GEORGE COETZEE COMES WITH LAST-DAY SURGE FOR VICTORY

George Coetzee, sixth South African winner in last eight Joburg Opens, in action over final round. Picture by courtesy of Getty Images(c)

SOUTH AFRICAN WINS JOBURG OPEN - 

BUT NOT ONE OF OVERNIGHT

LEADERS

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
After 24 top-ten finishes, George Coetzee finally secured his maiden European Tour title at the Joburg Open today.
A closing six-under-par 66 saw the 27-year-old South African finish on 19 under, three shots ahead of compatriot Justin Walters, England’s Tyrell Hatton from Buckinghamshire and Melbourne-based South Korean Jin Jeong.
With three Open Championship places on offer, Challenge Tour graduate Hatton was the unlucky player to miss out on an invite to Royal Liverpool – his position of 276th in the Official World Golf Ranking being lower than that of Jeong and Walters.
“I don’t know what I’m feeling,” said Coetzee, whose victory came at the 107th time of asking. “I’m lost for words.  I’ve been waiting a while and I started doubting, so I’m very happy.
“I got to share this with my family and my friends. It was my mum’s birthday yesterday and I wanted to do it for her as I forgot to buy her a present!”
Coetzee becomes the sixth South African winner in the eighth staging of the event and there were four of them in the top nine and seven in the leading 20 of the final totals.
But, at the start of the day, Coetzee's Springbok compatriots Thomas Aiken and Walters looked the more likely contenders to continue the home nation’s remarkable run as they began two clear.
Coetzee birdied all three par fives on the way out, holed a ten footer at the fourth to turn in 33 and knocked in from six feet at the tenth to move in front for the first time.
The World Number 74 then did well to save par from rough on the 11th and a bunker at the next, before a crucial piece of luck on the 15th proved decisive.
Having driven left towards a stream, his ball ricocheted off a tree and back onto the fairway before a 20 foot putt secured an unlikely birdie.
Three closing pars provided a nervous wait as Walters reached the final tee needing an eagle on the reachable par five to force a play-off, but he drove into the sand and eventually bogeyed - handing Coetzee the €206,050 winner’s cheque.
Johannesburg-born Walters’ search for a first European Tour title goes on after a closing 73, but the 33 year old has the consolation of a first Major Championship appearance at Hoylake in July.
Jeong, who beat James Byrne in the 2010 British amateur championship final at Muirfield and scored his first European Tour win in Perth, Australia at the end of 2013, closed with a 71 to earn a return to The Open, where he finished an impressive tied for 14th to win the leading amateur medal in 2010, while Hatton’s 66 secured a best European Tour finish of his fledgling career.
SCOTSWATCH. It was a bad last day for the three Scots who made the cut. Alastair Forsyth, in with a victory chance if he could reproduce a first-round 64, instead could do no better than a closing 76.
That disappointing effort saw him plummet to joint 31st place with a reward of 10,400 Euros, a lot less than he seemed heading for at the start of the day.
Craig Lee, who never seems to play well in the final round of a European Tour event, again could not get near par at the last time of asking. He had a 75, like Forsyth his worst round of the four, and a total of 281 saw him finished joint 49th and earned 5,850 Euros.
Funnily enough, Edoardo Molinari who was bracketed at the top of the leaderboard with Lee at halfway also had a mediocre third and fourth rounds - 72 and 75 for 279 and joint 37th place.
David Drysdale shot 74 in both his last rounds and finished nearly last of the qualifiers - T69 - on 286 top earn 2,234 Euros.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 286 (2x72, 2x 71) Players from South Africa unless stated, prizemoney in Euros.
268 George Coetze 65 68 69 66 (206,050).
271 Tyrrell Hatton (England) 67 69 69 66, Jin Jeong (South Korea) 65 69 66 71, Justin Walters 64 70 64 73 (101,097)
272 Thomas Aiken 70 65 63 74, Matthew Baldwin (England) 68 69 68 67, Alvaro Quiros 69 68 69 66, Andy Sullivan 66 72 69 65 (42,510)
273 Danie Van Tonder 65 72 69 67 (28,080)
274 Seve Benson (England) 68 68 70 68, Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 65 74 67 6 8, David Horsey (England) 70 63 70 71, Roope Kakko (Finland) 70  64 67 73, Anthony Wall (England) 69 70 66 69 (21,407)
275 Gregory Bourdy (France) 68 67 70 70, Jorge Campillo (Spain) 67 69 71 68, Justin Harding 66 72 69 68, Brandon Stone 68 67 70 70, Danny Willett (England) 69 65 71 70 (16,250)

SELECTED TOTALS
278 Alastair Forsyth (Scotland) 64 70 68 76 (T31) (10,400)
279 Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 64 68 72 75 (T37) (8,970)
281 Craig Lee (Scotland) 65 67 74 75 (T49) (5,850)
286 David Drysdale (Scotland) 71 67 74 74 (T69) (2,234) (2,234).

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