Manchest, by Shaun Roy
