Tommy Fleetwood defeated Marcus Kinhult in a thrilling play-off to win his second Rolex Series title at the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player, and put himself in contention to top the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex for the second time in three years.
The Ryder Cup star, who joined the illustrious list of Rolex Series winners at the 2017 Open de France, started the final round at Gary Player Country Club six strokes off the lead, but flew up the leaderboard after three birdies and the first of an incredible three eagles before the turn. He then eagled the tenth and the 14th, recovering from dropped shots on the 12th and 13th holes. A final birdie of the day on the 15th saw him sign for a 12 under par score.
Sweden’s Kinhult started three strokes behind overnight leader Zander Lombard and made a crucial birdie on the 15th to join Fleetwood on 12 under, setting up a play-off for the US$2.5million first prize.
On the first extra hole, Kinhult had to play out sideways after a poor tee shot, eventually settling for bogey, while Fleetwood made an excellent up and down to save par and tapped in from three feet for the biggest winner’s prize in European Tour history and his fifth title.
The win moves the Englishman to second place on the Race to Dubai in his bid to be named European Number One for the second time, following his 2017 triumph, at next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
Current Rankings leader Bernd Wiesberger, of Austria, finished in a share of third place alongside Belgium’s Thomas Detry and Australian Jason Scrivener, who both moved inside the top 50 on the Race to Dubai, securing their places at Jumeirah Golf Estates next week.
Defending champion Lee Westwood and home favourite Louis Oosthuizen shared sixth, while Robert MacIntyre took the lead again in the race for the Rookie of the Year title, finishing in eighth place alongside Lombard.
Player Quotes
Tommy Fleetwood: “It feels good, emotional. It has been a long time coming, and I’m not one to complain, but I really did want to win something. You know, it’s the best. Winning is just such a good feeling. You know everybody puts a lot of hard work in week-in, week-out and you wait for your time to come. Probably impatient most of the time. But I feel happy and lucky that it’s been my time this week.
“It was one of the best (rounds of my career) for sure. I would have liked to keep a couple bogeys off the card, but like the way I played, the way I hit it, felt like the way I putted, the way I handled myself emotionally, staying in the present. And then the playoff, bit of luck with the tee shot, chip shot probably a bit lucky and holed the putt, but it all goes together with just such an amazing day.
“It’s such a great, great thing and a feeling to be playing with a chance to win The Race to Dubai in the last event. Everybody starts the Tour at the start of the season to get there, and be one of the guys that can actually finish at the top is very special.”
Marcus Kinhult: “I’m proud. Shot a good score today. Got into the playoff and made a silly bogey, but I’m happy with the week and how I played. It’s a good week. Losing is not all fun but Tommy deserved that. Great up-and-down. Great champion.
“It’s quite an improvement (from last year’s Nedbank Golf Challenge). I look forward to coming back next year and seeing if we can do better. I’m happy this week, especially how last year turned out with that last place finish. I think we’re learning every time we come here.”
Final scores:
276 T Fleetwood (Eng) 69 69 73 65, M Kinhult (Swe) 69 69 70 68,
280 B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 69 70 70, J Scrivener (Aus) 69 70 71 70, T Detry (Bel) 66 71 69 74,
281 L Oosthuizen (RSA) 63 72 71 75, L Westwood (Eng) 68 73 69 71,
282 Z Lombard (RSA) 68 65 72 77, R Macintyre (Sco) 73 76 65 68,
284 M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 71 69 73 71, K Samooja (Fin) 72 71 72 69, J Luiten (Ned) 72 70 69 73,
285 J Campillo (Esp) 69 72 74 70, N Elvira (Esp) 70 70 71 74, A Rai (Eng) 70 69 71 75, T Lewis (Eng) 71 73 69 72,
286 H Stenson (Swe) 74 71 69 72, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 74 70 69 73, J Hansen (Den) 69 70 71 76,
287 P Harrington (Irl) 71 72 73 71,
288 G Migliozzi (Ita) 67 73 72 76, G Green (Mas) 74 70 73 71, M Kaymer (Ger) 70 72 72 74,
289 K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 76 73 71 69, M Korhonen (Fin) 70 70 70 79, B Hebert (Fra) 72 73 72 72, P Waring (Eng) 69 71 78 71, A Quiros (Esp) 70 70 72 77, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 74 70 71 74,
290 E Van Rooyen (RSA) 70 73 70 77, K Kitayama (USA) 70 72 73 75, R Langasque (Fra) 73 74 72 71, A Arnaus (Esp) 74 73 72 71, T Pieters (Bel) 73 76 72 69, N Colsaerts (Bel) 72 73 74 71, O Wilson (Eng) 69 72 67 82, G Coetzee (RSA) 69 73 73 75, S Soderberg (Swe) 69 72 73 76,
291 J Lagergren (Swe) 73 75 71 72, I Poulter (Eng) 74 71 73 73, B Grace (RSA) 74 75 72 70,
292 R Ramsay (Sco) 72 78 70 72, S Brown (Eng) 73 75 69 75,
293 A Noren (Swe) 73 69 73 78, M Wallace (Eng) 73 74 71 75, S Jamieson (Sco) 73 71 72 77, C Paisley (Eng) 75 74 72 72,
294 J Harding (RSA) 73 78 69 74, S Hend (Aus) 77 73 70 74, J Smith (Eng) 73 74 72 75, P Larrazábal (Esp) 76 72 72 74,
295 M Southgate (Eng) 72 79 70 74, E Els (RSA) 68 81 72 74, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 72 71 72 80, H Li (Chn) 73 76 71 75,
296 S Sharma (Ind) 70 74 78 74,
297 R Fox (Nzl) 74 75 74 74,
298 D Lipsky (USA) 72 74 77 75,
299 M Kawamura (Jpn) 72 75 76 76,
300 R Sterne (RSA) 69 79 77 75,
302 A Sullivan (Eng) 75 73 74 80,
303 A Pavan (Ita) 77 74 80 72,
311 L Bjerregaard (Den) 81 75 75 80
