Van Zyl wins second Telkom PGA

 

Jaco van Zyl missed his short birdie putt on 18 at Country Club Johannesburg on Sunday, but he already had his second Telkom PGA Championship in the bag before he tapped in for par.

 

 

It was a close-run affair, with Van Zyl’s 69 and tournament total of 20-under-par 268 heading off Dylan Frittelli by one stroke, and Chris Swanepoel, with whom he shared the third round lead a further shot back in third.

 

For long periods, it didn’t look as if Van Zyl would win, as Swanepoel appeared to have it all sewn up, with as much as a four-stroke lead with nine holes left to play, but Van Zyl’s doggedness combined with a nervy finish by Swanepoel gave him a one-stroke win.

 

“After Chris followed my birdie on 13 with his own, I asked him as we walked to the next tee how he expected me to catch him,” laughed Van Zyl afterwards.

 

“After nine holes, I thought it was pretty much done,” he said, “but my caddie kept me motivated and reminded me it boils down to the last nine holes on Sunday. Things swung a little bit when I chipped in on 12 and the nice putt on 13, and then Chris started making a couple of unfortunate bogeys.”

 

In fact, Swanepoel made four bogeys in the closing five holes to open the door for Van Zyl, who needed no second invitation as a birdie on 16 took him clear of eventual second-place finisher Frittelli, the Sunshine Tour rookie who putted sublimely throughout the final round to card a five-under-par 67, the second lowest round of the day.

 

Van Zyl was scratching his head as he made two consecutive bogeys on the fifth and sixth, after had made only two bogeys for the rest of the week.

 

“I’m not a big fan of the second shot on five and the tee shot on six,” he said. “On the first couple of days, I got through those quite nicely and today I slipped a little bit. I don’t think it had anything to do with the pressure of leading at that stage – it was just two shots I really don’t enjoy on this golf course.”

 

But once he got the bit between his teeth again, he presented a textbook example of why one should never give up in sport.

 

For his career – after a four-year hiatus since he won a big summer event on the Sunshine Tour, which, ironically enough was the Telkom PGA Championship in 2009 – the win also showed the value of persistence.

 

“I won often in the smaller events, so winning the Dimension Data Pro-Am and then backing it up with this one definitely helps with the confidence,” he said.

 

The fact that his world ranking will rise from his current 104th to inside the top 100 will also help, but won’t see him deviate from the seven-week break he will now take. “Playing in Europe won’t be forever,” he said. “I’ll probably only last for another six years, so I’m doing this for the family and my boys.”

 

Scores (RSA unless specified):

268 - Jaco Van Zyl 67 65 67 69

269 - Dylan Frittelli 67 65 70 67

270 - Chris Swanepoel 65 71 63 71

271 - Jean Hugo 67 67 66 71

272 - Ulrich van den Berg 64 72 67 69

275 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 69 69 69 68, Merrick Bremner 68 65 72 70, Steve Surry (ENG) 66 68 69 72, Brandon Pieters 69 68 64 74

276 - Hennie Otto 68 70 68 70, Louis de Jager 68 68 69 71, Thabo Maseko 67 69 69 71, Bryce Easton 68 71 66 71, Danie van Tonder 70 64 70 72, Vaughn Groenewald 69 67 68 72, Matthew Carvell 69 70 65 72, Oliver Bekker 68 70 65 73

277 - Le Roux Ferreira 65 72 73 67, Justin Harding 70 71 65 71

278 - Grant Muller 68 72 70 68, Charl Coetzee 67 68 74 69, Tjaart van der Walt 68 69 71 70, Andrew Georgiou 68 72 67 71, Jeff Inglis (ENG) 68 68 68 74

279 - Johan Bekker 67 71 72 69, Christiaan Basson 67 73 69 70, Jean-Paul Strydom 64 70 73 72

280 - Bryan Martin (USA) 68 72 71 69, Justin Walters 70 67 72 71, Ruan de Smidt 67 68 71 74

281 - Desvonde Botes 68 72 74 67, Lyle Rowe 72 71 69 69, Bradford Vaughan 74 68 69 70, Jacques Kruyswijk 75 68 67 71, Colin Nel 71 71 67 72, Jake Roos 70 72 67 72, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 70 71 67 73

282 - Chris Erasmus 68 73 71 70, Richard Sterne 72 71 68 71, Des Terblanche 69 73 69 71, Tyrone Ferreira 70 69 71 72, Steven Ferreira 72 69 67 74, James Kingston 70 67 69 76

283 - Neil Schietekat 70 69 74 70, Kevin Stone 72 70 71 70, Darren Fichardt 73 69 70 71, Keith Horne 72 71 68 72, Brett Liddle 70 68 73 72, Dean Burmester 72 67 70 74, Derik Ferreira 69 71 69 74, Ockie Strydom 68 74 66 75, Attie Schwartzel 69 72 66 76

284 - Tyrone Ryan 71 72 75 66, Darryn Lloyd 74 68 72 70, Allan Versfeld 70 72 70 72, Ross McGowan (ENG) 70 69 70 75

285 - Divan van den Heever 68 75 73 69, Jacques van Tonder 73 69 73 70, Bradley Sinnett 73 69 72 71, Brandon Detweiler (USA) 68 72 70 75

286 - PH McIntyre 71 68 73 74

287 - Mark Murless 74 69 71 73, Michiel Bothma 73 69 72 73, Bennie van der Merwe 72 71 67 77

288 - Louis Moolman 69 74 74 71, Michael du Toit 70 69 76 73, Alex Haindl 76 65 73 74, Albert Pistorius 71 71 69 77, Keenan Davidse 66 73 72 77

289 - Daniel Hammond 71 72 71 75

290 - Titch Moore 73 67 78 72, Kyle Stevens 70 72 75 73, Wynand Dingle 70 73 72 75

291 - Micky Hough (ZIM) 73 70 72 76, Johan du Buisson 72 69 74 76

292 - James Kamte 68 75 71 78, Ben Mannix (ENG) 69 70 73 80

 

- Own Corr/Jacaranda Sport