Rather Late Weekend Wrap - Golf Week 11.03.2019

Euro Front

Winner: Justin Harding

Harding (RSA), produced the magic needed to lift the Qatar Masters Trophy on 11 under, with a brilliant final Rd of 66, including 3 birdies in the last 4. His season’s form would of suggested us to expect this victory, however your first European Tour win is never a given, but with this block ticked off his list Harding is certainly a name to watch out for this year and those to come.

The week had an interesting theme to it, with 4 new names topping the leaderboard over each day (yes some were there twice – Harding), however his trick was to be the final name. He edged fellow compatriots Coetzee, Van Rooyen and Bezuidenhout, who formed a 9-man contingent for 2nd place.

This was the final leg of the second desert swing of 2019’s season, and the players head either to Sawgrass or to Magical Kenya; although many will also have a much-needed break after some serious world travel in the past few weeks.

State Side

Winner: Francesco Molinari

The little Italian with the big name in golf (oh and Champion Golfer of the Year), claimed his 1st title of the year, from only his 4th start. From these 4 starts he has placed, t-43, t-27, t-17 and 1st, an indicative omen for the year ahead.

Fellow Ryder Cup Star Fleetwood, who despite looking dominant after Rd 2, had a difficult Saturday 76, and finished 3 shots adrift of Molinari. Other Ryder cup names finishing in the top-10, included Fitzpatrick, Cabrera Bello and McIlroy. Rory in particular looked like he was going to defend his title after finally setting aside his season of slow weekend scoring, with a fine 66 on Saturday and an early biride on Sunday. However, signing for a 72 and a t-6, McIlroy will now be looking to Sawgrass for that 1st season ‘W’.

Other mentions go to Keth Mitchell who continues looking good, and Englishman Matt Wallace, who could be a strong bet for a Major or two.

With Focus moving to the Players Champs this week, eyes will be on Tiger (after he pulled out of Arnie’s event) and whether his season will be mired with such occurrences.

Pairings to watch:

• Tiger, Simpson, Reed

• Fowler, Koepka, Spieth

• Rose, Schauffele, Thomas

• DJ, Rahm, and bunker blaster Garcia

Owever to those

Other events of note included

Ladies Euro Tour, Meghan MacLaren (ENG) swept passed the field, firing a strong final Rd 69 to clinch the New South Whales Open by 3 shots (an eagle, par, birdie finish will do that for you).

After 4 events Marianne Skarpnord (NOR) leads the OOM, and Maclaren moves into 3rd.

Sunshine Tour, the Limpopo Open saw the continued good play of JC Ritchie. With scores of 66, 69, 70, 65 he found himself at a tie after 72, with Englishman Steve Surry. Both of whom birdied the 72nd hole to book their 2-man playoff. Teeing up, it was JC who on the head-to-head had the edge, 96 tournaments v 77, 2 wins v 1 win, and a crucial playoff win within those 2 victories. Not that stats should be anything to go by, however at the Euphoria Golf Estate and Hydro, the win went to the stats, as JC lifted the trophy at the 1st extra hole.

The battle for 1st completed, eyes turn to the final crucial spots on the OOM, as the top-100 secure playing rights for the 2019-2020 Season on tour. As often is the case, it comes down to small numbers, and this year is no different with R2,420.83 being the decider between 100th and 101st.

Sunshine Ladies Tour, Korean Carrie Park, showed her nerve in the Cape Town Ladies Open, to fire a final Rd 70, and clear herself away from a bunched leaderboard after Rd 2. She held off Kajal Mistry (RSA), the GolfRSA Elite Squad amateur, who is angling for a win on the Pro-tour. Her fine season continuing as she remains in the top-5 on the OOM.

Mistry will be in for the litmus test as a strong international contingent line’s up to tackle the Co-Sanctioned Investec SA Women’s Open at Westlake GC. Other Southern African contenders include, OOM No1 Nobuhle Dlamini and returning Euro stars Lee-Anne Pace and Stacy Bergman

IGT, Tristen Strydom is in fine form, flying through the field to card a total score of 194 (22 under) at the Akacia GC layout. Waschefort and Korf 11 shots further back, placed 2nd. Strydom’s dominant performance included 4 eagles and 19 birdies through the 3-round event.

It is still Marais who sits just inside the automatic Q-School’s final spot - http://igtgolf.org/oom/.

To look forward to this week

• The Players Championship (US PGA Tour)

• The Magical Kenyan Open (European Tour)

• No Event (LPGA)

• Investec South African Women’s Open (Ladies Euro Tour)

• Vusi Ngubeni Q-School (Sunshine Tour)

• No Event (Web.com Tour)

• Race to Q-School #9 @ Reading (IGT Gauteng)