Ken Borland

Richard Sterne’s golf was safe as houses all through the Joburg Open, making just one bogey in 72 holes, but it was his record winning score of 27-under-par that reflected how brilliantly precise his game was at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.

Sterne clinched his second Joburg Open title by a record-breaking seven strokes after shooting a superb eight-under-par 64 in Sunday’s final round and he said it had been his most memorable finish to a tournament.

“I hit the ball really well and I was conservative so I was never really in any trouble. I made the putts that mattered and I drove the ball really well.

“It was quite special, especially the way I finished today. It was probably my best final round ever, to shoot 64 on the East Course is always good, especially in a final round,” Sterne said after his ninth professional victory.

Sterne’s 64 included birdies on the first two holes, three successive birdies from the sixth to the eighth and further shots picked up on the 13th, 17th and 18th holes. He hit 12 of 14 fairways from the tee and 17 greens in regulation on Sunday.

Sterne, who will become a father for the first time in June, said to win for the first time in four years was a relief after battling a serious back injury in 2010 and 2011.

“It’s very special after all the hard work and injury. You think you’re never going to win again or get back to that level. At one time my three bulging discs were quite bad and it was a year before the pain eased, and for sure the thought crossed my mind then that I might not play professional golf again.

“But the key was to be patient and not come back too early. I tried to come back once, felt pain and immediately took another eight months off during which I did not touch a club. Some people play through the pain, but that can affect your confidence,” Sterne said.

The 31-year-old said the string of three birdies he picked up in three holes just before the turn had been crucial, putting him six in front of a faltering Trevor Fisher Jnr.

“Trevor eagled the first and I thought ‘here we go’. But I knew he had not won before on this sort of stage and I just had to do what I do, finding greens.

“Things started to go my way on the sixth. He tried to finish up and missed a short putt, while I had a sneaky 10-foot putt, which was a really important one to make. To then make birdie again on seven and on eight … I knew I had hurt him,” Sterne said.

Sterne’s victory now puts him into the top 60 on the world rankings, having been 165th eight days ago before his second-place finish in the Dubai Desert Classic, and he will now be playing in the WGC Accenture Matchplay Championship in Arizona from February 20.

He is also now in first place on the European Tour’s order of merit – the Race to Dubai – with just over 450 000 euro from four tournaments.

Fellow South African Charl Schwartzel held the previous Joburg Open records for both the lowest winning score (-23) and biggest winning margin (six strokes), set during his 2010 triumph.

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Richard Sterne won the Joburg Open by a commanding seven strokes on Sunday, finishing the co-sanctioned event at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on a new record score of 27-under-par 260 and going to the top of the European Tour’s Race to Dubai order of merit.

Sterne began the final round level with fellow South African Trevor Fisher Jnr on 19-under-par and the battle was tight to begin with, Fisher eagling the first hole while Sterne picked up a birdie.

Sterne birdied the par-three second hole as well after a superb tee-shot to three feet and claimed a one-shot lead when Fisher bogeyed the third.

But the stretch of holes between the sixth and eighth holes was where Sterne really won the tournament and where it all went wrong for Fisher.

Sterne’s precision golf earned him a run of three successive birdies, while a bad miss for par on the sixth and a wayward drive under a tree on the seventh led to consecutive bogeys for Fisher and the 33-year-old was suddenly facing a six-shot deficit as they reached the ninth hole.

Sterne, the 2008 champion, played top-class golf as he closed with a 64, hitting 12 out of 14 fairways off the tee and 17 greens in regulation during his magnificent round.

Despite picking up a birdie on the ninth, Fisher was still in need of a miracle to catch Sterne, but the gap only grew wider as he double-bogeyed the par-four 11th after an awful drive way right into the trees and then a second shot into the stream in front of the green.

Sterne, meanwhile, continued to have the measure of the tough Royal Joburg East Course as he picked up three more birdies on the back nine and finished the tournament with just one bogey in 72 holes.

While Fisher failed to give Sterne any sort of workout on the final day, shooting a 73 to finish in a tie for sixth on 18-under, there was an intriguing battle for second place.

Charl Schwartzel, who has always done well at Royal Joburg, winning the title in 2010 and 2011, eventually muscled his way into the runners-up spot on 20-under with birdies on the last two holes.

Schwartzel was once again in solid form, shooting a six-under 66, but his game just lacked that extra oomph required for him to challenge Sterne.

It was a tough battle though with fellow South African George Coetzee, who shot a 67, and Chile’s Felipe Aguilar and Portugal’s Ricardo Santos, who fired a brilliant 64, finishing on 19-under.

South Africans Keith Horne and Thomas Aiken finished in the tie for sixth with Fisher on 18-under-par.

The 17th hole dished out more misery for Fisher as he three-putted from eight feet and the 2012 Sunshine Tour Players’ Player of the Year was a relieved man when he eventually left the course with a birdie on 18.

Sterne also made birdie on the par-five last hole after blasting out of a greenside bunker to three feet, cleaning up the rest of the field by a record seven strokes.

