Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg holed a magnificent birdie putt on the second playoff hole to beat South Africa’s Ryan van Velzen and win the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open at the Royal Cape Golf Club on Sunday.
In a tightly-contested final round, Lindberg birdied holes 16 and 17 to take a one-stroke lead over Van Velzen playing the last. But the Swede three-putted the final green for a bogey to slip into a playoff on 16 under par with a final round of 67. Van Velzen closed with a bogey-free 66.
Both golfers parred the par-four 18th as the first playoff hole. Then playing it again, Lindberg had a similar putt from where he’d three-putted in regulation play, and this time he made no mistake as he holed it.
“It was a rollercoaster day but it was a very good day,” said Lindberg.
It was a fitting end to a tournament that always seemed destined to go down to the wire, with 10 players sharing the lead after the second round and Lindberg one shot clear of a group of seven players going into Sunday’s final round.
In perfect conditions several players made an early run at the lead, including Van Velzen who made two birdies and an eagle in three holes on the front nine. JC Ritchie came with a charge of his own as he made three birdies in his opening four holes. And Louis Albertse birdied the 16th to put him just one shot out of the playoff as he went on to finish third on 15 under with a final round of 67.
But it was Lindberg’s early birdies on the back nine at holes 11 and 12 and then the key birdies on 16 and 17 that allowed him the leeway for his bogey on the last.
“I saw a couple of players made an early move and were playing well out there. The putt on 17 was huge for me. Then as I was walking up to the 18th green I just kept telling myself to just two-putt for the win. But my first putt was probably the worst putt I hit all week – I barely hit the ball. In the playoff I had it in the back of my mind that I’d just three-putted this same putt, so it was a huge relief when it went in.”
Lindberg is the second Swede to win the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open following countryman Anton Karlsson in 2020, and he was delighted to do so as he paid tribute to a wonderful week in the City of Cape Town.
“I love Cape Town. I love the whole culture here and always enjoy my time here. To win here is really special.” – Michael Vlismas
SCORES:
272 - Ryan Van Velzen 68 67 71 66, Mikael Lindberg 70 70 65 67 * (won in playoff)
273 - Louis Albertse 68 68 70 67
274 - JC Ritchie 73 68 66 67, Robin Sciot-Siegrist 70 69 67 68
275 - Rupert Kaminski 72 67 70 66, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 70 66 72 67, Lars van Meijel 73 66 69 67, Shaun Norris 68 71 68 68, Toto Thimba Jnr 68 73 66 68, Martin Couvra 69 69 68 69
276 - Thomas Aiken 70 69 67 70
277 - Haraldur Magnus 69 66 76 66, Hennie O'Kennedy 71 68 71 67, Neil Schietekat 71 70 69 67, Jovan Rebula 69 72 68 68, Sam Hutsby 69 66 71 71
278 - Pierre Pineau 70 71 70 67, Justin Walters 68 69 71 70, Gerhard Pepler 68 67 72 71, Danie Van Niekerk 68 70 69 71, Victor Pastor 74 65 68 71, Michael Hollick 71 69 66 72
