Ken Borland

Overnight leaders Thomas Aiken and Justin Walters were overtaken by charging fellow South African George Coetzee, who sealed a long-awaited maiden European Tour victory with his three-shot triumph at the Joburg Open on Sunday.

The first nine holes at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington’s East Course were the key for Coetzee as he started the day four strokes behind Aiken and Walters, who began the final day on 17-under-par. The 27-year-old also had to contend with South Korea’s Jin Jeong on 15-under, Finland’s Roope Kakko on -14, and Scotsman Alastair Forsyth, who was level with him on 13-under-par.

Coetzee birdied the short par-five first hole and picked up further strokes on the par-four fourth and the two par-fives on the sixth and eighth.

“I knew I had to play well and the plan was to be four-under on the front nine. I got that and then thought that anything else from there would be a bonus. Two more birdies on the back nine was good enough. But if I had not gone four-under on the front nine, then I wouldn’t be sitting here,” Coetzee said at the final press conference with the crystal trophy beside him.

Having been a nearly man for so long on the European Tour with eight top-three finishes in the last three years, Coetzee shocked many when he showed no great relief at notching his breakthrough victory.

“Sitting here with the trophy is not that important, playing your best out there on the course is what matters. It’s the mindset you’ve got to have otherwise winning becomes too important.

“When I won the Telkom PGA Championship in 2011, I said it was bloody hard to achieve which actually made it very hard for myself to win again. It actually wasn’t that difficult and a couple of tournaments I’ve lost in, I actually played better than I did today,” Coetzee said.

But any inspector of Coetzee’s faultless scorecard, a brilliant six-under-par 66 to win by three after being four behind, will find it very hard to believe the Pretoria golfer did not play very well indeed.

“I just kept believing and tried to stay focused. I told myself Thomas and Justin were making birdies, so I had to keep positive and stay aggressive. I kept telling myself that anything on the greens could go in for birdie. In my last three events, I’ve had one or two bogey-free rounds in each of them, so I’m comfortable doing that. There’s a lot less to handle if you’re doing that,” he said.

It was always going to be a stiff ask overtaking both Aiken and Walters, but Coetzee was helped by his compatriots both shooting over-par on the final day.

It’s become run-of-the-mill for Aiken to shoot low on the East Course in recent years, but, after playing the first seven holes in one-under, his game started to go down the drain, possibly due to the scoreboard pressure Coetzee was exerting with his thrilling charge.

Some wonkiness off the tee and some really poor iron play were the obvious problems, leading to five bogeys from the eighth hole; birdies at 14 and 18 did not stem the bleeding as Aiken finished in a tie for fifth on 15-under after a 74.

It is one of just five over-par rounds Aiken has played in the 26 times he has gone around Royal Johannesburg and Kensington in the Joburg Open and, having been the favourite of many to win the title, he didn’t even manage to claim one of the automatic places in the British Open that were up for grabs.

Walters, the USA-based 33-year-old, finished in the three-man group tied for second on 16-under, the par-fives on the eighth and 18th proving the thorn in his side as he bogeyed both of them.

On the last tee-box, he was still in the running, needing to eagle the 504-metre par-five, just as he did on the third day, to force a playoff with Coetzee. But his tee-shot found the second fairway bunker down the right and his second, from the up-slope, was hopelessly short of the green.

One of the rounds of the day came from the 22-year-old Englishman Tyrell Hatton, who matched Coetzee with a 66 that lifted him into a share of second place, the European Tour rookie earning € 101,097, the biggest cheque of his fledgling career.

Jeong, the Australian-based winner of the Perth International towards the end of last year, was very much in contention after successive birdies on the seventh and eighth holes lifted him to 16-under, but the putter deserted him on the back nine and he could only add one more birdie, despite hitting the ball close to the flag several times.

But the real momentum was with Coetzee and he proved unstoppable, adding birdies on the par-four 10th and 15th holes.

He admitted the three on the 15th was the product of some great good fortune as he pulled his drive towards the water, but his ball hit a tree and bounced back into the fairway, from where he found the green and then the cup.

The calm and methodical way in which Coetzee seized victory on Sunday mirrors his approach to his career.

“I will take it one step at a time and just focus on the next box I want to tick. Winning a co-sanctioned event was kind of the next step – as a youngster I always said I wanted to win the junior club champs, the club medal, the senior club champs, a professional event, a Sunshine Tour winter tournament, a big Sunshine Tour event and then one of the co-sanctioned ones.”

Asked what the next box he wants to tick is, Coetzee said “It’s my box, not yours” as he preferred not to make his goals public.

