Image: Fredlin Adriaan
Chris Williams strung together five birdies to shoot a final round 69 to become the inaugural Nelson Mandela Bay Classic golf champion at the Humewood links course in Gqeberha on Thursday.
He finished with an overall total of three-under-par 213, one shot ahead of Neil Cheetham and two clear of Andre Cruse, who both had closing rounds of 71.
There was a heart-stopping moment for Williams on the 17th hole when he appeared to be closing in on the win, only to find the ditch short of the green with his second shot from just over 150 metres.
Forced to drop out, he managed to chip to within 10 foot and nailed the putt to save his par.
When Cruse missed a birdie putt, it gave him some breathing space and though Cheetham put in a surge with four birdies on the back nine, Williams was able hold his nerve for the win.
After Wednesday’s tough conditions, a fresh southwesterly kept the golfers honest on Thursday, but Williams said he was pleased with the way he hit the ball.
“That was the best I have hit it for years and it was just a great feeling to be in that zone,” the champion said.
“I didn’t putt particularly well but in the end I got it under par.
“My approach was just to keep the ball in play and not to get ahead of myself in thinking of victory.
“I just wanted to keep hitting the ball well and that showed in that my longest putt on the front nine was no more than eight feet.”
The return to the Humewood links and Nelson Mandela Bay drew praise from Williams, and also many other players during the week.
“We really can’t speak highly enough of this course,” he said.
“It’s one of the great links courses with an iconic clubhouse and the greens have been transformed from the days of the Goodyear Classic in the 1980s.
“They have done a great job here and it’s an honour for guys who played this course many years ago to come here again and experience these special links conditions.”
The Seniors category of the Sunshine Tour was visiting Nelson Mandela Bay for the first time and Williams acknowledged those who did all the work to put the tournament on the national calendar.
“It’s fantastic that Neville Clarke [chief operations officer] has managed to secure this for another three years because there is so much potential on our tour nowadays,” he said.
“The players on our tour enjoy the socialising aspect with the sponsors and other players in the pro-am and that is what it is all about.
“And there is still so much tremendous golf being played because the fields are improving all the time — we really do have some very good players in our ranks.”
Leading final round scores:
213 — Chris Williams 71 73 69
214 — Neil Cheetham 72 71 71
215 — Andre Cruse 70 74 71
216 — Grant Muller 74 73 69
217 — Mark McNulty 75 71 71, Doug McGuigan 75 71 71
218 — James Kingston 69 75 74, Gerhard Scheepers 74 69 75
219 — Paul Marks 73 75 71, Kenneth Dube 73 74 72
HeraldLIVE