279 - Lee Slattery 68 71 73 67, Ben Schmidt 70 69 71 69, Euan Walker 70 69 71 69, Benjamin Follett-Smith 69 71 70 69, James Allan 68 67 73 71, Conor Purcell 67 69 72 71, Robin Roussel 70 69 68 72
280 - Yurav Premlall 72 69 71 68, Alfie Plant 67 68 75 70, Craig Howie 71 66 73 70, Jacques Blaauw 71 70 69 70, Martin Simonsen 72 65 71 72, Nicolai Kristensen 71 67 70 72
281 - Jbe Kruger 71 69 74 67, Pietro Bovari 71 70 73 67, Bradley Bawden 66 71 75 69, Maxence Giboudot 72 69 71 69, Jaco Van Zyl 70 68 73 70, Tomas Gouveia 72 69 70 70, Tapio Pulkkanen 66 69 75 71, Joel Moscatel 70 71 69 71, Rhys Enoch 71 70 69 71, Philipp Katich 72 66 71 72, James Mack 69 69 70 73
282 - Alejandro Canizares 73 68 72 69, Benjamin Hebert 69 66 74 73, Malcolm Mitchell 73 67 69 73, Daniel Young 67 73 68 74
283 - Keagan Thomas 72 67 75 69, Albert Venter 68 73 73 69, Deon Germishuys 68 67 77 71, Jack McDonald 68 73 71 71, Jake Roos 71 70 69 73
284 - Hamish Brown 69 68 80 67, Romain Wattel 67 73 72 72, Marc Hammer 72 68 70 74
285 - Keegan Mclachlan 72 67 73 73
286 - Oliver Lindell 69 71 72 74, Anton Karlsson 72 69 71 74
287 - John Axelsen 71 70 73 73, Rhys West 68 67 78 74
288 - Ross Mcgowan 70 70 74 74
289 - Jean Hugo 72 69 76 72
291 - Stefan Wears-Taylor 67 74 74 76
292 - Callum Mowat 68 72 77 75, Steven Brown 69 72 75 76, Joe Long 72 69 74 77
Missed the cut:-
142 - Christofer Blomstrand 71 71, Mark Power 72 70, Borja Virto 72 70, Nikhil Rama 72 70, Gregorio De Leo 72 70, Peter Karmis 70 72, Niklas Regner 72 70, George Mason 71 71, Christiaan Basson 72 70, Heinrich Bruiners 71 71, Jordan Gumberg 72 70, Tristen Strydom 67 75, JJ Senekal 71 71, Oliver Bekker 71 71, Chris Paisley 73 69, Alexander Levy 73 69, Martin Rohwer 68 74, Jamie Rutherford 71 71, Aron Zemmer 71 71, Luke Brown 69 73
143 - Jeppe Kristian Andersen 75 68, Daniel van Tonder 71 72, Tom Shadbolt 73 70, Keelan van Wyk 71 72, Jacques P de Villiers 76 67, Luca Filippi 73 70, Keenan Davidse 71 72, Oliver Farr 70 73, Dermot Mcelroy 71 72, Oihan Guillamoundeguy 71 72, Wynand Dingle 72 71, Anthony Michael 69 74
144 - Ronan Kleu 77 67, Michael Stewart 72 72, John Parry 74 70, Kyle Barker 73 71, Clement Berardo 73 71, Merrick Bremner 72 72, Ashley Chesters 71 73, George Bloor 72 72, Lyle Rowe 72 72, Dan Erickson 71 73, Jonathan Goth-Rasmussen 70 74, Hayden Hopewell 71 73
145 - Samuel Simpson 75 70, Martin Vorster 71 74, Tristin Galant 73 72, Mateusz Gradecki 73 72, Kyle De Beer 74 71, Gregory Bourdy 72 73, Richard Mcevoy 70 75, Jaco Ahlers 73 72, Angel Ayora 72 73, Jonathan Broomhead 71 74, Quim Vidal 70 75, Julien Sale 72 73, Robson Chinhoi 72 73, Erhard Lambrechts 75 70
146 - Connor Mckinney 76 70, Robin Williams 71 75, Oliver Hundeboll 72 74, Herman Loubser 74 72, Bryce Easton 73 73, Lucas Vacarisas 74 72, Franklin Manchest 74 72
147 - Dylan Mostert 70 77, Sean Bradley 75 72, Ethan Smith 78 69, David Langley 74 73, Jason Smith 76 71, Siyanda Mwandla 74 73
148 - Matthew Spacey 73 75, Dylan Naidoo 75 73, Ruan Korb 75 73, Rourke van der Spuy 74 74
149 - MJ Viljoen 71 78
150 - Gary Boyd 78 72, Jonathan Caldwell 70 80, Adam Breen 73 77
151 - Gary Hurley 76 75, Justin Harding 80 71
152 - CJ du Plessis 78 74
154 - Conner Mackenzie 77 77
156 - Jake Redman 76 80
157 - Joachim B. Hansen 76 81, Jacquin Hess 80 77