There is no doubting Coetzee’s force of will, he was well-nigh unstoppable on his march to victory on Sunday and the floodgates could well open now for the highly-talented South African.

After being “pretty pathetic” on his two previous visits to South Africa, Scotland’s Craig Lee has a share of the Joburg Open lead after two rounds of the European Tour co-sanctioned event at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.

Lee held a share of the lead after shooting a seven-under-par 65 on the East Course in the opening round and, after an intriguing day in Johannesburg’s eastern suburbs, he was still at the top after adding a 67 on the West Course on Friday, although now there is only one other golfer alongside him.

Italy’s Edoardo Molinari is the other man at the top of the leaderboard on 11-under-par, having shot a 68 on the East Course, while the other overnight leaders – Justin Walters and Alastair Forsyth – have both dropped back to nine-under-par.

“It’s my third time here and I don’t normally play well at all in South Africa, my record here is actually pretty pathetic, although it’s probably a course that should suit me.

“Obviously the goal today was not to fall back, there’s a strong field behind that will always come at you. On four-under through the bend I had a good chance to distance myself from the field, but I didn’t capitalise,” Lee said.

David Horsey of England fired a brilliant 63 on the West Course to soar to 10-under-par and a share of third place with George Coetzee, the leading South African who is finding his way back into top form after six weeks out with a broken wrist.

There are two other locals in the top 10, with Andrew Georgiou and Walters tied for fifth on nine-under-par with Danny Willett, Roope Kakko, Forsyth, James Heath and Jin Jeong.

The golfers are finding the West Course more of a challenge than in previous years and amongst the casualties on the supposedly easier 18 holes were two-time champion Charl Schwartzel, who could only shoot a 70 to make the cut on the mark at four-under.

Defending champion Richard Sterne, who also won the title in 2008, slumped to a 73 on the West Course and missed the cut by one stroke, while former SA Open winner James Kingston shot 75 and missed by six shots.

“The wind blew today which makes the West Course a bit tougher than usual and the greens more bumpy,” Coetzee said.

The 27-year-old has eight top-three finishes in the last three years on the European Tour but is still looking for his maiden title and he admits that the push for first place affected him negatively last year, when he finished 54th on the order of merit.

“Last year I tried to force it and my finishes went from good to worst, so that definitely doesn’t work. Now I’m just trying to get into contention, staying patient,” Coetzee said.

Coetzee has dropped just one shot over the first two rounds, so clearly the patient approach is paying dividends, but he was still hard on himself at the halfway stage.

“I’m still upset about that one shot! Just for once I’d like to go through a tournament with no bogeys. Plus it feels like you’ve dropped shots when you don’t make the most of opportunities, and I had a lot today, a lot of putts shaved the hole,” Coetzee said after shooting a 68.

“I felt I played a bit better yesterday, but I’m more or less where I want to be and looking forward to the weekend. It’s just a question of hitting fairways and making putts. Just hit a lot of good shots and hope the birdies come,” Coetzee said.

Horsey had an impressive haul of eight birdies, four on each nine, adding a 63 on Friday to his 70 in the first round and he said the difference was the putter being able to get the ball in the cup with minimum fuss.

“I played really nicely in the first round but the score didn’t do it justice. I went out with the same approach today and, even though there are some easier holes, I played it very similarly. I was a little bit more aggressive today, but I made a whole lot of putts and that was it, hey presto!”

But the in-form Molinari, a two-time winner on the European Tour, is in the pound seats at the moment: sharing the lead, feeling good and having the experience of having done the job before.

“It was another very good round of golf today, and I hit the ball very well. Maybe not as well as yesterday, but I gave myself a lot of chances, which is what you have to do around the East Course. I am very pleased with four-under today.

“It’s still two rounds to go, but I like the way I am hitting the ball. I made a few putts today, but the most important thing is to keep hitting the ball like this.

“I’m very happy with pretty much everything. I missed a few putts, but that always happens and the greens are not perfect, to be honest. I am very happy with my position and my game right now,” Molinari said.

One man who certainly wasn’t happy with his game was veteran Frenchman Thomas Levet.

After missing a one-foot putt for bogey on the eighth, he suffered a mental breakdown, hitting the ball off the green in the opposite direction to the hole, smashing a sand-wedge over the green and then, after a couple of other angry hacks at the ball, he inadvertently sunk a backhand sand-wedge.

Levet then stormed off the course for an early bath, citing a sore back.

He will surely find himself in hot water as the European Tour certainly don’t look kindly on such boorish behaviour.

