Bradbury adds another Joburg Open crown to his collection

Dan Bradbury. Sunshine Tour

England’s Dan Bradbury claimed his second Joburg Open title in dramatic fashion at the Houghton Golf Club on Sunday.

With the lead changing several times over the closing six holes, Bradbury held his nerve and produced a birdie on 17 and then a sublime chip from the back of the 18th to save par at the last and claim the title on 17-under with a closing 65.

Casey Jarvis missed a six-footer at the last that would have forced a playoff as he closed with a 66 to share second place with Brandon Robinson Thompson (66) on 16-under par.

With this victory, Bradbury adds to his 2022 triumph and becomes only the third player in Joburg Open history to win this title more than once, after South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel and Richard Sterne.

“It’s amazing. It’s a great feeling. It’s so nice to have so many people here that I know,” said Bradbury.

It was a thrilling final back nine to this tournament.

Hennie du Plessis went into it with a three-stroke lead over the field but then stumbled with two bogeys and a double bogey in five holes.

Thompson then looked to be in control before two bogeys in his final four holes set him back.

With the fortunate position of being in the last group, Bradbury could watch it all unfold and set himself a target.

“The three birdies in a row at holes nine, 10 and 11 was probably the turning point for me and it got me back in the tournament. Then at holes 12 and 13 I knew I’m in this,” he said.

An aggressive second over the back of the 18th green left him with a difficult chip to save the par he needed to win. And he executed it to perfection and within inches of the hole.

“That chip on 18 – I’m not known for my short game so I was really pleased with that one. I was literally shaking over it and I’m really happy it came out like it did.”

Bradbury has now given himself a massive boost to chase the goal he’d set for himself at the start of the season.

“The goal was to get one of those 10 PGA TOUR cards and this has made it that much more realistic.”

Scores

263 - Dan Bradbury 64 70 64 65

264 - Brandon Robinson Thompson 66 62 70 66

264 - Casey Jarvis 67 67 64 66

266 - Hennie du Plessis 66 68 62 70

267 - David Ravetto 66 67 68 66

268 - Louis Albertse 68 65 70 65

268 - Daniel van Tonder 67 68 66 67, Adrian Otaegui 67 67 66 68, Alex Fitzpatrick 67 67 64 70

270 - Patrick Reed 69 68 65 68

270 - Justin Harding 69 67 66 68

271 - Bernd Wiesberger 71 66 67 67

271 - Ockie Strydom 67 68 67 69, Nathan Kimsey 64 69 67 71

272 - Maximilian Steinlechner 64 70 70 68

272 - Ross Fisher 67 69 67 69, Jayden Schaper 64 70 68 70

273 - Angel Ayora 64 71 71 67

273 - Hugo Townsend 65 67 73 68, Sebastian Garcia 67 72 66 68, Jorge Campillo 68 70 67 68, Allen John 70 68 67 68, Ryggs Johnston 69 65 69 70, Marcel Siem 69 67 67 70, Luke Brown 66 67 69 71, Jason Scrivener 71 66 65 71

274 - Brandon Stone 68 68 69 69

275 - David Law 67 71 69 68

275 - Romain Langasque 67 71 69 68, Eddie Pepperell 70 68 68 69, Jaco Prinsloo 67 68 71 69, Jacques Kruyswijk 68 69 69 69, Todd Clements 68 66 71 70, Jordan Gumberg 67 67 70 71, Joost Luiten 67 69 67 72

276 - Joel Girrbach 69 69 69 69

276 - Jean Hugo 71 66 70 69, Wilco Nienaber 65 70 70 71, Connor Syme 71 68 65 72, Ben Schmidt 68 69 67 72, Kieran Vincent 65 72 67 72, Sean Crocker 66 65 72 73, Cameron Adam 67 69 67 73, Jacob Olesen 65 72 65 74

277 - Christiaan Burke 66 71 69 71

277 - Ruan Korb 68 66 70 73, Ryan Van Velzen 67 69 68 73, Kota Kaneko 70 67 67 73, Marcus Armitage 67 68 68 74, Zander Lombard 69 68 66 74, Jamie Rutherford 65 70 67 75

278 - Stals Swart 70 69 69 70

278 - Estiaan Conradie 69 70 69 70, Richard Sterne 68 68 71 71, Julien Guerrier 70 68 66 74, Jack Hawksby 66 66 68 78

279 - Alejandro Del Rey 70 69 70 70

279 - James Morrison 69 70 70 70, Ewen Ferguson 67 72 68 72, Shubhankar Sharma 66 72 69 72, Neil Schietekat 70 68 68 73

280 - Sam Bairstow 69 70 71 70

280 - Dylan Frittelli 70 69 71 70, Richie Ramsay 67 70 72 71, Darius van Driel 65 73 70 72, Joe Dean 70 67 67 76

281 - Ivan Cantero 71 68 72 70

281 - JJ Senekal 68 71 67 75

282 - Robin Williams 68 70 71 73

283 - Angel Hidalgo 69 70 70 74

283 - Pieter Moolman 69 67 70 77

285 - Jovan Rebula 69 70 69 77

286 - Herman Loubser 70 69 69 78

288 - Martin Vorster 68 71 72 77