Ken Borland

Dan Bradbury has career earnings of just €32 537.50 and no playing status on the DP World Tour, but he is in the Joburg Open owing to a sponsor’s invitation, and on top of the leaderboard after a fairytale first round because of his own brilliance in seizing whatever opportunities he gets.

The 23-year-old Bradbury fired a superb eight-under-par 63 to take the lead after a weather-disrupted opening day at the Houghton Golf Club, leading Germany’s Nick Bachem by one stroke. Two Frenchmen are on six-under-par, Romain Langasque having completed his round and Clement Berardo having gone through 11 holes when play was suspended due to lightning at 5.11pm and then called off an hour later.

Bradbury, from Wakefield in Yorkshire, England, turned pro in July after five successful years as an amateur on the U.S. Collegiate system, playing for the Lincoln Memorial and Florida State university teams. He made three promising Challenge Tour appearances, but then three-putted his final hole of DP World Tour Qualifying School to miss advancing from the First Stage by one stroke.

Bradbury has played in a DP World Tour event before as a late replacement, making the most of an 11^th-hour invite to the Open de Espana last month and finishing tied-13^th. Not even the expensive flight could stop him from taking up another last-ditch call to compete in the Joburg Open, and he made the most of his chance on Thursday.

“I was given a spot on Friday night, flew out here on the weekend with my mum Sandra, just to see what we can do,” Bradbury said after his stellar round, which included seven birdies and two eagles, as well as a double-bogey and a dropped shot on his last hole, the par-three ninth.

“It was lovely to have my mother walk the fairways with me, it was as good a start as I could have wished for, but it’s the end of the week that is most important.

“It’s up there with my best days in my career, but I had some pretty special ones too during my American college days. I’ve still got work to do though,” the genial Bradbury said.

Thunderstorms always seem to come into play on the highveld in summer and Bradbury felt his momentum was disrupted by an earlier delay in mid-afternoon.

“I got some momentum going on my back nine, but the thunderstorm stopped that. It made me think a bit more about leading. I had hit great drives on three and five, and had nine-irons in on both, 180 and 188 metres, flags at the front of the green and I made the eagles.

“This is not the longest course and a good drive is key, and then the main thing is to have the confidence that you can hit that far at altitude, the ball was going miles.

“It’s my first time playing at real altitude, but my South African caddy, Keegan Snalam, has been great helping me,” Bradbury said.

South Africans have always contended hard at the Joburg Open, with nine local winners in the 14 events, and this time defending champion Thriston Lawrence and veteran Jaco van Zyl are leading the charge on five-under.

Casey Jarvis, Dylan Mostert, Louis de Jager, Wilco Nienaber and Jbe Kruger, who still has six holes to play, are all on four-under.

Tommy Fleetwood is one of the most popular golfers on the circuit and his brotherly spirit was once again to the fore as he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Sunday and then praised his closest challenger Ryan Fox.

Fleetwood’s kindhearted, harmonious personality came to the fore in the 2018 Ryder Cup with his famous ‘bromance’ with Francesco Molinari, and on Sunday at Sun City, he put aside the obvious emotion of his first win since his triumph in the 2019 Nedbank Golf Challenge, the last one held, to praise Fox, who finished one stroke behind him after making bogey to the Englishman’s par on the final hole.

“Ryan was fantastic, he played great golf today and it was lovely being in the same group as one of the best golfers in the world at the moment. I would have loved my putt going in to have been the deciding factor rather than his miss,” Fleetwood said.

The putt he referred to was his clutch 50-footer on the 18^th hole which ended inches away from the hole, giving him a tap-in for par, his 11-under-par total being enough to see off the tenacious New Zealander by a single stroke.

Fleetwood’s short game also came to the fore on the 14^th and 17^th holes. He chipped in from the waste-bunker for eagle on 14 to stay in touch with Fox and Shubhankar Sharma just as he seemed to be slipping behind, and then on the penultimate hole he produced a brilliant chip from off the green for a tap-in par.

“I didn’t have the best lie on 14, but it wasn’t a terrible place,” Fleetwood said. “I had missed chances though on 10, 11, 12 and 13, I felt good putts weren’t going in and I felt it was just not happening for me.

“But the chip on 14 came out lovely and went in on the first bounce, and that sort of provided the spark for me. Sometimes these things happen.”

But if Fleetwood has a lot of love for his colleagues, then his love for his family dwarfs that.

Due to a rain delay that lasted for nearly three-and-a-half hours, Fleetwood’s winning moment was missed by his family, so his tears on the 18^th perhaps had a bit to do with that as well as ending his winning drought.

“One of my big goals has been to win when my whole family is there and our son Frankie always says I never win when he’s around,” Fleetwood smiled. “But today took such a long time that they had to disappear to the airport, the kids have got exams tomorrow.

“It’s been such a long time coming back here, so today meant so much. Seeing my name on the champions’ walkway on the ninth brought back some great memories and I had to call it in and send a video to my Dad at home. He said let’s go for a second plaque.

“I feel a great connection to this place, I was able to draw on good memories today. And the support of the crowds was amazing. This is such a special event and I’ve waited so long to be back here,” Fleetwood said.

