Daniel van Tonder produced a scintillating closing stretch of two birdies and an eagle to win The Serengeti Playoffs, the first tournament on The Courier Guy Playoffs series, by two strokes at Serengeti Estates on Sunday.
Van Tonder’s strong finish to his final round of 63 saw him finish on 21 under par, with Wilco Nienaber (65) and Allen John (68) sharing second place on 19 under par.
For Van Tonder, it capped a longstanding goal to finally get his hands on this trophy and claim a victory during The Courier Guy Playoffs portion of the Sunshine Tour.
“It means a lot. I’ve been playing this tournament a few times and always just seen the trophy; now I finally have it in my trophy case. Also, winning the pro-am on the Saturday means a lot. I’ve been playing well and trying to find my game, and it seems like we’ve now found something. So I will take that forward. I am just very blessed and happy,” Van Tonder said.
On a cool, wet and windy Sunday at Serengeti Estates, Van Tonder’s strong back nine started with birdies on the 14th and 16th holes, followed by an eagle two on the 17th hole, where he drove the green, before a birdie on the 18th hole.
“It was fantastic. There was an opportunity, and I could sense it. I attacked today and it worked out. I was very happy with the birdie-eagle-birdie finish. That putt on the 18th, though, I had that putt a few times before and lost some cash missing it, so I knew the line,” Van Tonder said.
Stef Visagie, his caddie, received the medal for the winning caddie.
Van Tonder’s victory has moved him into fourth place on The Courier Guy Order of Merit heading into the season’s final event, the DNi Tour Championship at De Zalze Golf Club at the end of this month.
SCORES
267 - Daniel van Tonder 70 63 71 63
269 - Wilco Nienaber 67 69 68 65
269 - Allen John 68 63 70 68
270 - JC Ritchie 66 71 68 65
271 - Martin Vorster 66 73 67 65
271 - Jaco Prinsloo 67 68 68 68
272 - Ockie Strydom 67 68 71 66
273 - Austin Bautista 69 69 68 67
274 - Tyran Snyders 68 74 66 66
274 - Bryce Easton 71 68 66 69
275 - Ruan Korb 72 66 68 69
275 - Graham van der Merwe 69 67 70 69
277 - Pierre Viallaneix 71 65 70 71
277 - Kieron van Wyk 70 67 68 72
278 - MJ Daffue 69 70 73 66
278 - Kyle Barker 68 69 70 71, Brandon Stone 71 66 70 71, Jaco Ahlers 71 69 67 71
279 - Malcolm Mitchell 70 72 68 69
279 - Dylan Frittelli 75 70 65 69, Tyrone Ryan 70 71 69 69, Stals Swart 67 71 71 70, MJ Viljoen 70 69 68 72
280 - Kyle McClatchie 72 69 69 70
280 - Nikhil Rama 71 71 70 68, Kyle De Beer 70 74 68 68, Samuel Simpson 68 72 69 71, Jordan Burnand 69 72 66 73
281 - Warwick Purchase 71 72 68 70
281 - Louis Albertse 73 72 67 69
282 - Herman Loubser 70 73 67 72
282 - Yurav Premlall 74 66 72 70, Pieter Moolman 71 66 71 74, Keenan Davidse 68 68 72 74, Stuart Krog 75 67 72 68
283 - Jean Hugo 73 68 71 71
283 - Benjamin Follett-Smith 69 68 72 74, Rupert Kaminski 76 69 69 69, Haydn Porteous 69 70 78 66, Anthony Michael 71 75 72 65
284 - JJ Senekal 70 67 73 74
285 - Jacques P de Villiers 73 71 69 72
285 - Michael Hollick 72 72 70 71, Rowan Lester 74 70 71 70, Altin van der Merwe 75 70 72 68
286 - Christiaan Burke 74 72 65 75
286 - Joe Long 73 68 72 73, Gerhard Pepler 74 74 72 66
287 - Jacques Blaauw 75 74 67 71
288 - Estiaan Conradie 75 69 70 74
288 - James Mack 77 72 65 74, Luis Carrera 71 74 71 72, Lyle Rowe 74 69 73 72
289 - Luke Brown 78 72 68 71
290 - Ryan Van Velzen 75 72 69 74
291 - Jason Roets 73 70 70 78
292 - Benjamin Van Wyk 76 72 71 73
294 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 70 73 80
296 - Hennie Otto 77 73 72 74
300 - Xander Basson 79 74 76 71