Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg holed a magnificent birdie putt on the second play-off hole to beat South Africa’s Ryan van Velzen and win the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open at the Royal Cape Golf Club on Sunday.
In a tightly-contested final round, Lindberg birdied holes 16 and 17 to take a one-stroke lead over Van Velzen playing the last. But the Swede three-putted the final green for a bogey to slip into a play-off on 16-under par with a final round of 67. Van Velzen closed with a bogey-free 66.
Both golfers parred the par-four 18th as the first play-off hole. Then playing it again, Lindberg had a similar putt from where he’d three-putted in regulation play and this time he made no mistake as he holed it.
“It was a rollercoaster day but it was a very good day,” said Lindberg.
It was a fitting end to a tournament that always seemed destined to go down to the wire, with 10 players sharing the lead after the second round and Lindberg one shot clear of a group of seven players going into Sunday’s final round.
In perfect conditions several players made an early run at the lead, including Van Velzen who made two birdies and an eagle in three holes on the front nine. JC Ritchie came with a charge of his own as he made three birdies in his opening four holes. And Louis Albertse birdied the 16th to put him just one shot out of the play-off as he went on to finish third on 15-under with a final round of 67.
But it was Lindberg’s early birdies on the back nine at holes 11 and 12 and then the key birdies on 16 and 17 that allowed him the leeway for his bogey on the last.
“I saw a couple of players made an early move and were playing well out there. The putt on 17 was huge for me. Then as I was walking up to the 18th green I just kept telling myself to just two-putt for the win. But my first putt was probably the worst putt I hit all week – I barely hit the ball. In the play-off I had it in the back of my mind that I’d just three-putted this same putt, so it was a huge relief when it went in.”
Lindberg is the second Swede to win the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open following countryman Anton Karlsson in 2020, and he was delighted to do so as he paid tribute to a wonderful week in the City of Cape Town.
“I love Cape Town. I love the whole culture here and always enjoy my time here. To win here is really special.”
SCORES
272 - Ryan van Velzen 68 67 71 66, Mikael Lindberg 70 70 65 67 * (won in play-off)
273 - Louis Albertse 68 68 70 67
274 - JC Ritchie 73 68 66 67, Robin Sciot-Siegrist 70 69 67 68
275 - Rupert Kaminski 72 67 70 66, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 70 66 72 67, Lars van Meijel 73 66 69 67, Shaun Norris 68 71 68 68, Toto Thimba Jnr 68 73 66 68, Martin Couvra 69 69 68 69
276 - Thomas Aiken 70 69 67 70
277 - Haraldur Magnus 69 66 76 66, Hennie O'Kennedy 71 68 71 67, Neil Schietekat 71 70 69 67, Jovan Rebula 69 72 68 68, Sam Hutsby 69 66 71 71
278 - Pierre Pineau 70 71 70 67, Justin Walters 68 69 71 70, Gerhard Pepler 68 67 72 71, Danie van Niekerk 68 70 69 71, Victor Pastor 74 65 68 71, Michael Hollick 71 69 66 72
279 - Lee Slattery 68 71 73 67, Ben Schmidt 70 69 71 69, Euan Walker 70 69 71 69, Benjamin Follett-Smith 69 71 70 69, James Allan 68 67 73 71, Conor Purcell 67 69 72 71, Robin Roussel 70 69 68 72
280 - Yurav Premlall 72 69 71 68, Alfie Plant 67 68 75 70, Craig Howie 71 66 73 70, Jacques Blaauw 71 70 69 70, Martin Simonsen 72 65 71 72, Nicolai Kristensen 71 67 70 72
281 - Jbe' Kruger 71 69 74 67, Pietro Bovari 71 70 73 67, Bradley Bawden 66 71 75 69, Maxence Giboudot 72 69 71 69, Jaco van Zyl 70 68 73 70, Tomas Gouveia 72 69 70 70, Tapio Pulkkanen 66 69 75 71, Joel Moscatel 70 71 69 71, Rhys Enoch 71 70 69 71, Philipp Katich 72 66 71 72, James Mack 69 69 70 73
282 - Alejandro Canizares 73 68 72 69, Benjamin Hebert 69 66 74 73, Malcolm Mitchell 73 67 69 73, Daniel Young 67 73 68 74
283 - Keagan Thomas 72 67 75 69, Albert Venter 68 73 73 69, Deon Germishuys 68 67 77 71, Jack McDonald 68 73 71 71, Jake Roos 71 70 69 73
284 - Hamish Brown 69 68 80 67, Romain Wattel 67 73 72 72, Marc Hammer 72 68 70 74
285 - Keegan Mclachlan 72 67 73 73
286 - Oliver Lindell 69 71 72 74, Anton Karlsson 72 69 71 74
287 - John Axelsen 71 70 73 73, Rhys West 68 67 78 74
288 - Ross Mcgowan 70 70 74 74
289 - Jean Hugo 72 69 76 72
291 - Stefan Wears-Taylor 67 74 74 76
292 - Callum Mowat 68 72 77 75, Steven Brown 69 72 75 76, Joe Long 72 69 74 77
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