Stuart Smith retained his Diners Club SA PGA Professionals championship title with an unblemished final round at the Humewood links golf course in Gqeberha on Thursday.
The Johannesburg pro, who is not attached to a club, fashioned a stretch of three birdies in six holes on the back nine, followed by an eagle, to move clear of the field, in particular local pro Graeme van der Nest (Pro Shop PE) who had closed the gap.
His final round of 66 saw him finish at 10-under 206, five ahead of Van der Nest, who had five birdies and a bogey in his closing 68.
Three behind the overnight leader, Van der Nest moved into contention with birdies at holes one, seven and eight to climb to four-under.
When he also birdied 10 and 11 to move to six-under, the tournament had developed into a two-horse race.
But that is where it ended for the PE pro.
There was a narrow miss for birdie on the par-three 14th, but two pulled shots on the par-five 15th saw Van der Nest unable to get up and down for par, and the bogey virtually ended his chances.
He finished in solid fashion with three pars, but by this stage the 31-year-old Smith, who played at Humewood when he was a schoolboy at Woodridge College, was moving in the other direction.
He birdied the 10th, 12th and 15th holes to get to eight-under and delivered the coup de grace when he nailed a 30-footer for eagle on the par-five 17th.
The defending champion, who grew up in Botswana, was delighted with his second straight victory after taking the 2020 title in November at the Centurion Country Club.
“Yes, there is always a bit pressure when you are the defending champion, but it was nice to come out here and experience the course again,” Smith, who took a two-shot lead over Michael Scholz (Dainfern) into the final round, said.
“Looking at the weather, I thought that par would be a good score today, but it [the weather] was on and off the whole day and I was able not to make any mistakes.
“The putts managed to go in, so the game plan was to stick to the safe strategy of the first two days.”
The eagle on 17 was typical of the way he was playing by that stage.
“Yeah, I managed to get on for two and had probably about 30 feet, a left to righter uphill and it went in — just my day, I guess.”
In a tournament full of competitive golfers, Smith said it was an honour to win again.
“It’s never easy to defend a title, especially on a course which is far from the parkland courses we are used to in Johannesburg.
“But Humewood is an amazing venue and hopefully we can have it here again sometime in the future.”
Leading scores:
206 — Stuart Smith 72 68 66
211 — Graeme van der Nest 70 73 68
217 — Michael Michell 78 70 69
218 — Jeremy Sharpe 75 74 69, Michael du Toit 75 70 73
219 — Michael Scholz 72 70 77
220 — Kenneth Dube 76 75 69, MS Calitz 69 74 77
221 — Calvin Caldeira 79 68 74, Rudy Whitfield 76 69 76, Dane Vosloo 74 73 74
HeraldLIVE
Smith clinches second straight PGA Pros title
Joburg professional seals deal with unblemished round at Humewood links
Image: SUPPLIED
Stuart Smith retained his Diners Club SA PGA Professionals championship title with an unblemished final round at the Humewood links golf course in Gqeberha on Thursday.
The Johannesburg pro, who is not attached to a club, fashioned a stretch of three birdies in six holes on the back nine, followed by an eagle, to move clear of the field, in particular local pro Graeme van der Nest (Pro Shop PE) who had closed the gap.
His final round of 66 saw him finish at 10-under 206, five ahead of Van der Nest, who had five birdies and a bogey in his closing 68.
Three behind the overnight leader, Van der Nest moved into contention with birdies at holes one, seven and eight to climb to four-under.
When he also birdied 10 and 11 to move to six-under, the tournament had developed into a two-horse race.
But that is where it ended for the PE pro.
There was a narrow miss for birdie on the par-three 14th, but two pulled shots on the par-five 15th saw Van der Nest unable to get up and down for par, and the bogey virtually ended his chances.
He finished in solid fashion with three pars, but by this stage the 31-year-old Smith, who played at Humewood when he was a schoolboy at Woodridge College, was moving in the other direction.
He birdied the 10th, 12th and 15th holes to get to eight-under and delivered the coup de grace when he nailed a 30-footer for eagle on the par-five 17th.
The defending champion, who grew up in Botswana, was delighted with his second straight victory after taking the 2020 title in November at the Centurion Country Club.
“Yes, there is always a bit pressure when you are the defending champion, but it was nice to come out here and experience the course again,” Smith, who took a two-shot lead over Michael Scholz (Dainfern) into the final round, said.
“Looking at the weather, I thought that par would be a good score today, but it [the weather] was on and off the whole day and I was able not to make any mistakes.
“The putts managed to go in, so the game plan was to stick to the safe strategy of the first two days.”
The eagle on 17 was typical of the way he was playing by that stage.
“Yeah, I managed to get on for two and had probably about 30 feet, a left to righter uphill and it went in — just my day, I guess.”
In a tournament full of competitive golfers, Smith said it was an honour to win again.
“It’s never easy to defend a title, especially on a course which is far from the parkland courses we are used to in Johannesburg.
“But Humewood is an amazing venue and hopefully we can have it here again sometime in the future.”
Leading scores:
206 — Stuart Smith 72 68 66
211 — Graeme van der Nest 70 73 68
217 — Michael Michell 78 70 69
218 — Jeremy Sharpe 75 74 69, Michael du Toit 75 70 73
219 — Michael Scholz 72 70 77
220 — Kenneth Dube 76 75 69, MS Calitz 69 74 77
221 — Calvin Caldeira 79 68 74, Rudy Whitfield 76 69 76, Dane Vosloo 74 73 74
HeraldLIVE
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