Whatshot
De Jager ends winless run with Sibaya victory
De Jager ends winless run with Sibaya victory
Louis de Jager ended his four-year winless run with a come-from-behind one-stroke victory over CJ du Plessis and Breyten Meyer in the Sibaya Challenge held at Mount Edgecombe on Friday.
"It has been long," he exclaimed, "I think it's about four years since my last win, so it's a real relief to get it done."
In a season where he has played solid golf, missing just one cut - at last week's tournament in Parys - De Jager says he has been expecting to win for a while but will not complain about how long it took to win his fourth title now that it has finally come.
"I've felt like it was coming for a long time," he said, "and, even last week, I played quite well but the scores just didn't reflect it. So, coming here my spirits was high and I was comfortable and confident in my game and it showed this week because I played some really good golf."
His efforts finally paid dividends when Meyer dropped shots. When he eventually caught up with both Meyer and Du Plessis in the last two holes, he didn't lose his composure, birdieing his last two holes while Meyer and Du Plessis picked up a birdie and par each on those holes.
De Jager's five-under-par 65 final round which, put together with his first and second round scores gave him a total of 13-under-par 197, consisted of eight birdies and three bogeys. Three of those birdies which were accompanied by a single bogey came on the front nine while he made five birdies on the homeward stretch, with two more bogeys making it onto his card.
While Du Plessis and Meyer will be disappointed to have lost the tournament at the very end, they will both be pleased with their efforts in Durban. Du Plessis' back-to-back 65s were no fluke and Meyer's second-round 61 was yet another indicator of the potential he has.
But, at the end of it all, De Jager walks away victorious.