Prinsloo wins again in Serengeti Pro-Am Invitational

Jaco Prinsloo claimed his second Sunshine Tour victory in three tournaments when he won the Serengeti Pro-Am Invitational at Serengeti’s Jack Nicklaus Signature Design Championship course on Sunday.

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Prinsloo finished the five-round tournament on 15 under par 327 with a closing 68, giving him a two-stroke victory over Jaco Ahlers who closed with a 71.

MJ Viljoen and Neil Schietekat shared third place on 11 under par with respective final rounds of 70 and 67.

This was Prinsloo’s third individual career title on the Sunshine Tour, but more significantly his second in his last three tournaments following his win in The Players Championship hosted at Dainfern Golf Estate.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m very pleased to have done so well these last few weeks,” he said.

“I started the tournament really well and then kind of just clawed my way up the leaderboard from there, and luckily today I managed to shoot four under and it was good enough to win by two shots.”

Prinsloo has been in the best form of his career thanks to a decision before these past four tournaments to revert to his more natural game rather than the swing changes he’d been working on. Although he admits the work he’s been doing on his swing has not been entirely in vain and has played a part in his recent success.

He is now top of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit and over R200 000 ahead of his nearest challenger in Schietekat.

“It’s kind of hard to grasp, really. I mean, you always hope something like this will happen. This is what we all play for and practise for. That’s why you hit golf balls every day of your life, and I feel like I’m reaching my true potential at the moment.”

The pro-am was won by the team of Fairway Ninjas comprising Riekus Nortje, Ruan Korb, Jacques Nel and Dries van Schalkwyk on 51 under par.

The Sunshine Tour now takes a brief break before a run of three tournaments that will be co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour, starting with the Limpopo Championship from 22-25 April at Euphoria Golf and Lifestyle Estate, and followed by the Cape Town Open from 29 April to 2 May at the Royal Cape Golf Club and then the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt from 6-9 May.

FINAL SCORES

327 - Jaco Prinsloo 64 71 53 71 68

329 - Jaco Ahlers 68 69 53 68 71

331 - MJ Viljoen 67 69 51 74 70, Neil Schietekat 70 72 54 68 67

332 - Oliver Bekker 71 71 55 67 68, Louis Albertse 67 75 53 67 70

333 - Michael Palmer 69 72 52 72 68, Roberto Lupini 73 69 51 69 71, Anthony Michael 66 72 58 69 68, Riekus Nortje 73 64 52 70 74, Jason Smith 69 72 53 71 68

334 - Jbe' Kruger 67 70 59 68 70

336 - Martin Rohwer 70 71 56 74 65, Anton Haig 70 70 55 72 69

337 - Daniel Greene 66 73 54 72 72, Jean-Paul Strydom 66 72 57 70 72, Pieter Moolman 71 71 53 73 69, Fredrik From 70 67 57 70 73, Tristen Strydom 70 69 58 72 68, CJ du Plessis 71 71 57 71 67

338 - Kyle McClatchie 68 69 62 71 68, Malcolm Mitchell 71 71 53 71 72, Jared Harvey 68 73 55 67 75, Keagan Thomas 73 69 56 70 70, Jean Hugo 67 74 58 69 70

339 - Andre Nel 73 68 53 73 72, Freddy Schott 67 70 53 73 76, Adilson Da Silva 71 69 56 73 70, Ruan Korb 72 70 58 69 70

340 - Jacques P de Villiers 72 69 53 72 74, Lyle Rowe 70 70 52 67 81

341 - Christiaan Maas 70 66 62 74 69, James Kingston 71 71 59 70 70, Deon Germishuys 68 73 55 74 71

342 - Clinton Grobler 72 69 56 69 76, James Hart du Preez 65 71 64 72 70

343 - Jake Redman 70 73 57 71 72

344 - Ruan Conradie 70 73 56 70 75, Michael Hollick 71 68 62 76 67, Richie O'Donovan 70 72 54 72 76, Estiaan Conradie 72 66 58 74 74

345 - Hennie O'Kennedy 69 72 58 74 72

346 - Luke Brown 73 69 57 74 73, Peetie van der Merwe 71 71 55 76 73, Steve Surry 70 72 59 70 75, Coert Groenewald 73 70 56 75 72

348 - Luca Filippi 71 68 57 78 74, Desne Van Den Bergh 70 71 53 77 77

350 - Clayton Mansfield 74 69 59 71 77, JJ Senekal 71 70 59 76 74

351 - Jack Duthie 70 73 59 77 72

354 - Teaghan Gauche 71 71 59 79 74