Stefan Wears-Taylor claimed his maiden win on the Sunshine Tour with a one-shot triumph in the Mediclinic Invitational at Centurion Country Club on Saturday.
Wears-Taylor went into the final round three shots off the lead held by George Coetzee and he surged through the field with an incredible eight-under-par 64 on the final day – including four consecutive birdies over the turn – to win on 25 under par overall.
“I feel on top of the world. The calibre of player out here on the Sunshine Tour is so good, and to be able to say I’m a winner is surreal,” said Wears-Taylor.
Jake Redman finished second on 24 under par with a final round of 67, while George Coetzee was third on 22 under par with a closing 70.
Playing his home course, Wears-Taylor teed off in the final group and immediately made his presence felt with a birdie at the par-five first hole. He played incredibly composed golf as he added a further seven birdies and not a single bogey on his way to victory.
That winning moment for Stefan Wears-Taylor??#MediclinicInvitational #GreatnessBeginsHere #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/Lptpb02zX2
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) March 11, 2023
“I didn’t even know what I was on in terms of score. I was just sticking to my game plan. Being my home course I’ve got a good idea of where I want to hit it. So my focus was to just stick to the process and play the best golf I can, and to make good decisions and commit to them. But yes, for me to be able to shoot 17-under for the weekend is very pleasing.”
Wears-Taylor said he felt like his game was headed for a breakthrough before this week.
“I started feeling that I’ve got the game to win, but it was just about piecing four days together. That’s been the difficult part to do. Behind the scenes, I’ve been working hard on consistency in all areas of my game, whether it be mental or technical. And it’s paid off.”
SCORES:
263 - Stefan Wears-Taylor 66 70 63 64
264 - Jake Redman 64 69 64 67
266 - George Coetzee 65 66 65 70
267 - Louis Albertse 66 67 66 68
268 - James Mack 66 64 71 67, Yurav Premlall 68 66 67 67
269 - Dylan Naidoo 65 68 69 67
270 - Ruan Korb 67 63 69 71
271 - Richard Joubert 70 67 67 67, Fredrik From 69 64 70 68
272 - Hennie O'Kennedy 71 67 68 66, Robin Williams 66 68 71 67, Ryan Van Velzen 66 64 71 71
273 - Erhard Lambrechts 69 71 67 66, Kyle Barker 66 67 73 67, Ulrich van den Berg 68 69 69 67, Sean Cronje 67 68 69 69
274 - Keegan Mclachlan 69 68 71 66, Jean-Paul Strydom 72 66 69 67, Michael Hollick 70 69 67 68, Reinhardt Blaauw 69 66 68 71
275 - Christiaan Burke 67 70 69 69, Rupert Kaminski 68 70 68 69
276 - Dean O'Riley 70 68 71 67, Keelan van Wyk 71 68 70 67, Combrinck Smit 69 67 72 68, Luke Brown 65 72 71 68, Albert Venter 67 68 72 69, Kyle McClatchie 69 69 69 69, Martin Rohwer 68 68 70 70, Trevor Fisher Jnr 65 73 68 70, Martin Vorster 68 70 67 71, Keagan Thomas 65 69 70 72, Pieter Moolman 66 64 73 73
277 - Pierre Pellegrin 69 68 69 71
278 - Jaco Van Zyl 69 70 74 65, Clayton Mansfield 70 68 74 66, Dan Erickson 73 66 71 68, Matthew Spacey 73 67 68 70, Jake Roos 69 68 70 71, Bradley Bawden 69 69 69 71, Coert Groenewald 67 71 69 71, Anton Karlsson 70 68 69 71, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 68 71 68 71, Rhys West 67 68 71 72, Allister de Kock 70 68 67 73
279 - Franklin Manchest 70 69 73 67, Sean Bradley 73 65 69 72, Haydn Porteous 70 69 67 73
280 - Ruan Conradie 71 69 69 71, James Kamte 69 71 69 71, Jared Harvey 66 71 70 73
282 - Merrick Bremner 66 73 73 70
283 - Michael Palmer 72 67 77 67, Callum Mowat 70 69 76 68, Lyle Rowe 71 67 76 69, DK Kim 71 68 73 71
284 - Wade Jacobs 69 69 75 71
285 - Jason Smith 74 66 75 70, CJ du Plessis 67 71 73 74
287 - Ockie Strydom 67 72 74 74, Therion Nel 69 70 74 74, Aneurin Gounden 69 70 70 78
288 - Jacques Blaauw 66 74 75 73, Samuel Simpson 69 71 71 77