Matteo Manassero marked his return to the DP World Tour winner’s circle in a dramatic victory befitting of the journey he has been on over the past 11 years when he won the Jonsson Workwear Open in the dark at Glendower Golf Club on Sunday.
With a late weather delay putting the finish of the Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned tournament in doubt, play resumed at 6pm and Manassero completed a finish of four straight birdies for a 66 and a three-stroke victory on 26-under par.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s wonderful to experience these emotions again on a golf course,” said Manassero, whose journey from golf prodigy to the wilderness of the game and then back again is one of the great fairytales in the game.
“It’s incredible. It’s really difficult to put into words. I’m definitely proud of what I’ve been through. But I also don’t want to look at the past and the tougher times. I want to enjoy the moment. To finish like I did was incredible. I’ve been through a lot of emotions and it seems like it was written somewhere that after the restart I would finish with two more birdies.
“When the final putt went in you kind of have a drop in emotions that build up over the past few days. It feels so good to relieve those moments. That’s what we practice for,” he said as he delivered his winning speech in the dark but with a smile that truly lit up the 18th green.
South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence (63), Shaun Norris (68) and England’s Jordan Smith (68) shared second place on 23-under par.
For Nick Jonsson, Chairman and CEO of Jonsson Workwear, this was indeed a fairytale victory worthy of their investment in the game.
“We’ve loved our association with golf and it’s a huge honour to partner with the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour. Anything we are involved with has to echo our own values as a company, and our involvement with golf has been good for us,” he said.
SCORES
262 - Matteo Manassero 68 61 67 66
265 - Thriston Lawrence 65 70 67 63, Shaun Norris 66 66 65 68, Jordan Smith 66 66 65 68
266 - Angel Hidalgo 67 64 67 68
267 - Ivan Cantero 64 67 68 68, Oliver Bekker 65 65 68 69
268 - Connor Syme 68 67 66 67
269 - Daniel van Tonder 68 68 69 64, Tom McKibbin 67 64 69 69
270 - Ryan Van Velzen 68 70 69 63, Freddy Schott 71 64 70 65, Louis de Jager 65 69 70 66, Andrea Pavan 68 67 67 68
271 - Sam Bairstow 67 67 71 66, Matthew Baldwin 70 69 66 66
272 - Benjamin Follett-Smith 68 66 71 67, Oliver Wilson 69 68 68 67, Jason Scrivener 68 66 70 68, Thomas Aiken 69 67 67 69, Guxin Chen 71 64 66 71, Jacques Kruyswijk 66 68 66 72
273 - Daniel Brown 70 70 69 64, Ugo Coussaud 68 65 72 68, Ewen Ferguson 70 65 69 69, JC Ritchie 69 68 67 69, Andy Sullivan 70 67 67 69, Clement Sordet 69 68 66 70
274 - Jovan Rebula 70 68 69 67, Hurly Long 68 66 72 68, Ashun Wu 70 68 68 68, Niklas Norgaard 67 66 71 70, Alexander Levy 67 69 68 70, Paul Waring 67 70 67 70
275 - Lorenzo Scalise 70 67 68 70, Matthias Schwab 69 68 67 71, Casey Jarvis 67 66 69 73
276 - Joel Girrbach 70 66 74 66, Robin Williams 66 70 74 66, Jaco Ahlers 70 66 70 70
277 - Gunner Wiebe 68 70 74 65, Keenan Davidse 64 71 72 70, Sebastian Friedrichsen 69 68 70 70, Romain Langasque 67 69 69 72, Julien Guerrier 68 71 66 72
278 - Lyle Rowe 68 71 73 66, Johannes Veerman 68 70 72 68, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 70 66 72 70, Jeong Weon Ko 68 68 71 71, Albert Venter 71 67 69 71
279 - Jordan Gumberg 69 70 70 70, Santiago Tarrio 67 70 70 72, Nacho Elvira 69 69 69 72, Hennie du Plessis 69 70 66 74
280 - Will Enefer 69 71 72 68, Aaron Cockerill 69 70 68 73, Jean Hugo 71 69 66 74
281 - Ricardo Gouveia 68 71 74 68, Deon Germishuys 72 68 72 69, Dylan Frittelli 71 68 71 71, Kyle McClatchie 69 71 70 71, Luca Filippi 72 65 71 73, Joost Luiten 70 68 69 74
282 - Jaco Van Zyl 69 69 74 70, Callum Mowat 70 68 72 72, Matthew Spacey 72 68 69 73
283 - Rupert Kaminski 75 65 74 69, Jesper Svensson 71 69 71 72, MJ Viljoen 69 71 70 73, Jamie Donaldson 68 71 69 75
284 - Francesco Laporta 72 67 75 70, Karabo Mokoena 69 71 73 71, Wynand Dingle 70 69 73 72
285 - JJ Senekal 70 70 76 69, Darius van Driel 68 69 75 73, Oliver Hundeboll 71 69 71 74, Hennie Otto 72 68 71 74
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