Tommy Fleetwood was well-served by his short game as he clinched a thrilling 40^th Nedbank Golf Challenge on the final hole on Sunday, the seventh time the tournament has been won by the defending champion.

Fleetwood came from three shots behind in the final round, shooting a superb five-under-par 67 on Sunday to finish on 11-under-par. The Englishman won the previous Nedbank Golf Challenge in 2019 with a score of 12-under-par 276, and so joined Seve Ballesteros (1983/84), David Frost (1989/90), Nick Price (1997/98), Ernie Els (1999/2000), Jim Furyk (2005/06) and Lee Westwood (2010/11) as back-to-back winners.

A brilliant 50-foot putt to within inches of the 18^th hole earned Fleetwood his par, and victory, with Ryan Fox unable to get up-and-down from short of the bunker in front of the green, his bogey leaving him on 10-under-par.

Shubhankar Sharma bogeyed the 16^th and 17^th holes to finish on nine-under.

Fleetwood started hot with three birdies in his first six holes, his 20-foot putt on the sixth bringing him just one stroke off the lead as overnight leaders Rasmus Hojgaard (76) and Thomas Detry (77) were overcome by the pressure and the ruthless nature of the Gary Player Country Club when mistakes are made.

Play was brought to a halt though by lightning when Fleetwood, Fox and Shubhankar were on the eighth hole, but Fleetwood, the highest-ranked golfer in the field at No.25, was not fazed by the near three-and-a-half hour delay.

Fleetwood birdied the par-five ninth hole, as did Fox and Shubhankar. The New Zealander and the Indian were now the co-leaders, but Fox, who had started his round with six straight pars, then reeled off four birdies in a row, joining them on 10-under with his four at the par-five 10^th hole.

Fleetwood let good chances for birdie slip by on the 10^th and 11^th holes, and then narrowly failed to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker on the 12^th.

He found himself in the sand again on the 14^th, but chipped in for eagle to go to 11-under-par, catching up with Shubhankar and Fox, who made birdies.

But the 31-year-old was inspired by the shot and would not relinquish his position. His short game came to the fore on the last two holes as a brilliant chip from off the green on the 17^th left him with a tap-in for par, and then came his wonderfully-judged long putt on the final hole.

Shubhankar, the 2017 Joburg Open champion, short-sided himself in the bunker on the par-three 16^th and missed his eight-foot putt for par, and then found the fairway bunker on 17. He laid up and produced an excellent third shot but then missed his four-foot putt for par, to ruin his chances of a second title on South African soil.

Fox’s tenacity all through the tournament was remarkable, overcoming his wonky Driver with a brilliant short game. But his crucial chip shot on 18 was initially disturbed by a moronic heckler in the crowd, and he then ran the ball on to the fringe of the green and could not make the putt.

Fleetwood has not won since his 2019 triumph at Sun City, and his emotions flowed on the 18^th green as the tears came.

Branden Grace passed a long Saturday on the Gary Player Country Club course by bantering with his caddy and not letting his cold putter get to him, and his relaxed approach worked as he will go into the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge just one stroke off the lead.

Due to the torrential rain on Friday, Grace had to complete 11 holes of his second round on Saturday morning, birdieing the ninth hole and then four of the first five holes on the back nine to rapidly climb the leaderboard. Although he struck the ball beautifully in the third round on Saturday afternoon, he only made two birdies and had to settle for a one-under 71. But it worked in terms of consolidating his position, and he and fellow South African Thriston Lawrence will start Sunday’s final round just one behind Thomas Detry and Rasmus Hojgaard.

“I feel good and I’m hitting the ball really good, probably as well as I have ever hit it around here,” Grace, the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge champion, said. “But I just could not get the pace of the greens.

“Every putt was probably a foot out, and it was probably because there was a bit of drizzle every now and then on the greens. But I will keep the same process in the final round.

“I have a mate on the bag and we talked a lot of nonsense out there, but sometimes taking your mind off the golf puts your head in a good space. Like when I won here, I’ll just try and go bogey-free in the final round.

“There’s always someone who comes out with a six or seven-under score, but if I can shoot five or six-under then I will definitely have a shout. But there’s no pressure on me, I’ve won it before and I’m just enjoying life and my golf,” Grace said.

It is little wonder that the 34-year-old is relaxed because he took away R304 028 130 from the six LIV Golf events he completed.

Lawrence was another who walked away from the Gary Player Country Club on Saturday evening extremely satisfied with his work, a seven-under-par 65 which was the best score of the third round. Beginning on the 10^th, he had a birdie-bogey start, but then reeled off three successive birdies from the 13^th hole. He gained back-to-back shots on the 18^th and first holes, and then capped an outstanding round with birdies on the sixth and ninth holes.

“From the first round, my tee-to-green play has probably been my best all year, but my putter just wasn’t there,” Lawrence said. “But I stayed calm and patient and started to sink a few putts today.

“It was probably my best ever round on this course, and I couldn’t have asked for better than to be a shot back in my first time playing the Nedbank Golf Challenge. So it is exciting times,” Lawrence said.