Schwartzel held the previous records for both the lowest winning score (-23) and biggest winning margin (six strokes), set during his 2010 triumph.

Sterne’s 260 72-hole total has only been bettered five times in European Tour history, by Ian Woosnam, David Llewellyn (both 258), Tiger Woods and South Africans Ernie Els and Mark McNulty (all 259).

Els’s 29-under to win the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia in 2003 remains the lowest winning score in terms of par, with Sterne now joint second with Jerry Anderson and Louis Oosthuizen.

Oosthuizen’s 27-under 265 to win the Africa Open in East London last year was the previous lowest winning total in a co-sanctioned event in South Africa.

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Richard Sterne and Trevor Fisher Jnr were able to maintain their lead in the Joburg Open after the third round of the co-sanctioned Sunshine and European Tour event at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Saturday.

Sterne and Fisher both shot four-under-par 68s on the East Course to head into Sunday’s final round on 19-under-par, five strokes ahead of the chasing pack which comprised the 2010 and 2011 champion, Charl Schwartzel, fellow South Africans Jaco van Zyl and George Coetzee, and Chilean Felipe Aguilar.

Sterne, the 2008 Joburg Open champion, was once again the model of consistency, making just one bogey, his five on the 15th being his first dropped shot in 51 holes.

Fisher, who won the award for the Sunshine Tour’s Players’ Player of the Year earlier this week, is yet to win a European Tour event, but he recovered well from successive bogeys at Royal Joburg’s famous par-four 10th and 11th holes, both of which are longer than 450 metres.

2011 Masters champion Schwartzel, the highest ranked player in the field at 18th in the world, produced a faultless round with four birdies, but was not at his best, particularly with the putter.

“My game is not bad, but it can be a lot better. A bunch of putts didn’t go in, so I hope that clicks tomorrow and if I can go out and get to twenty-something under, then I’ll have a chance,” Schwartzel said.

Sterne finished second in last week’s Dubai Desert Classic, so the 31-year-old will be looking to go one better on Sunday.

“Playing in the final group two weeks in a row is draining to be honest, but I’d rather have that experience than not,” Sterne said.

Fisher said “staying in the present” is what had steadied him after his wobble on the 10th and 11th holes and he then hit his tee-shot on the par-three 12th to six feet for birdie and then sank a lengthy putt on 13 to pick up another stroke.

“I wasn’t playing my best shots out there, I was a bit jumpy on my swing and not feeling so good, but if you putt well, that’s what matters,” Fisher said.

The consistent Coetzee once again found himself in the top three heading into the final round of a European Tour event, even though he had to overcome a shaky putter. Three successive birdies to end his round saw him leap back up the leaderboard and no doubt did his confidence a world of good heading into the final round.

Van Zyl eagled the par-five first hole and did enough thereafter to shoot a 67 and climb into a share of third, while a birdie on the 18th allowed Aguilar to sign for a 68 and join that group.

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Jaco van Zyl has been playing his golf largely out of the limelight despite finishing in the top 10 of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit for the last four years. But that could change if he wins the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington on Sunday.

Van Zyl shot an outstanding five-under-par 67 on Saturday to move to 14-under-par and a tie for third place, just five out from the leading mark set by Richard Sterne and Trevor Fisher Jnr.

The 33-year-old member of Dainfern Golf Club almost had the distinction of starting and ending his round with an eagle. Van Zyl began the day with a three on the par-five first hole and then watched in disbelief as his 18-foot eagle putt on the last just lipped out.

“A foot from the hole, the ball just started to go right, but I thought enough of it would still be over the hole to go in,” Van Zyl mused after his round.

But by then he had become used to the ebbs and flows of his round on the East Course, considered to be the tougher of the two at Royal Joburg and solely used for the weekend.

“The first hole is obviously one you want to capitalise on being a par-five, but then on two, three and four you’re just hanging on. Six you can capitalise again on and although things went slow between nine and 15, I had a nice finish,” Van Zyl said.

The 2000 SA Amateur champion felt he had “kind of a chance” of winning on Sunday but conceded that Sterne and Fisher had the tournament under their control.

“I’ll really need a good one tomorrow and I must get a quick start,” Van Zyl said.

While the Lonehill resident says he feels most comfortable at home -“travelling really gets to you” – he will be heading over to Europe once again in April.

Van Zyl, despite seldom being mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Charl Schwartzel, George Coetzee, Richard Sterne and Thomas Aiken, has been able to shine over the last two years on the European Tour, comfortably retaining his card with 50th and 64th place finishes on the order of merit.

But he would dearly love to add a European Tour title to his collection of 10 Sunshine Tour wins.

“My first goal is to retain my card because I try not to lose perspective of how quickly things can go sour in this game. I want to stay modest, learn how to crawl before I try to walk and then run.

“My second goal is to make the Race to Dubai final, but winning a European Tour event has been on my mind for a while, I’ve had a couple of chances and I’d obviously really like to finish one off,” Van Zyl said.

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