Yurav Premlall was “over the moon” following his maiden Sunshine Tour triumph at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen tournament on Sunday.
Premlall has been in tremendous form this season, finishing second twice, racking up two third-place finishes and three other top-15 placings. But the Glendower golfer said he did not feel like a breakthrough win was definitely just around the corner.
When Premlall stood on the first tee in the final round on Sunday, he was four strokes behind leader Deon Germishuys. And that rapidly became five behind as he bogeyed the par-four first hole.
But then his precision golf kicked in and Premlall did not drop another shot, while collecting birdies on the second, fifth, eighth, ninth, 11th, 14thand 15th holes. His six-under-par 66 saw him finish on 11-under-par, good enough for a one-stroke victory over Martin Vorster (70 for 10-under-par).
“I’m over the moon,” Premlall said afterwards. “The win felt like a long time coming, but you can never be certain that you are going to win in this game. So to get over the line for the first time is very special. It’s taken lots of hard work to get this far. My frame of mind today was no different to how it’s been before this season. But sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t."
“The start wasn’t ideal, but I just stayed very patient. I hit a couple of shots close to the hole, I holed a few good putts but I missed a few as well. I guess 26 putts and the result speak differently though. But my iron play was phenomenal, every time I was in-position, even when I had to get up-and-down, the ball was in the right spots. I was very tidy around the green,” Premlall said.
'THAT'S MY FOCUS'
Premlall has now overtaken Daniel van Tonder at the top of the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy, and he says staying at the top of the local circuit will be his main focus for the rest of the year.
“At the start of the year, I set myself the goal of really contending in the order of merit and trying to get into the top three by the end of the lucrative Tour Championship delivered by The Courier Guy. I don’t want to have too many eggs in different baskets and you’ll see me a lot more on our tour for the remainder of the year, that’s my focus,” Premlall said.
Vorster started well, with birdies at the second and third holes putting him in the lead. But one could sense bogeys at the par-four seventh and especially the par-five 11th holes would prove costly. Even though Vorster birdied the 14th and 15th holes, so did Premlall and two bogeys to the winner’s one would prove the difference.
Rookie Simon du Plooy enjoyed his best-ever Sunshine Tour performance as he shot a 68 to finish third on nine-under-par. The Krugersdorp golfer put himself right in contention with an eagle on the par-five 15th, but he then double-bogeyed the par-four 16th to slip back. He was joined in third place by Lyle Rowe, whose 68 was bogey-free.
Germishuys struggled to a 73 on Sunday that left him on eight-under-par, alongside Matthew Spacey and Heinrich Bruiners, who both posted 69s. Malcolm Mitchell stayed on seven-under-par to finish eighth, while rookie Kyle de Beer shot a 71 to finish tied for ninth on six-under-par with the seasoned trio of Van Tonder (67), MJ Viljoen (68) and Neil Schietekat (71).
SCORES:
205 - Yurav Premlall 69 70 66
206 - Martin Vorster 68 68 70
207 - Simon du Plooy 67 72 68, Lyle Rowe 68 71 68
208 - Matthew Spacey 69 70 69, Heinrich Bruiners 69 70 69, Deon Germishuys 68 67 73
209 - Malcolm Mitchell 66 71 72
210 - Daniel van Tonder 71 72 67, MJ Viljoen 73 69 68, Neil Schietekat 68 71 71, Kyle De Beer 67 72 71
211 - Dayne Moore 72 69 70
212 - Jack Hawksby 72 71 69
213 - Stuart Krog 72 70 71, Albert Venter 67 73 73, Hennie O'Kennedy 69 70 74
214 - Jacques Blaauw 70 73 71, Keegan Mclachlan 72 68 74, Jacob Oakley 65 75 74
215 - Luke Jerling 74 67 74, Sentanio Minnie 72 69 74, Jaco Van Zyl 72 68 75
216 - Graham van der Merwe 71 72 73, Ruan Korb 72 74 70, Luke Brown 73 73 70, Nikhil Rama 74 72 70
217 - Christiaan Burke 72 73 72, Jacques P de Villiers 71 70 76, Stefan Wears-Taylor 73 72 72, Joe Long 76 69 72, Haydn Porteous 72 74 71, Trevor Fisher Jnr 74 72 71, Travis Ladner 74 72 71
218 - Jean-Paul Strydom 71 73 74, Ruan de Smidt 72 71 75, Jake Redman 72 73 73, Quintin Wilsnach 74 71 73, Jason Roets 72 74 72, Andre De Decker 77 69 72
219 - Ethan Smith 72 72 75, Brandon Meads 72 72 75, Jbe' Kruger 71 74 74, Keenan Davidse 77 68 74, Rourke van der Spuy 74 72 73
220 - Altin van der Merwe 74 70 76, Gregory Mckay 74 71 75, Doug McGuigan 72 73 75, Regan Steyn 74 71 75, Keelan Africa 74 71 75, Nick Cunningham 68 71 81
221 - Gabrielle Venter 76 69 76, Rhys West 72 73 76, Ruan Groenewald 73 73 75, Estiaan Conradie 75 71 75
222 - Steven Le Roux 74 70 78, Craig Ross 74 69 79, Jean Hugo 71 74 77, Wynand Dingle 75 70 77, Callum Mowat 72 74 76
DSQ - Kyle Barker 74 69 DSQ
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