Walters back in winner’s circle after 15 years
- Sunshine Tour
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Justin Walters not only had to wait 15 years for another title, he had to also dig deep to achieve it in winning the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun Boardwalk at Humewood Golf Club on Friday.
Walters closed with a 72 to finish on 15-under par, one shot clear of Daniel van Tonder (67) and Jacques Blaauw (69) to become a three-time Sunshine Tour winner.
He went into the final round with a four-shot lead but found trouble on the front nine with three bogeys in four holes and turning in three over for his round. This opened the door for the chasing pack to not only close in, but to also move past the overnight leader.
With the lead changing hands a couple of times during an eventful final round, Van Tonder took the clubhouse lead on 14-under par with his trademark strong finish that included three birdies over his final four holes. Blaauw came home just as strong, also finishing with three birdies in his last four holes.
But Walters edged ahead with his two birdies on the 15th and 16th holes on his way to victory.
It was the perfect ending to a week in which Walters came back to the Sunshine Tour looking for exactly this kind of restart.
“It was nice to be back home. I’m normally campaigning overseas this time of year and my career has taken a different direction at the moment. I couldn’t have thought of a better place to come down and support my home Tour. This is where it all started for me and it’s been great to be able to regather some of the momentum that I had in the past. It’s friendly faces, friends, golf courses, food, weather – the Sunshine Tour is just a fun place to play golf,” said Walters.
The Welshman Jack Davidson (70) ended fourth on 13-under par after finishing third in last week’s Kit Kat Cash & Carry Pro-Am.
Scores
201 - Justin Walters 65 64 72
202 - Daniel van Tonder 68 67 67
202 - Jacques Blaauw 68 65 69
203 - Jack Davidson 68 65 70
204 - Estiaan Conradie 68 70 66
204 - Carlos Bustos 69 68 67
205 - Louis Albertse 71 67 67
205 - Malcolm Mitchell 69 67 69, Nikhil Rama 68 66 71, Kyle De Beer 64 70 71
206 - Jaco Ahlers 73 69 64
206 - Jaco Prinsloo 70 66 70, Benjamin Van Wyk 67 68 71, Jean Hugo 67 67 72
207 - Kyle Barker 69 73 65
207 - Gabriel Morgan 70 67 70, Allen John 69 66 72
208 - Jordan Burnand 75 67 66
208 - Graham van der Merwe 69 72 67, Agustin Errazuriz 69 69 70, Charl Barnard 68 68 72
209 - Haydn Porteous 71 68 70
209 - Martin Vorster 69 70 70, Martin Rohwer 72 66 71, Toto Thimba Jnr 67 69 73
210 - Pierre Pellegrin 73 69 68
210 - Joe Sullivan 70 69 71, James Mack 71 66 73, Dian Kruger 70 66 74, Jason Roets 70 66 74
211 - Gustavo Silva 74 68 69
211 - Altin van der Merwe 70 71 70, Ryan van der Klis 74 67 70, Hennie O'Kennedy 72 68 71, Keenan Davidse 69 69 73
212 - Doug McGuigan 73 69 70
212 - Rigardt Albertse 71 70 71, Daniel Cronje 73 68 71, Pierre Viallaneix 72 69 71, Quintin Wilsnach 71 69 72, Wynand Dingle 69 71 72, Samuel Simpson 73 66 73, Luke Brown 67 72 73, Rupert Kaminski 74 65 73, Tristen Strydom 67 69 76
213 - Tyran Snyders 71 71 71
213 - Benjamin Kedochim 74 68 71, Albert Venter 71 67 75
214 - Lyle Rowe 72 70 72
214 - Brandon Pieters 70 71 73
215 - Ruan Korb 74 68 73
215 - Jacques P de Villiers 72 70 73
216 - Tristan Leonard 75 66 75
219 - Oliver Goldhill 70 70 79
Comments