Bryandrew Roelofsz held his nerve on the final day of the South to East Challenge at Zwartkop Country Club to win the title by one stroke over fellow Sunshine Tour professional CJ du Plessis, on 11-under-par.
A final round of two-under-par 69 capped an impressive week for the 24-year-old, and it was a shot by shot game plan that he believes made the difference.
‘Yeah it was all up to the game plan really. It was one shot at a time and one hole at a time that got me through it. It was all about a good attitude, patience and calmness. Hopefully next week we can do something nice and get another win,’ Roelofsz said.
Roelofsz started the day one-stroke ahead of 2015 MENA Tour Order of Merit winner Thriston Lawrence and Sunshine Tour professional Bryce Easton, however a disappointing 73 from Lawrence and a level-par 71 from Easton eased the pressure.
‘It is a big boost for me. I’ve been out for about two months – as I said the other day I’m just trying to get my life in order. It seems to be coming right and you can see that through the golf.’
This week marked the start of three co-sanctioned events between the Sunshine Big Easy Tour and the MENA Tour, and Roelofsz believes it’s a brilliant platform to develop golf locally and abroad.
‘Having these co-sanctioned events is great for the Sunshine and Big Easy Tour guys as well as the MENA Tour guys. It’s a great platform that has been started and hopefully we can have many more events like this,’ he explained.
With a shot by shot game plan, Roelofsz also implemented a strategy of keeping his focus off the leaderboard, and it was only until his third shot on the par-five 18th he realised a par would give him the title.
‘I actually didn’t know I needed par on the last. They actually told my caddie about it and I asked him what they said and he jus told me to play my game. I saw the leaderboard behind the green and then knew I just had to chip and two-putt for the win,’ Roelofsz explained.
Not only is Roelofsz looking to perform in next weeks event, he is also looking to perform when the Sunshine Tour returns at Wild Coast Sun Country Club on July 28.
‘I’m really looking forward to coming back to the Sunshine Tour. I’m looking forward to that Wild Coast tournament – this is obviously helping me – so yeah I’m quite keen,’ he said.
Scores:
202 – Bryandrew Roelofsz (RSA) 65 68 69
203 – CJ du Plessis (RSA) 67 68 68
204 – Jaco Prinsloo (RSA) 68 68 68
205 – Siphiwe Siphayi (RSA) 66 69 70, Bryce Easton (RSA) 69 65 71
From sunshinetour.com