A shaky back nine in the wind cost Jaco van Zyl victory in the Africa Open two weeks ago, but the in-form South African will be one of the favourites at the European Tour co-sanctioned Tshwane Open which starts at Copperleaf Golf Estate on Thursday.

Van Zyl is chasing his first European Tour victory, which is a long-awaited event seeing as though he has had five top-three finishes in the last three years, as well as seven other top-10s and 11 Sunshine Tour victories.

The 34-year-old will need to improve his form off the tee, however, with Copperleaf being a lengthy 7,123m monster, but he does have the confidence of coming off a win in last weekend’s Sunshine Tour event, the Dimension Data Pro-Am in George.

“The course is really long but the greens are receptive, so I’m sure the scoring will be low,” Van Zyl said of the Copperleaf course formerly known as Gardener Ross.

“My short game is still sharp and my ball-striking was really good last week, I hit the ball nicely and it’s a bit better every week. You have to know what to hit off the tee here and what sort of lie you want to hit your second from,” Van Zyl, who is 82^nd in driving distance on the European Tour this year and 37^th in accuracy, said.

There is no doubt Van Zyl is a major threat in the final co-sanctioned event of the 2012/13 summer, sitting in first place in the Investec Cup standings, third on the Sunshine Tour order of merit, 33^rd on the Race to Dubai and up to 104^th on the world rankings after starting the year in 146^th. His last three finishes have been tied 11^th, tied second and last week’s victory in George.

But the field is a useful one and there are many dangers lurking, much like the numerous large bunkers that are a feature of the Ernie Els-designed course at Copperleaf.

Steve Webster of England is perhaps the most consistent performer on the European Tour thus far this season with four top-10 finishes in six starts, while South Africans Garth Mulroy and Thomas Aiken are also in fine form.

Africa Open winner Darren Fichardt is in the field and there is no lack of experienced worldwide winners either, with Michael Campbell, Jeev Milkha Singh, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Simon Dyson and Darren Clarke all teeing it up on Thursday.

Other participants who have shown top-class form lately include James Kingston, Adilson da Silva, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Danie van Tonder.

Olazabal is a golfing legend, a 31-time winner worldwide, including two Masters crowns, and a triumphant Ryder Cup as captain last year.

But the Spaniard admitted that he is going through a tough time with the driver, which is a major drawback on this particular course.

“Last weekend when I left home we had snow, so I didn’t have much practice over the last week because of the weather. But my last tournament was good [tied 17^th at the Dubai Desert Classic four weeks ago], although I’m having a tough time with my driver. It’s still my Achilles heel and with the course as long as it is, you need to hit it solid off the tee,” Olazabal said.

Campbell, a New Zealander, is also a major champion having won the 2005 US Open as a qualifier. He suffered a missed cut in his last tournament – the Dubai Desert Classic – but was in good form in the Middle East before that with top-20 finishes in both Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

A Maori, Campbell seems to have a healthy outlook on a game that catapulted him to stardom in 2005 before sending him back into anonymity.

“It’s only a game. My results reflect that I’ve turned around again, but I’ve always been up and down like a yo-yo, some very big highs and very big lows. I accept that and I’ve always had them. That’s golf,” Campbell said.

Dyson is a regular visitor to South Africa, having played in 13 co-sanctioned events and finished in the top-20 four times.

And he is a wary admirer of the talent in this country.

“Without a doubt I’ll be watching a few South Africans. They seem to come off the conveyor belt every year and you’ve got some really, really good talent. They all hit it a mile, which sickens me. Every single one of them seems to bomb it, even Sterne who must be 5-foot-one and Schwartzel who could hide behind the pin! It’s just ridiculous, it must be something in the water… or the biltong!” the Englishman joked.

Though the fairways are generally wide, there is a host of bunkers, and golfers who are not accurate run the risk of becoming mired in these sandy expanses.

“It’s brutally long in places, but some of the short holes are typical Ernie – lots of run-offs. A good short game is going to come to the fore if you do miss the short holes. It’s going to be a tough test, because every par-five feels like 650 yards, so it’s not the usual where everyone is going to be hammering it in two. The course is good and it’s in great condition,” the veteran Clarke said.

Milkha Singh is another who has been coming to South Africa for a long time, since 1998, and he is looking forward to a bit of wind blowing around the Highveld grassland course outside Centurion, the Indian having won the Scottish Open last year at the blustery links of Castle Stuart.

“It’s long but bearable. But I hope the wind picks up, that would make it interesting and I’m really happy in the wind,” he said.

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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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