Rose gets his redemption with Reading victory

Kian Rose fell short of a win on his Betway Big Easy Tour debut at Reading Country Club a month ago but the 23-year-old redeemed himself with a commanding five-stroke win in this week’s Betway Big Easy Blu Label Invitational.

The event, originally scheduled as a 54-hole tournament, was reduced to a 36-hole event due to multiple delays that were caused by a combination of bad weather and poor light.

An opening round of five-under par 66 set him for a place among the contenders, giving him another shot at a win at the place where he came so close just a month ago. He was not going to let it go this time.

He rose to the occasion with a sparkling eight-under 63 to take his total to 13-under. He had to go sleep on that, however, as the second round couldn’t be finished on Tuesday on account of poor visibility due to fading light. While there seemed to be players who could possibly unseat him at the summit of the leaderboard during the final round, they all fell off on Wednesday when play resumed.

“That first event here was bitter-sweet,” recalled Rose who plays out of Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club. “I was in the last group and I had a putt on the last hole to push it into a playoff and I left it in the mouth. That one tasted a little bitter but it also forced me to push myself a little more. So, coming out here again this week, it was a bit of a redemption story for me to regather myself and I ended up getting it done.”

Having tasted that defeat here, Rose was up to the challenge this week. And challenging, it was. His five birdies and an eagle in the final round proved too great to surmount, handing him his first professional win within his first two months of turning professional.

“After the round, I got asked how I feel about it,” Rose said of his scintillating final round. “I didn’t have an answer because it was sort of like a blackout. But after the round I gathered my thoughts and looked back at the round and the stats and I realised I had 21 putts for the round. The flat stick got hot. The two holes that I got out of position off the tee, I ended up birdieing and eagling, so everything sort of aligned to what I wanted and I played just about as good as I could have.”

With his professional career now off to a bright start, Rose will be keen to see his stock rise even higher and having earned himself an invite into next week’s Limpopo Championship on the Sunshine Tour, he will have more reasons to be optimistic about his chances among the elite in professional golf.

“It’s been good,” he says of his short time as a professional. “I’m excited to get this professional journey underway. It’s a dream come true for me.”

The Betway Big Easy Tour is the Sunshine Tour’s feeder circuit and enjoys the support of the legendary Ernie Els, among other patrons. The Betway Big Easy Blue Label Invitational is a series which the Big Easy co-hosts with the Bushveld Tour to provide more playing opportunities to members of both tours.

Scores

129 - Kian Rose 66 63

134 - Dillon Germishuys 69 65

136 - Philip Geerts 67 69, Thabiso Ngcobo 70 66, Hannes Strooh 67 69

137 - Andre De Decker 70 67, Jacques Van der Merwe 70 67, Daniel Cronje 69 68, Leon Visser 66 71

138 - Joshua Koekemoer 68 70

139 - Matthew Rushton 74 65, Ronald Rugumayo 70 69, David Amm 72 67, Joe Sullivan 68 71, Matt Millar 64 75, Kian Coetzer 71 68

140 - Tumelo Molloyi 74 66, Steven Le Roux 69 71

141 - Andrew McLardy 73 68, Nicko Venter 73 68, Matthew Bennett 73 68, Kayle Wykes 72 69, Nelis De Bruin 71 70, Brandon-Jude Rennie 71 70, LB Boshoff 70 71, Austin Cherichella 73 68, Rees Emanual 70 71, Travis Ladner 69 72, Oliver Goldhill 69 72, Ivan Mare 71 70

142 - Adam Breen 71 71, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 70 72, Allister de Kock 71 71, Thapelo Maichotlo 72 70, Wandre Snyman 73 69, Makhetha Mazibuko 67 75, Keelan van Wyk 69 73, Ulrich van den Berg 72 70, Jastice Mashego 70 72, Siyanda Mwandla 68 74

143 - Regan Steyn 72 71, Jonathan Ackerman 76 67, Jaden Deltel 72 71, Ryan Tipping 75 68, Jonathan Waschefort 71 72, Tiger Adams 71 72, Carl Mwale 69 74, Tristan Leonard 71 72, Lyle Pedro 70 73, Therion Nel 71 72, Jason Froneman 74 69

144 - Jan-Hendrik Nieuwoudt 71 73, Thabang Simon 72 72, Keagan Crosbie 70 74, Brandon Gildenhuys 74 70, Slenda Sithebe 74 70, Louis Liebenberg 73 71

145 - Andre Van Zyl 75 70, Sean Howell 78 67, Pedro Cristovam 74 71, Astin Arthur 74 71, Sentanio Minnie 71 74

146 - Jungwi Lee 78 68, Sean Paxton 76 70, Christopher Henkel 71 75, Irvin Mosate wa Mazibuko 71 75

147 - Jandre van Niekerk 73 74, Renato Dries 73 74

148 - Francois van Staden 77 71, Lance Ellerbeck 75 73, Tawriq Abrahams 76 72, Drikus Joubert 71 77

149 - Gary Kemp 71 78, Dean Ralphs 75 74, Alphius Kelapile 71 78, Tiago Jorge Swart 74 75, Josh De Aguiar 75 74, Teboho Sefatsa 72 77, Jake Bolton 73 76

150 - Jordan Wessels 75 75, Shaheed Patel 72 78, Jarryd Govender 79 71, Jabulane Mabilane 75 75, Michael Jonker 74 76, Ricco Motsa 76 74, Josh Hirsch 73 77, Vaughn van Deventer 80 70

151 - Lihan Ludick 77 74, John Bele 78 73, Shaydon Johnson 73 78, Tyron Groenveld 75 76, Ethan Govender 76 75

152 - Mandla Dlamini Jnr 76 76, Lorenzo Sakota 78 74, Joshua Van der Wath 77 75

153 - Hunter Walker 76 77, David Waschefort 76 77, Tylor Phillips 75 78, Jeré Brits 80 73

154 - Travis Procter 76 78, Max Orgovanyi 81 73, Juvandre Olivier 74 80, Connor Thomas 81 73

155 - Malachi Schulz 76 79, Haydn Driver 70 85

156 - Khanya Mkhize 80 76

157 - Kyle Kistensamy 79 78, Bernard Jansen van Vuuren 82 75, Austin Mashego 76 81, John Palm 78 79

158 - Darren Neyt 77 81, Christiaan Pretorius 79 79

160 - Peter Carey 81 79, Amicus De Beer 81 79

165 - Sibusiso Magagula 84 81

WDN - Lwazi Gqira WDN, Evance Vukeya 79 WDN, Liam Ross RTD RTD, Reece Mc Kain 68 RTD, Aidan Johnstone 73 RTD, Kael Strydom 74 RTD, Brandon Pieters 70 DSQ